Two Massachusetts organizations have been awarded federal grants totaling $6.24 million to test ways to reduce energy consumption in aging apartment complexes.

The grants are part of a total $23 million awarded to 12 organizations throughout the nation by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development.

New Ecology Inc., of Boston, was awarded $989,275 for energy-saving measures in older apartment complexes in Massachusetts.  NRG Solutions LLC in Boston will receive $5.25 million for energy-saving upgrades to multi-family housing complexes in New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, Maine and New York City.

"These grants are being awarded to a diverse collection of organizations that will help us find new ways to cut energy, save money and generate jobs," said Acting Federal Housing Commissioner Carol Galante.  "This is more than just ‘going green;’ it’s about bringing real dollars-and-cents solutions to a sector of the market that is currently wasting money heating and cooling buildings, some of which were built more than a generation ago."

 The goal of HUD’s pilot program is to develop ideas and mechanisms that could potentially be replicated nationally, as well as help create industry standards in the home energy efficiency retrofit market.