Rebuilding Place in the Urban Space

"A community’s physical form, rather than its land uses, is its most intrinsic and enduring characteristic." [Katz, EPA] This blog focuses on place and placemaking and all that makes it work--historic preservation, urban design, transportation, asset-based community development, arts & cultural development, commercial district revitalization, tourism & destination development, and quality of life advocacy--along with doses of civic engagement and good governance watchdogging.

Monday, April 25, 2005

Renewable energy trust program in Massachusetts

The DC Energy Office promotes energy conservation, but seems to have a low profile (although I did see a car wrapped in a DC Energy Office logo recently).

Saturday's Boston Globe has an article, "Making Solar Hot," about the renewable energy promotion programs of the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, a quasi-public agency. MTC "is the state’s development agency for renewable energy and the innovation economy, which is responsible for one-quarter of all jobs in the state. MTC administers the John Adams Innovation Institute and the Renewable Energy Trust. We work to stimulate economic activity in communities throughout the Commonwealth."

Given all the office buildings we have, and with most of the tops of downtown office buildings doing nothing much in the green roof or passive solar collector department, maybe this is a program we need to look at for DC.

Solar panels on top of Harvard Business School Fitness CenterSolar panels on top of Harvard Business School Fitness Center. This project was supported by funds from the MTPC program.

Press release on the Harvard project -- "On a sunny day, the 192 photovoltaic panels on top of Shad convert sunlight into enough electricity to power twenty to thirty homes. In addition to reducing HBS's energy bill over the next quarter century, the photovoltaic project will supplant the emission of about 75,000 pounds of carbon monoxide annually -- the equivalent of about 220 fewer cars on the road each year. "

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