Jim Hunt

Title: Chief of Environmental and Energy Services, City of Boston

Age: 40

Experience: 18 years

Jim Hunt started his career in environmental and energy management by working his way up through the ranks of the state legislature while attending Suffolk Law School at night. Hunt, who attended Boston Latin School and is raising his own kids in the Dorchester neighborhood he grew up in, ultimately became the assistant secretary of environment for the state. He worked on projects including the massive, 18-mile, 345,000-volt energy transmission line that NStar built in 2005 to serve Boston’s power needs.

Q: How did you make the jump from working for the state to working with the city, and how did your time with the commonwealth prepare you for that transition?

A: I worked on some policies at the time that really piqued my interest in energy and environmental policy. When I was assistant secretary of environment for the commonwealth, I reviewed some of the largest development projects in the state at the time, from downtown Boston projects to major energy projects like the Cape Wind project. When I was reviewing the Cape Wind project, Mayor [Thomas] Menino … called and said he wanted to talk about me about putting my skills to work on the ground by actually implementing change in the city. That was six years ago, and here we are.

Q: What are some specific policies that you’ve helped create that have affected the way commercial property owners operate?

A: Back in 2005, when Mayor Menino and I were first having these conversations, there was a lack of action at the federal level, which in many cases continues today, as well as at the state level. Mayors across the country felt that lack of action in pushing the sustainability agenda and took it upon themselves to be more proactive in pushing these policies locally. We started out with buildings. We’re a city that’s densely developed and largely built-out. About 76 percent of our greenhouse gas emissions come from our buildings and the energy used to heat, power and cool those buildings. We were the first city in the nation to incorporate the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED standards into our zoning process. So, Article 37 of our zoning code requires all new construction of properties over 50,000 square feet to adhere to the LEED standards. We do that for our own city facilities as well. We also have one of the strongest energy codes in the country with our stretch energy code that developers have to live up to, which is 20 percent more efficient than the model code used in Massachusetts.

Q: Are there new policies that you’re working on that will affect commercial properties?

A: One of the next frontiers for cities across the country is the issue of building labeling, looking at the residential and commercial property side and better understanding how the buildings perform. In Boston, our buildings are built to last, and we have a strong preservation ethic. One of the best strategies you can deploy in green building is to preserve and reuse the buildings you have. The buildings we’re going to build are going to be here for the next 50 to 100 or more years. We’re building those to be high-performing and efficient, but the next frontier is policies of benchmarking buildings, not just for when they’re built, but over time. And many of our property owners are already benchmarking their buildings to better understand how they’re performing. Some cities – like New York City, Seattle, San Francisco – are now beginning to require disclosure of how [buildings are] performing to inform tenants and the city … and as a way to promote investments in energy efficiency. Those are areas that will certainly be on the agenda in the coming years. We’re working with some property owners on a pilot program for this in Boston to see how we can move into this arena that really serves the commercial real estate and other real estate owners and managers well. You can’t manage what you don’t measure. If we can get a platform and a systematic measurement tool, we can really advance energy efficiency investments which will drive down operating costs of buildings and have a community benefit in helping us achieve our climate mitigation goals to reduce carbon emissions by 25 percent by 2020 … and it will help grow our green economy.

Jim Hunt’s Top Five Green Boston Entities

1) Restaurant: Taranta. Chef/owner Jose Duarte is the real deal. The only things stronger than his commitment to sustainability are his cooking skills.

2) Commercial Building: Bryan Koop and the team at Boston Properties continue to demonstrate the market value of sustainability. For them, it’s both a core value and a competitive advantage. 

3) Open Space:  Boston Harbor Islands. Clean harbor and beaches, great parks, history, wildlife, and some of the best views of our city.

4) Clean Energy Showcase: Deer Island Wastewater Treatment plant. 

5) Transportation Choice:  Hubway Bike Share program. Sixty-one stations and 600 bikes – it’s the fastest and coolest way to get around town.