Brighton Allston Apartments: Energy Upgrades + Refinancing = Major Savings

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. The Allston Brighton Community Development Corporation (ABCDC) joined MAGRI to secure technical assistance to evaluate and improve the performance of its entire portfolio. Ultimately, the complex upgrade it was able to undertake was feasible only because MAGRI provided the technical assistance needed to coordinate the combination of grants, utility efciency program incentives, and refinancing that funded the project. The improvements delivered a 55 percent reduction in gas use at one of the development’s two buildings through the overhaul of the heating and distribution systems, building envelope improvements, and installation of the solar thermal system. At the second building, insulation and air sealing yielded an eight percent reduction in gas consumption. Overall, the upgrades resulted in a 46 percent reduction in the development’s total gas consumption and save the owner $25,357 in avoided annual utility expenses.