Building & Design

US university Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has joined forces with local utility NSTAR on a major efficiency project aimed at cutting electricity use by 15% over the next three years.

The ‘MIT Efficiency Forward’ programme aims to save 34 million kilowatt-hours of electricity through a combination of new technologies and engagement with students, staff and faculty.

Over the lifetime of the projects undertaken during the three-year programme, MIT could make savings of over $50 million.

“What we are launching with MIT is a bold new plan for confronting climate change and a proposal to officially establish energy efficiency as the ‘first fuel’ in Massachusetts,” says Tom May, NSTAR chairman, president and CEO.

NSTAR says the energy efficiency programme is the most aggressive one it has undertaken in its history.

MIT and NSTAR will work together on combined heat and power generation, sustainable construction and upgrades to heating, ventilation and air conditioning, electrical and lab systems, and lighting.

“This exciting new programme… will pursue one of the major opportunities to reduce energy consumption: finding smart, sensible, economic approaches to energy efficiency,” says MIT president Susan Hockfield.

For further information:
www.nstar.com
web.mit.edu

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