MAPC Launches Energy Action Program Cities and Towns Will Get Help Creating Local Energy Saving Plan

by Helen Aki, MAPC Energy Coordinator and Erin Brandt, MAPC Energy Planner, Metropolitan Area Planning Council

 

The Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC), a mission-driven regional planning agency that serves 101 municipalities in the Greater Boston area in the interest of smart growth and regional collaboration, recently announced the launch of the Local Energy Action Program. This program aims to help MAPC member cities and towns create and implement local energy action plans over a two-year period.

 

In 2009, Massachusetts was allotted $42.2 million in federal stimulus funding through the Energy Efficiency Community Block Grant program, which was distributed to local governments through direct and competitive grants. The stimulus money has helped to strengthen both the physical and the political/operational infrastructure around energy efficiency and renewable energy projects at the municipal level.

 

However, as these one-time funds are expended, communities are faced with the challenge of finding new ways to maintain existing programs and projects. In response to this challenge, MAPC created the Local Energy Action Program to serve as a template for cities and towns on creating priorities and strategies for sustained and effective implementation of energy efficiency and renewable energy work.

 

MAPC works closely with member communities on a variety of smart growth and regional projects, including collective procurement, regional planning, public health initiatives and clean energy projects. The LEAP program has been widely received by MAPC communities. MAPC received 21 applications for the LEAP program, including one joint application from four towns served by a municipal light department. MAPC is using a comprehensive selection process to select three to five communities to participate in LEAP.

 

The selected communities will receive technical assistance from MAPC to plan for and launch innovative and financially sustainable projects that reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions in the municipal, residential, and commercial sectors. Both a public engagement process and the efforts of a municipal working group will be used to meet the unique needs and abilities of each participating city or town.

 

The Local Energy Action Program will follow a three-stage model:

 

Year 1: Plan for Action. In the first year, MAPC creates a community-wide baseline of energy use and past energy activities using available energy consumption data for the municipal, residential and commercial sectors. Using the baseline as a frame of reference, MAPC then works with community stakeholders to establish goals and a timeline for reductions from that baseline. MAPC develops and proposes a list of strategies to achieve the established reduction goals, identifying the steps needed to implement those strategies. The strategies that are then chosen as top priorities for the community are finally compiled into a local energy action plan.

 

Year 2: Take Action. In the second year, MAPC continues to work closely with each community to design and launch the programs that were identified in their energy action plan. MAPC will help the communities identify and execute the various steps needed to be taken, including identifying and securing financing mechanisms and funding sources to support the proposed projects.

 

Year 3: Maintain Action. After two years of technical assistance, the community is equipped to run short and long-term energy programs and projects. The community continues to make progress towards its goals, using their energy action plan as a benchmark, and making updates as necessary.

 

This project is funded with support from the Barr Foundation. MAPC will have announced the selected communities by early February.

 

MAPC will be soliciting a second round of applications for LEAP in Summer/Fall 2012. For more information, please contact Erin Brandt, MAPC Energy Planner, at ebrandt@mapc.org or 617/451-2770 ext. 2044.