Nationwide, buildings are responsible for 42 percent of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions . In the City of Boston, residential, commercial, and city buildings produce 74 percent of emissions . To effectively reduce emissions, Boston and the region cannot ignore the opportunity to make its building stock more energy efficient. Fortunately, substantial reductions in building-related emissions can be achieved through energy efficiency upgrades. What’s more, this work can be done using existing technologies, is highly cost effective, and has many additional benefits – including cost savings, improved air quality and health outcomes, and local job creation.
Focus Areas
Building on the Foundation’s prior investments to support green building in Boston and energy efficiency in Cambridge, Barr’s primary approach will be to help cities and towns in Massachusetts design and implement community-wide energy efficiency programs. Recognizing that upgrading buildings in different sectors takes different approaches, we will support work that pushes the state of practice in specific sectors, such as low-income housing, small businesses, health care, and large commercial buildings.
Desired Outcomes
Through Barr’s Energy Efficient Buildings investments, we seek to contribute to the following outcomes:
- A substantial reduction of building-related greenhouse gas emissions across commercial, industrial and residential sectors
- Energy efficiency upgrades and “high-road” jobs to low income and communities of color
- Adaptation and adoption of effective Metro Boston approaches in other communities nationally
Measures
To evaluate progress towards these outcomes, we pay attention to the following:
- New capacity for cities and towns to start and scale energy efficiency programs
- Increased engagement and demand by residents, businesses and institutions for more energy efficiency and climate action efforts
- State policies that set sufficiently aggressive GHG reduction targets, and ensure low-income neighborhoods and communities of color have access to energy efficiency retrofits and green jobs
- Learning networks of foundations, nonprofits, and civic leaders to share effective practices and lessons learned, and to learn from their regional and national counterparts