The Turning Back Bay Green program, which is being run through the office of Boston City Council President Michael P. Ross. This pilot program targets Boston’s Back Bay community, by offering residents and businesses a range of green initiatives (including energy, water, and waste management, to name a few).
The program is still in its early stages, but this is likely to change quite quickly as we ramp up our efforts within the community and with our various partners. Our partners include Boston University (and other academic institutions in Boston), neighborhood and business associations in the Back Bay, local utility providers (NSTAR and National Grid), municipal and state authorities, and local environmental services providers.
A little closer to home, Professors Suchi Gopal and Nathan Phillips (of the GE Department) are active participants in the program, serving as working group members for the program. It was they who introduced me to this opportunity, and I would like to do the same for anyone who is or may be interested in getting involved with the program.
Professor Nathan Phillips and I are currently in the process of working to line-up an internship or two for BU students over the summer so that they may gain both experience and some form of school credit(s) through their work with the program.
More info about the program:
Presently, the program’s top two priorities concern our ‘Energy Performance Improvement Initiative’ and our ‘Sustainable Waste Management Initiative.’ Each initiative is, in and of itself, full of opportunities (and related challenges). I will take a moment to de-brief you on each.
The Energy Performance Improvement Initiative:
The goal here is to provide residents and merchants\businesses of the Back Bay low- or no-cost oppotunities to improve the energy efficiency of their homes and\or businesses.
This, as you may already know, is much easier said than done, but the path forward is in our grasp. By establishing partnerships with local utilities and energy services providers, the program has been able to begin the process of aligning the various stakeholders that must be included in such an initiative as this. Our next steps in this direction include working directly with condominium associations, building managers and owners, neighborhood and business associations, etc. Offering energy improvement opportunities is essentially meaningless unless the benefits of these opportunities can be translated simply and effectively to the target audience(s). A well-informed audience is the starting point for building interest and momentum towards actually getting out there in the community and seeing that resident and businesses take advantage of the opportunities available to them.
We are currently working to launch our website, www.turningbackbaygreen.com, and once this has been accomplished we will be sending residents and businesses of the Back Bay a letter introducing them to the program and the opportunity to improve the energy performance of their homes and\or businesses. The first step in this direction is the scheduling of an initial (and free) energy assessment\audit. From here, we will work to determine the level of interest that exists in the community for performing any of the wide range of energy improvements available through the program.
While the early “infrastructure” has largely been built, the real “feet on the gorund” work has yet to begin in earnest.
The Sustainable Waste Management Initiative:
The City of Boston, similar to that of other cities who aspire to be on the cutting-edge of the sustainability\green movement, has been working hard to improve the level of recycling for over twenty years now. While some success has been achieved to date, the overall results have been mixed.
This initiative aims to go beyond simple waste management to what we see as the future of waste management–i.e. towards a “zero waste” system. What does this mean? Well, it begins with improved recycling rates, but it does not even come close to stopping there. Achieving a zero waste system requires that the volume of waste generated today be dramatically reduced through eforts such as organics’ recycling (a.k.a. composting), proper sorting of recyclable materials, building effective waste management systems at the consumer level, etc.
We have been working with a few waste management industry professionals to draw up an action plan that would include the entire City of Boston, because without achieving the necessary scale little progress can be made in the area of sustainable waste management.
The very nature of any initiative such as this requires consensus building at the municiapl level, with local “champions” heading up the PR efforts. Efforts to work with existing waste services providers, and\or new entrants to this arena, have yet to be developed beyond a very basic level.
Presently, we are working to gain feedback from high-waste generators in the Back Bay (such as restaurants), in order to determine the level of interest that exists in offering a more sustainable waste management system that drives down the costs associated with waste management.
Other Initiatives:
The program is interested in a wide range of “green” initiatives, spanning from the idea of the “smart grid” (and smart metering systems) to increased green space in and around the City of Boston, to greenhouse gas measurement projects, etc.
The broader goal of the program is to become a model worthy of city-wide adoption, and diffusion across the state and country. By creating a greener community in the Back Bay, through all feasible initiatives, we hope to show others that small, individual actions really do add up to significant progress in combatting climate change and environmental issues.
Please feel free to contact me with any inquiries related to the program and/or this opportunity to get involved with the program.
Patrick
