City of Cambridge Receives $250,000 Grant to Reduce Energy Use

The Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources’ (DOER) Green Communities Division has awarded a $250,000 grant to the City of Cambridge to implement changes that will reduce municipal energy use. This money will fund energy efficiency upgrades at the Lombardi office building as well as a City vehicle hybrid retrofit project.

“The City of Cambridge is continuously looking for opportunities to assist us in making progress towards and furthering our climate protection goals,” said Cambridge City Manager Louis A. DePasquale. “This latest partnership with the Commonwealth helps advance our efforts to implement the City’s Net Zero Action Plan for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from our building operations and vehicle fleet.”

“Providing a more comfortable and energy efficient environment in municipal buildings and the greening our vehicle fleet are goals of ours,” said Owen O’Riordan, Commissioner of Public Works. “This grant will allow us to make measurable progress in both of those areas.”

Two large air conditioning and heating units at the Lombardi building, located at 831 Massachusetts Avenue, will be replaced with new energy efficient and lower maintenance systems. The building houses the City’s Historical Commission, Information Technology Department, Inspectional Services, Weights and Measures, Consumers Council, and License Commission.

Also as part of this grant, the Department of Public Works will deploy innovative truck technologies. With Cambridge’s dense streets and the need for vehicles to make frequent stops, the city is keenly interested in increasing fuel efficiency and decreasing tailpipe pollution from its service vehicle fleet.

Cambridge will convert two maintenance vans, a shuttle bus, and a trash truck to hybrid drive systems. Similar to hybrid automobiles, the systems store and release braking energy to reduce gas and diesel consumption. This project will yield public health benefits from reduced tailpipe emissions as well as climate protection benefits from reduced use of fossil fuels.

Additional information on Cambridge’s Green Communities Energy Reduction Goals can be found at www.cambridgema.gov/theworks/energyefficiency/greencommunitiesenergyreductiongoal