News
Nonprofits leading the way to cutting energy costs – PowerOptions symposium to discuss energy prices and savings strategies
Boston, July 13 - Over 150 representatives from Massachusetts colleges, hospitals, and other non-profit organizations met in Boston on Friday to discuss rising energy prices and some of the technological and business strategies that are now available for coping with them.
Carter Wall, Executive V.P. and COO of PowerOptions, said the large attendance at the event underlined the important role nonprofits play in energy conservation and economic development in the state. "With the leadership of these charitable and community organizations, Massachusetts can conserve energy, save money, and improve our environment," Wall said.
"Any time schools and health care facilities can control energy costs through lower prices or by reducing consumption, that savings goes straight to helping the people we serve," said Joe Mona of Lawrence General Hospital, a conference participant.
Among topics discussed was the newly-imposed "forward capacity" charge which is meant to spur development of power plants to meet New England's growth in demand for power, and the "Demand Response" market that allows electricity consumers to receive payment for reducing the amount of power they take from the regional transmission grid during certain periods. Both create economic incentives for customers to use less power.
"So many tools are available now to organizations that want to reduce their consumption," said Mark Nelson of the state's Division of Capital Asset Management (DCAM), one of the presenters at the conference. "We have set a goal of 20% energy reduction per square foot from 2004 levels for state facilities. Much of that will come from lowering electrical consumption."
The event was sponsored by PowerOptions(R), a non-profit energy-buying consortium of the Massachusetts Health and Educational Facilities Authority (HEFA) which consists of over 500 non-profits and government agencies. The New England Hospital Engineers Society and the Boston Consortium also sponsored the event.
"This is good for these institutions and good for Massachusetts," said Benson Caswell, Executive Director of HEFA. "The nonprofit sector in Massachusetts is 27% greater in size than the national average. It's a very important part of the state's economy, and utility costs are a big part of their budgets. That's why HEFA started PowerOptions-to help nonprofits navigate these markets."
The award-winning PowerOptions program is the largest electricity and natural gas purchasing consortium in Massachusetts. In 2006, PowerOptions members made up almost 9% of the entire competitive retail market for electricity in Massachusetts, with a combined demand of approximately 250 megawatts, and to date PowerOptions has saved its participants more than $250 million on utility bills compared to LDC basic service rates. Members range from cities and towns, hospitals and colleges, to small human service agencies and cultural institutions located throughout the Commonwealth. Any nonprofit or public institution may become a PowerOptions member and participate in this collective purchasing effort. For more information, call 617-737-8480 or visit www.poweroptions.org.
