A Report from the Esplanade Environmental Study Group
by Bob Kagan
The EESG is happy to report some promising developments in our efforts to encourage The Esplanade to reduce its carbon footprint. In addition, we would like to share with ECG Newsletter readers our agenda for helping our Board of Trustees and management to continue to make progress. And we conclude by urging Esplanade residents to help us advance that agenda. Please don’t neglect to read that part.
Some Positive Developments. The Esplanade Environmental Study Group [EESG]been communicating with the Board of Trustees and Esplanade’s management about ambitious governmental plans, both state and municipal, for moving rapidly toward “net zero” emissions from carbon fuels. We emphasized that Cambridge officials are already working on mandatory regulations that, as of now, will apply to large residential buildings like ours. We asked how management would get the technical and financial advice to help it meet these costly demands.
At a recent “listening session” residents, Chairman John Yee said the Board is now taking those issues seriously and will keep us informed. Maureen Burg wrote the EESG that Eversource, our electric utility, will provide technical guidance for the challenges of adapting to new efficiency demands. Importantly, Eversource has advised her and Ben Bara that its long-expected subsidy programs for condominiums in Cambridge will very soon be put in place. These programs promise to enable The Esplanade to upgrade our electric services, a first step for expanding our capacity to provide charging stations for electric vehicles, as well as for meeting regulatory demands for reducing our reliance on burning natural gas to power our building’s HVAC and hot water systems.
The EESG Agenda. The EESG’s mission is to provide the Board and management as much information and assistance as we can. More specifically, we want to:
1. Communicate directly with Eversource (a) to keep abreast of their subsidy plans, including for EV charging infrastructure; and (b) to learn from their experts about “best practices” for energy efficiency in other residential buildings that might be worthy of emulation.
2. Communicate directly with City of Cambridge officials about (a) the evolving demands on buildings like ours from the planned regulation requiring large reductions in fossil fuel use, and (b) how the Esplanade’s “energy use intensity” score, as shown in our management’s reports pursuant to the Building Energy Use Disclosure Ordinance [BEUDO], compares with scores from other buildings; and (c) whether BEUDO officials have discerned and can tell us about “best practices” in comparable buildings.
3. Explore a possible alternative energy source. The Vicinity electric power plant, across from The Esplanade on Edwin Land Boulevard, uses heat and steam from generating electricity to provide carbon free energy to buildings in our district. Pipes it has installed for delivering the steam run directly past our building, along Cambridge Parkway. We need to explore with them the feasibility and cost of connecting with the Esplanade. https://www.vicinityenergy.us/
4. Explore Greener Windows. We have heard that some new buildings have installed double-paned windows that contain small solar cells, thus not only providing better insulation and some additional electricity. With windows in the Esplanade scheduled for replacement in 2027, we need to search for information about those solar cell windows or other new designs that serve both insulation and energy efficiency goals.
5. Reduce energy use in The Esplanade’s residential units, by (a) working for installation in all units of LED light bulbs and modern thermostats, ideally with help from from management in reducing costs, facilitating installation, and in strongly encouraging residents to do their share; (b) explore with MASS SAVE what they can do in this regard; (c) explore and perhaps encourage the use of energy efficient shades, for which a federal subsidy may be available.
6. Composting by residential unit owners. Irene Merwin is actively exploring with Esplanade Management and Cambridge officials curbside pick-up of compost. The city would provide plastic buckets for residents to use in their units and a large container in our garage into which residents would deposit their bucket-loads of compost.
Help Wanted. The EESG does not at present have the man-and-womanpower to fulfill this agenda. If you agree these are important things to do, and would like to do your part in the struggle to save our planet, and think you could work constructively on some parts or part of this agenda, please get in touch with Bob Kagan. rak@berkeley.edu, 617-301-0861.