Powdermill Village: Deep Retrofit Yields Dramatic Returns

The Massachusetts Green Retroft Initiative (MAGRI) is a project of New Ecology, Inc. (NEI) and LISC Boston. Through MAGRI, NEI and LISC Boston serve as a one-stop-shop to provide holistic energy management services to property owners.Through MAGRI, Peabody Properties asked NEI to conduct an energy audit of the site and to recommend solutions in conjunction with a switch in heating fuels from oil to gas, which would dramatically reduce the site’s operating expenses. The recommended upgrades were funded with $50,000 in incentives from Massachusetts’ low-income utility efficiency program and a $3 million loan from Boston Community Capital, a local community development fnancial institution, deploying a creative fnancing package in partnership with MassHousing. The loan will be repaid through the utility savings. With 12 months of post-upgrade utility data available, the results are dramatic. Across the 12 buildings, electricity use decreased 64 percent and water consumption dropped 29 percent. Heating energy, which compares the energy required to heat the buildings through the oil-fred boilers to that of the new gas-fred systems, decreased 40 percent. These utility performance improvements save the property $118,600 in avoided annual operating expenses.