Framingham energy efficiency company Ameresco Inc. has completed the construction of the second phase of an energy performance contract with the Cambridge Housing Authority (CHA).
The $1.9 million project expands on a previous effort that is now expected to deliver approximately $300,000 a year in utility cost savings, according to a statement.
The Ameresco project focuses on energy conservation measures at the 196-unit Daniel F. Burns Apartments. The recently completed upgrades include water saving retrofits, lighting efficiency improvements, roof replacement and installation of a new, highly efficient heat and hot water plant. The project also features a 46 kW grid-connected rooftop photovoltaic (PV) system.
"In this latest effort at Burns Apartments, we have rekindled an existing relationship with Ameresco in order to leverage additional conservation improvements and clean, renewable technologies," said Greg Russ, CHA’s executive director. "This second phase significantly expands our conservation efforts, provides capital improvements to the property and also adds renewable energy technology in the rooftop solar photovoltaics. Overall, the program pays for itself, improves the performance of the building and creates good paying local jobs, all of which are priorities for CHA."
Ameresco began working with CHA in 1997 to convert the building’s heat and hot water from electricity to natural gas, and to implement basic energy efficiency needs in the Daniel F. Burns Apartments. Together the two phases are expected to save the equivalent of 745 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year. The reduction in greenhouse gas emissions is roughly equivalent to 1,733 barrels of oil burned or 90 households powered for an entire year.
"Ameresco is pleased to be working with Cambridge Housing Authority to maximize the value of its energy performance contracting program at Daniel F. Burns Apartments," said David J. Anderson, executive vice president of Ameresco. "The program’s recently completed improvements extend the value of energy savings components that were initiated more than a decade ago. This allows the Authority to invest in new and improved efficiency and renewable energy technologies by leveraging energy programs available in the commonwealth."
