Andover To Receive Over 200k From New Green Grant

Six town buildings in Andover will be receiving energy efficiency upgrades thanks to a new state grant for Green Communities, announced Senator Barry Finegold.  The town will get $220,599 to make improvements to the town offices, high school, , the l and the Andover Town House.

These upgrades will save the town an estimated $163,000 annually

“These clean energy projects are not only saving energy, they are saving taxpayers’ money,” Finegold said. “Andover has really benefited from its Green Community status and has made some significant improvements to our municipal buildings. I’m proud to have been in support of the 2008 legislation that made the program possible and I look forward to more energy efficiency upgrades to public buildings in the future.”

This first round of DOER Green Communities Competitive Grants are awarded to existing Green Communities that have successfully invested their initial designation grants.  Andover became a Green Community in 2010 when they met the necessary clean energy benchmarks outlined in the 2008 law. At that time, the town received over $160,000 for a municipal lighting retrofit project at six school buildings and two municipal buildings.

Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rick Sullivan and Department of Energy Resources (DOER) Commissioner Mark Sylvia announced on June 28 that $2.8 million in grants were awarded statewide to fund 55 clean energy projects in 19 communities across the Commonwealth.

Below is the breakdown of the grant allocation to Andover and the projects made possible by the funding.

 Andover – $220,599 total

• $11,825           Public Safety Center retro-commissioning (an energy efficiency building tune-up)
•  $10,794          Memorial Hall Library retro-commissioning
• $8,170             Memorial Hall Library demand control ventilation
• $13,618           Town Offices retro-commissioning
• $17,866           Andover High School retro-commissioning
• $86,426           Andover High School demand control ventilation
• $66,000           Andover West Middle School demand control ventilation
• $5,900             Andover Town House retro-commissioning

The grants are funded through proceeds from Alternative Compliance Payments (ACP) received from retail electricity suppliers under the Commonwealth’s Renewable and Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard programs. The goal of the Green Communities Competitive Grant program is to support energy efficiency and renewable energy projects that further the clean energy goals of previously-designated Green Communities.

 There are 86 Green Communities across the state and 42 percent of Massachusetts residents - 2.7 million people - live in Green Communities. All of the 86 Green Communities committed to reduce their municipal energy consumption by 20 percent.  This commitment collectively equates to the annual energy consumption of more than 13,000 Massachusetts homes and the greenhouse gases from more than 16,800 cars.

Massachusetts sits at the end of the energy pipeline, lacking indigenous fossil fuel sources and spending $22 billion each year to run power plants, fuel vehicles and businesses, and heat buildings. Of that sum, Massachusetts spends 80 percent on foreign energy sources from Canada, South America and the Middle East. That’s nearly $18 billion in lost economic opportunity that Massachusetts stands poised to reclaim through investments in home-grown renewable energy and energy efficiency such as those supported by Green Communities grants.