Ameresco Partners With Town of Framingham On $6 Million Energy Savings Contract

Ameresco, Inc. , an energy efficiency and renewable energy company, and the Town of Framingham, Massachusetts announced they are partnering on a comprehensive $6 million Energy Savings Performance Contract to improve town buildings and increase operational efficiency.

The infrastructure upgrades are expected to deliver greater energy efficiency and operational cost savings, enhance comfort for building occupants and reduce greenhouse gasses and emissions. The project is expected to be completed in the spring of 2016.

“This comprehensive project reflects Framingham’s commitment to energy conservation, including reducing our operating costs and achieving our sustainability goals,” said Framingham Town Manager Bob Halpin. “This contract with Ameresco allows us to replace our aging infrastructure, upgrade our buildings, and make improvements, all without burdening our taxpayers with additional capital costs. The project includes efficiency measures that will deliver $380,000 in annual energy savings, benefiting the community for years to come.”

Framingham was designated as a Green Community in 2013, and the Energy Savings Performance Contract is a central tool to the town’s commitment to lower its energy consumption by 20 percent over the next several years.

Under the Energy Savings Performance Contract , Ameresco conducted an energy audit on nearly 2 million square feet of building space and identified 93 energy conservation projects that it will design, construct, commission, monitor, and verify. Some of the measures include lighting system upgrades, integrated and new energy management systems, infiltration reductions, transformers, and new heating, ventilation and cooling systems.

Ameresco also has developed a street lighting system that will upgrade nearly 5,000 streetlight fixtures.

“As an international company with its corporate headquarters in the Town of Framingham, Massachusetts, Ameresco is proud to partner with our hometown to support achieving its efficiency and sustainability goals,” said Michael J. Daigneault, Vice President, Ameresco, in a press release. “Working to identify and institute operational efficiencies and energy conservation measures that pay for themselves through the resulting savings, and are budget-neutral to the community, is particularly rewarding.”

“We are thrilled that Framingham will be able to uncover energy cost savings and reinvest them back into the community,” said Marc Draisen, Executive Director of MAPC. “As the largest town in Massachusetts, they are really taking a leading role in the region by saving their taxpayers so much money while increasing their energy
efficiency across multiple local initiatives.”

The environmental benefits from this project include the reduction of more than 3.3 million pounds of carbon dioxide, which is equivalent to the carbon sequestered by 344 acres of pine forest in one year, or eliminating 277 passenger vehicles from the road annually.