gorgeous outside and we want to go enjoy the nice weather. >> Good to see you. Sorry about the weather. >> Hi everyone. Thank you for being here. My name is Oliver Cers Garcia. I'm the commissioner of the environment department and green new deal director
for the city of Boston. We are so excited to have everyone here today to launch the Boston Energy Saver and we're testing your will. How much do you actually care about energy efficiency and renewable energy? These
are the dieards here today, right? Okay, good. So, the Boston Energy Saver that you'll hear much more about um from our speakers today is a new program to unlock resources and help you figure out how to make your building more comfortable, efficient, and lower your
energy costs. And this is the program we need right now. Winter is around the corner. High energy bills are on everyone's mind. And as you can see, the the weather is changing rapidly. So, we're going to hear from a few folks. of course, our mayor, Michelle Woo, our climate chief, Brian Sweat, and our
partners at the state utilities and community- based organizations that are going to pull this program together. We'll have a chance for some Q&A after that. I also want to point something out. You will very quickly realize over the course of um the comments here that a lot of our speakers are going to be
making some of their remarks in other languages. And that's for two reasons. We want to make sure everyone understands from the outset that the Boston Energy Saver is a multilingual program and also because we need to recognize that historically language
access has been one of the greatest barriers to accessing energy efficiency programs in this state. [Music] Bostoning. So, with uh no further ado, I'll pass it
to our mayor, Michelle Woo. >> Gracia. Thank you, Oliver. And thank you everyone for being here. We are going to quite try to make it through as quickly as possible uh to to show you uh what we're talking about, but also so we can all warm up a little bit as well. Uh, I am so grateful to be
here with all my colleagues in public service, many, many city departments and leaders and partners from all across the city who've come together to make this day possible. Thank you to our chief climate officer for the city of Boston, Brian Sweat, and his entire team. Thank
you to members of our cabinet who are here. I see our chief of housing, Sheila Dylan, chief of policy, Mike Firestone, um, and and many, many others, uh, who have been involved. Thank you to uh Under Secretary of Decarbonization and Resilience Katherine Antos with the Heel
Driscoll Administration and uh you will hear as well from several of our partners. So, thank you to Grace, Meredith, and Jenny representing our uh much needed and uh very exciting um community side partners who are are
are teaming up with us. Yesterday I was in an auditorium with several hundred of our city's leaders across every sector to talk about our young people. Our state of the schools event focused on how we are going to deliver and make sure that every family has everything that they need. Here today we're talking
about a different facet of that as well. In order for our city to be a city that's home for everyone, in order for everyone to afford taking care of their family and putting together all the pieces of their lives and accessing every opportunity, we need to be driving down housing costs and producing more
housing. We need to be making sure that our schools are excellent and that before and after school care is affordable and accessible, that early education and child care is accessible to every family, and that energy costs
are uh a part of the equation that are not going to push families budgets over uh beyond the breaking point. We know costs are climbing and that is everywhere that we look. housing and healthcare, food and electricity. And too many of our residents and small businesses are feeling this crunch.
More and more households are having to choose between paying the rent that keeps on rising or turning on the heat to keep their families warm. They're scaling back celebrations for anniversaries or championships because the electric bill is due. And too many of our entrepreneurs have to rethink
their strategy the moment new energy rates come out. Our residents and businesses deserve a city they can call their own and one they can confidently call home. And that's why at the state of the city address earlier this year, we announced
the B Boston Boston Energy Saver, an innovative partnership with Eversource and National Grid to lower bills for renters, homeowners, and small business owners. And today, we're kicking it off so our residents and business owners can tap into these new rebates, discounts,
and incentives. No matter how you want to save, whether it's through upgrading your building by solarizing or electrifying, retrofitting or weatherizing, our Boston Energy Saver team will be able to help. And so the one place that
you can go to get information, regardless of anything that if you don't remember anything that anyone says, remember this website, boston.gov/save. This can help you set up a free consultation and talk through the various options that are unique to your family's situation. It can help you
figure out your next steps for your business or your community and start lowering those energy bills. And as you heard mentioned by our commissioner, our team is ready to help find savings in six different languages and we'll make sure that language access is not a barrier. For too long, these energy
saving upgrades have been out of reach for too many of our families. The Boston Energy Saver is here to fix that. Because no matter where you live or how much you make, you should be able to heat your home, cook delicious meals for your kids, and take care of your family and business without worrying what the
bill will bring. Okay. Electricity. much. Boston Energy Saver. Boston Energy Savers. [Music] fac. So, thank you so much to everyone who has made this possible. We're
excited to use every resource and every dollar to make life more uh affordable and to make our opportunities more accessible for every family and every business in Boston. And now I will pass it over to our chief climate officer, Brian Sweat. >> Thank you so much, mayor. Um, and thank
you, Oliver. It is really exciting to be here today. Uh, I know the amount of work uh that Oliver and the team and our partners have put in uh in the six plus months since the mayor announced this uh truly innovative program to today uh where we're launching. So, uh I am really excited to be here. Boston Energy
Saver is focused on supporting building improvements that reduce resident and small business owner energy use and thus reduce costs, reduce emissions, and improve health and safety for everybody. And this is really fundamentally accomplished through better access and supportive services for Bostononians to
leverage nationleading incentives uh and rebates that are available to them but oftentimes undersubscribed. Uh, and these include uh, Massave, the Boston Home Center, Boston Community Choice Electricity, uh, and the Massachusetts Community Climate Bank's energy saver loan program.
We know that Massachusetts and Boston face uh, super high energy costs. And we also know that there this is disproportionately impacting our low-income residents who often live in the least energy efficient housing and building stocks. Uh while Boston Energy
Saver is available to all Boston residents and small businesses, we are particularly focusing our outreach uh and our marketing efforts on low-income households and those whose primary language is not English. Uh because these communities, as was mentioned, have historically uh not been accessing
the energy efficiency resources and rebates that are available to them. According to a recent study, uh the median low-income energy burden in greater Boston is 10%. That means low-income residents are spending on average 10% of their income on energy
use. The bottom cortile uh so a cortile of low-income residents the bottom cortile have an energy burden of almost 20%. One in five dollars that they're earning is going to energy use. That is a staggering energy burden. And when the mayor talks about housing affordability
in Boston, that is very much linked to energy affordability in Boston. So through this program, the root cause is actually being able to address people's energy use and reduce that energy use so they're less vulnerable to the volatility of energy prices. And through Energy Saver and in partnership with uh
our great partners at Eversource and National Grid, we are aiming to achieve at least 5,000 heat pump installations and at least 10,000 weatherizations uh over the next three years. Uh focus on Yes. uh focus on our smaller residential and
business buildings uh and focus on those most energy burdened uh and those least energy efficient buildings. So this is fundamentally about uh energy cost and improving our buildings. This is also part of our climate story in Boston. So we are not only going to have a remarkable impact on energy burden of
renters, homeowners, and small business owners, but this is part and parcel to our our carbon goals. As many in the audience know, 70% of the city's emissions come from buildings. Uh 30% is from smaller buildings that are not regulated, that are not the big buildings covered by Berto. Uh and we
want to make sure that we are improving those buildings over time. Boston Energy Saver is thus another critical tool in our toolbox to accomplishing our climate change aims uh and and doing it in a way that collectively is improving the building stock for everybody. Uh folks are looking to us for leadership and
guidance in these challenging moments about how do you both reduce your emissions and reduce costs uh and improve quality of life for all and folks are looking to Boston for leadership. This is another example uh of the Woo administration taking charge. We uh we will only accomplish these goals through the collective action of
Bostononians. So, my message to folks is, you know, if you have electric resistance heat, if you have an oil an old oil fired burner, uh if your house is feeling pretty drafty on a day like today as we're approaching winter, if you're concerned that you're not getting the right rate on your energy bill, or if you just want to make sure that
you're accessing the programs that you've paid into to make sure that you're getting incentives back to take the actions you want, call us at Boston Energy Saver. Email us uh 617-635 boston.gov/save. Uh we are here to help. We're here to make sure that you're able to make the
improvements in your buildings um that you want to. Uh and with that, I'm it's my pleasure to turn it over to our commissioner and Green New Deal director, Oliver Celos Garcia for some more details on the program. Thank you. >> Thank you, Brian. Um, so I'm going to uh share just a few more details about how
the program works and how it's all come together and some of the key ingredients and help you understand how you will walk through this program. So one of the key ingredients is the mass save incentives that are better than they have ever been before. So whether that
covers uh more incentives for renters or for the work that needs to be done before some of the energy systems are replaced or better incentives um for lowincome residents. Uh they're all so much better than they were before. For example, if you're in Alustin, Brighton,
Dorchester, East Boston, Fenway, Hyde Park, Matipan, Mission Hill, or Roxbury, and you're in a building of under 15 residential units or 20,000 square ft of a commercial building, you're eligible for no cost weatherization for the whole building. You're eligible for health and
safety upgrades that are necessary for some other electrification and different kinds of building improvements. And you also may qualify for free heat pump installation. That's a gamecher. Another critical ingredient to the Boston energy saver is the partnership that we have
developed with Eversource and National Grid as well as our departments across the city and uh community- based organizations. We're working together to really get the message out there. The incentives that I mentioned need to get into the hands of
people in Boston and we have the resources to help. There are too many agency partners here from within the city to name, but I'll just give you some examples of departments that really have a presence in their neighborhoods and trust with the people they serve. Whether it's AidStrong, the public health commission, the mayor's office of
housing, or the mayor's office of immigrant advancement, they can bring this message on some of the issues that they're already working on with the people of Boston and bring them in to massave and this program. We also have community partners such as BCAN, who you'll be hearing more from in a few
moments, and we'll be releasing many grants in later this winter to bring more community-based organizations on board to help us reach different neighborhoods. And the third ingredient, I think, is a real change in the level of help and support that we are giving the people of Boston. Whether it's our
staff or our technical consultants who can help with much more thorny in the weeds issues about your particular building, we're here for the long term. We will follow you on the journey that you take. And this is a real difference in how we can engage with the people who
were helping serve. So just quickly about that journey in and of itself, I want to give you a picture of how to start. Now you're hearing it for the third time. boston.gov/save. That's really important. Or 617-635
SAVE. Give us a call. Get in touch on the website. We'll schedule a 30-minute conversation to talk about what's on your mind. What are your questions? What are you concerned about? What to do first. Maybe you're already a few steps ahead. That's great. We'll meet you there and take you to the next level to help you level up as you make your
building more efficient and more uh carbon-f free. There's so many different things that we will be offering, but I just want to give you a flavor of a couple of them. Let's start simple with an energy bill checkup. We can go through your bill, see if you're on a third party supplier who might be charging you too much. Is
there a discount rate that we can help you get on quickly? That will have an immediate impact. Or maybe you're interested in a heat pump and you're trying to figure out how to work with a contractor. That's something ourselves or a technical assistance consultant can help you with and also connect you with the incentives that work well with that
contractor. And if you're looking for financing for some additional work, we can connect you with the mayor's office of housing homeworks green program or as Brian mentioned the Mass Community Climate Bank's energy saver home loan program which offer uh both programs
which offer uh very good financing or forgivable loans. There's many more options, but I want to give you a flavor of what it's like to work with us. So before I turn it over to our other speakers, I have a um interminable list of thank yous that I think I'm going to abbreviate a little bit because of the
weather, but I just want to thank Eversource and National Grid again for this partnership. I want to thank our um uh partners who joined in an agreement that we signed with our utility partners to make this program possible. The Boston Climate Action Network, Boston
Housing Authority, and the Boston Home Center. We have a multitude of community groups that worked with us over the summer to shape this program and its and its future. I'll just mention a few. Mutual aid, Boston, Beckma, uh the Alustin Brighton Health
Collaborative, Green Roots, Southwest CDC, Convent Square Neighborhood Development Corporation, the list goes on and on. I want to also thank um the different departments that I mentioned that have been working with us. And finally, I can't leave the podium here
without thanking my team, Brooks winner, Degan Larkin, PA Casasola, Mana, and Dimma Mujahed, as well as the Do It team for their incredible work creating the outreach tools that you'll use. So, uh, now I'd like to turn it over to
Katherine Antos, the under secretary for decarbonization and resilience at the Mass Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. Thank you. Thank you. I'm thrilled to celebrate the launch of of Boston Energy Saver. We all
know reducing energy use and adopting clean heating solutions is deeply personal. We're talking about where we live, where we work, where we send our children to school. In Massachusetts, we are seizing the opportunity for buildings that are healthier and more
affordable to heat and cool. And we're also embracing the local companies and the workers who are performing the assessments, who are weatherizing, and who are electrifying our homes and our businesses. Weatherized homes on average reduce
energy use by 20%. That's real savings to customers. Over half a million homes have been weatherized through Mass Save since 2013. And this nationleading program has delivered $34 billion in benefits,
including avoided infrastructure upgrades that save all rateayers money. This year's hottest day was June 24th. It's probably hard to think about it now as we're all shivering a little bit, but let's go back to June. It was the hottest day. The grid was at its peak.
And during that time, energy efficiency was passively reducing demand by 10%. What that means is that in one hour alone, energy efficiency was generating $2.6 million in savings. So without
energy efficiency, we likely would have seen more blackouts that day. So, while it benefits everyone, energy efficiency and clean heating incentives matter most for low and moderate income residents. Yet, income eligible residents, renters,
and small businesses have historically underparticipated in these programs. The 25 to 27 Massave plan, as we've heard, it includes many enhancements to support these customers. So again, I want to thank National Grid and Eversource and all the program administrators for these
enhancements. Boston Energy Saver, it takes it a step further by providing one-on-one support not only to access Massave, but also tax credits, loans through the climate bank, and other resources. This innovative program, we're excited
about it at the state because it's going to yield lessons learned for how to equitably support residents and businesses across Massachusetts. EA in partnership with the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center and local partners is also piloting a custom centered a
customer- centered approach to energy savings through the home modernization navigator starting in Springfield and LOL with more cities joining soon. And through this work, we know that customers first want help understanding and lowering their bills. And that
provides a really important entree into weatherization and clean heating technology opportunities. So with the Navigator and now Boston Energy Saver, we are working towards a future where residents and businesses can easily access the resources and get the help
they need in the language they speak to make improvements that result in savings and healthier homes. Governor Healey's Energy Affordability Independence and Innovation Act further advances this work. When passed, it will take unnecessary costs off of bills and
support customers in savings and innovation. The legislation also includes provisions to transform Mass Save so program administrators, including Eversource and National Grid, can build on their success, more strategically deploy the program, and
use innovative financing options that could save rateayers billions over the next 10 years. The legislation also authorizes other tools to affordably access energy saving technologies, including on bill financing and enabling nonprofits to invest in energy
infrastructure and share those benefits with host communities. Boston Energy Saver and programs like it help residents take control of their energy use and build the future that we want. Thank you, Mayor Woo, your team,
and all the partners for your vision and leadership in this. Thank you. >> And now we'll hear from Jenny Sansuran on the energy efficiency team at Eversource. Hello everyone. My name is Jenny Suen. I'm a supervisor of equity, strategic
partnerships, and workforce development at Eversource, a proud sponsor of Massafe. I'm honored to be here today to celebrate the launch of the Boston Energy Saver Program, a major step towards making energy efficiency more accessible and affordable for all
Bostononians. The program was built with equity and impact at its core. It's designed to serve renters, homeowners, small businesses, and owners of small properties, especially in low-income neighborhoods with solutions that reduce
energy costs, improve comfort, and lower carbon emissions. We are here in the spirit of community collaboration and commitment. as the two massive sponsors serving Boston, Eversource and National Grid are proud
to align our energy efficiency efforts with the city's climate strategy. Yes, we have set ambitious goals, installing 5,000 heat pumps and weatherizing 10,000 buildings by 2027. But these numbers don't tell the whole
story. This work is human- centered and communitydriven. I want to give a big shout out to Hassan, Maria, Paulina, Brooks, and Grace, our boots on the ground in the heart of our Mass Safe Community First partnership here in Boston.
Through collaboration with the city, Beacan, and trusted local partners, we're reaching out with empathy, cultural understanding, and information in the languages and lived experiences that make Boston so vibrant. And in doing so, we're hoping to build a bridge
of trust so that residents and business owners can feel comfortable reaching back out to us. The Energy Saver program shows what's possible when equity and environmental justice lead the way. It's one of the most ambitious utility and municipality
collaborations in the country and we are so proud to be part of it. Thank you to the city of Boston and all of our partners. We look forward to helping residents, business owners save energy, save money, and build a more sustainable future. And now I will say a few words
in Haitian Creole. Ever Boston Energy Saver. program, Eversource, AP National Grid. Aqua [Music] Thank you very much.
[Applause] Thank you so much, Jenny. And now it's my pleasure to introduce Meredith Levy, executive director of the Boston Neighborhood Community Land Trust. [Applause] >> Hi everyone. Uh my name is Meredith Levy
from the Boston Neighborhood Community Land Trust. Um, [Music] we're a we're a small organization uh with a mighty agenda which is to try to keep people from getting pushed out of their neighborhoods and we do it one
building at a time. Um, we have over the years we've been able to acquire 11 buildings in Doorchester. So we have 32 families living in our land trust and we operate using a model of community control. One of the things that's really important for us is that people don't
pay more than 30% of their income on housing and we have a number of people who live in our buildings who are facing all the bills that the mayor and others have spoken of. So, it's very important for us to make sure programs like this
benefit our folks. When we purchase our buildings, we often we have triple- deckers, we have a sixunit and other sizes, but they're small buildings and we know just looking around that's these are the buildings in Boston and these are the buildings where people are at risk of getting displaced for a variety
of reasons. So, it's important for us to make sure these buildings remain in the hands of the neighbors that make up of Boston's neighborhoods now. And uh we want to make sure these buildings are in great shape. We also know that climate justice intersects with affordable
housing and it's very important to us as to be stewards of that and to make sure that all these awesome programs don't miss this important population of Boston. How do we make sure these resources really benefit our folks? Um
over the last couple of years, we've had the opportunity to start making investments in um weatherizing and improving our buildings through energy retrofits and improvements. So um it's been it's been quite a journey for us.
We've learned so much and in last couple of years we were able to for one we through massc um and other programs and working with resident energy we were able to do a major energy retrofit. So, our building is now completely fossil-free. Um, we're
going to be putting solar panels. We're committed to making sure that the benefits do pass down to the residents, any savings. That's really important to us. And as we do this, we have to keep that lens of making sure that people aren't paying more bills, but they're able to benefit from these energy
efficient homes with heat pumps and everything else, tight building envelopes. So, that was a really great project for us to start this. and and we're committed to weatherizing all of our buildings. When we buy buildings, they're often times not in the greatest shape. There's a lot of deferred
maintenance. So, if we can get at the systems at the interior as well as the building envelope and really tighten up oops, tighten up the buildings, um that's the goal. So, we're in the we're in the process right now of um of
turning over a number of our heating systems using a lot of these programs. So, we've got a couple of buildings right in the area, including 49 Speed Wall, which is very close by, where we have old boilers and um we're we're using oil and we're trying to convert
these into heat pumps as we speak. So, this is a great time for us. We're committed to trying to convert all of our properties to be energy efficient, climate friendly buildings. Um as well as thinking about the landscaping, everything. We're really committed to this because that intersection of afford
deep affordability and climate um is really important to us and to the folks who live in our buildings. Um I do want to say it can be a bit of a maze, right, to try to figure out all these programs. And listening today, I've learned so much just about the different programs.
I'm going to follow up. Um, but one of the things that we just learned about because it's brand new is the Boston Energy Saver program. And that's pretty amazing cuz when you're out there as a developer or an owner, um, you don't always know that these programs exist
and it can be money left on the table or projects deferred because we can't quite figure out how to pay for it. We're a tiny nonprofit. So, knowing there's a phone number and a website that's now drilled in my head um that I can just go
to and call and pick up and call Brooks and the team and say, "Help us figure out, help us navigate this is remarkable. It's a really important, valuable nexus for us um because we don't necessarily know how to work it. So this now we know we can okay we've
got a person um a friendly person a worm body who can help us project what we need what program is there. So, >> at least the back. >> Okay. Um, it's it's uh we're we're just very grateful that that exists. And you
can bet we're going to use it both. >> Wow. For our ex for our existing properties as well as we we're going to be acquiring more buildings just like the the ones that we have and we're committed to doing that. So having this as a resource, especially when we buy and we're going to do a a rehab anyway,
this is the perfect time to think about advanced energy improvements, our systems, the building envelope. So we're so happy that this exists. We're happy to be a partner. We uh look forward to us to contacting you so that we can do more projects ahead. Thanks so much.
[Applause] And finally, I want to ask up Grace Umaya, the advocacy director for Boston Climate Action Network. [Music] Boston Energy Saver. Victoria Secrets,
National Grid. Gracias. [Applause] Okay, so my notes aren't in English, but nonetheless, good afternoon everyone. My name is Grace Man. I'm the uh energy justice director at Boston Climate Action Network, also known as BAND. And
for the last 25 years, we have rooted ourselves in the truth that the transition to renewable energy and clean energy can really only be done when the community trusts in us. Um, we still find neighbors that find programs like Mass Save confusing. Um, that they work
too much and that they feel like they don't have enough time to participate or that they actually even haven't even heard of it. Um, and so that's where we come in. Um, for decades um, our organization has dedicated um, ourselves to making energy efficiency possible for
all of our residents. And especially during these times when energy bills are rising, it's when we hear the name Boston Energy Saver, we don't just think of another new program. We see a victory towards accessible um affordable energy
that's reliable and that is fossil fuel free for everyone. Um so we're profoundly grateful to um Mayor Woo um the climate council, our um partners in the administration u subsecary Antos um as well as our partners in Eversource
and National Grid. But above all, we are innumerably grateful to all of the um community groups and residents that have come together with us over time in this city um to uh help us ensure that we lower our energy bills and healthier homes are within reach for all of our
families. Thank you. [Applause] >> Okay, so I've got about like two to three more hours of remarks I'd like to make. Just kidding. We've made it. You're all going to be warm soon. Um, but we'd be happy to take some questions now.
You all really want to get into a warm, comfortable place, don't you? Last call. Okay, thank you everyone. [Applause]