When QCAN members heard that the City of Quincy was embarking on a feasibility study for the new Squantum Elementary School, many of us emailed and called the city councilors to encourage early adoption of design features necessary to achieve net-zero energy goals for the new school. QCAN stressed in our correspondence that it is not too early to set energy goals, and it’s NOT too early to decide to make it a net-zero energy building, as there are other communities already building net-zero schools. 

Nina Liang responded that “the Massachusetts School Building Authority offers a 1.5-2 percent incentive for money spent towards energy efficiency in the context of designing towards high performance certification. They offer NE-CHPS, as well as LEED, as high performance pathways in place of MA-CHPS. Also, MassSave is an initiative sponsored by Massachusetts’ gas and electric utilities which offers incentives and services to help schools manage energy costs and create a more comfortable environment. Additionally, DSIRE maintains a comprehensive database of incentives for Massachusetts, many of which can be applied to schools.”

Mayor Koch thought it was too early to include net-zero requirements in the feasibility study; City Councilors Liang, Mahoney, Andronico, and DiBona brought up that they wanted net-zero put in the feasibility study due to pressure from QCAN. This issue got moved to the Finance Committee. There is an open bid for the Owner’s Project Manager, who will be hired prior to the design team being hired. QCAN will continue to monitor this as it moves through the selection process and a consultant is selected.

In June, many of us were anxiously waiting for the Massachusetts Senate and House to come to an agreement on the state’s Climate Bill. The clock was ticking and time was running out. Things were stalling because the House and Senate couldn’t agree, so a conference committee was called to help the process along. The House Speaker and Senate President each chose three members to serve on the committee to hash out the details and come up with compromises. And our very own Quincy Representative Tackey Chan was on this committee.

Normally, QCAN sticks to very local issues, letting the bigger climate groups tackle statewide issues. However, Mothers Out Front approached QCAN about getting a meeting with Rep. Chan, knowing he would be more likely to listen to his constituents. So we reached out to Rep. Chan and organized a meeting on June 24 between him, QCAN, and other statewide climate groups: Mothers Out Front, 350 Mass Action, Massachusetts Climate Action Network, the Massachusetts Sierra Club, and Climate XChange.

Just a reminder about tonight’s free virtual Heat Pumps 101 event at 7pm tonight here:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87280685757

If the Zoom is at capacity or you are having trouble entering, you can watch live on the Thomas Crane Library’s YouTube Channel. YouTube viewers can email info@quincycan.org to ask questions – we will monitor the account throughout the event.