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ASHLAND – Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) awarded on September 4 the Town of Ashland $71,021 in grant funding. The grant will fund energy efficiency upgrades at the Town Hall and will fund an electric vehicle charging station at the local community center.
“We place a high priority on sustainability in Ashland, and are appreciative that the Baker/Polito administration shares in that mindset. The Green Communities program is a good example of the partnership that can exist between state and local government, and these competitive grants help us demonstrate the cost-saving aspects of sustainability as well,” said Town Manager Michael Herbert.
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The DOER Green Communities competitive grant program is a statewide program that helps reduce the carbon footprint of cities and towns by funding energy use reduction and clean energy projects in municipal buildings, facilities, and schools.
$63,521 of the Green Communities award will cover LED lighting upgrades in Ashland Town Hall. The scope of this project is to replace the existing aging fluorescent lighting with state of the art LED fixtures to achieve cost savings and reduce energy use.
Specifically, the LED upgrades are estimated to save the Town of Ashland over $7,000 in electricity and maintenance costs annually. Moreover, the upgrades are projected to lower the annual lighting use by nearly 15,000 kWh, a 71% reduction in current usage.
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$7,500 of the Green Communities award will go towards the purchase and installation of an electric vehicle charging station at the Community Center. The charging station bolsters the Town’s commitment to promoting electric vehicles and helps grow Ashland’s existing network of vehicle charging stations.
This station will be publicly accessible for electric vehicle drivers visiting the Community Center, Ashland State Park, or businesses along West Union Street. Eversource is also assisting in making this charging station project possible by financing the site work components via its Make Ready Program.
These Green Community projects will help meet both the Commonwealth’s Clean Energy and Climate Plan targets and the Town of Ashland’s goal of being a net-zero community by 2040
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