October 03, 2021

MassCEC’s “Clean Energy Lives Here” Offers A New Take On Home Improvement

Susan Mlodozeniec, Marketing Director

Did you know that half of all the owner-occupied homes in Massachusetts were built before 1962? Even if your home isn’t quite that old, energy-conscious solutions for insulating, heating, cooling, doing laundry, and cooking were most likely not a priority for your home’s builder or its prior owners.

 

Given that in MA, 42% of greenhouse gas emissions come from our residences and vehicles, planning for the decarbonization of our homes and transportation is crucial to help Massachusetts reach its climate goals. Communities and individual homeowners have the opportunity to reduce emissions and get the benefit of cost savings and technology upgrades as they make home improvements and vehicle purchases.

 

 

The Clean Energy Home

Replacing fossil fuel inputs to heating, home appliances and transportation with electricity enables you to power your life with increasingly cleaner electricity sources like solar, wind, and hydropower.

Renewables generated over 20% of the electricity we consumed in MA in 2020, and Massachusetts law requires that they generate 40% in 2030 and 80% of grid electricity in 2050. In contrast, heating, home appliances and transportation that depend on fossil fuels will remain as polluting in future years as they are today.

 

Why We Created Clean Energy Lives Here

Over the years, MassCEC has helped tens of thousands of homeowners learn about, acquire, and redeem incentives for heat pumps, solar electricity, EVs, and more through our community-based programs like SolarizeMass and HeatSmart. That expertise that we developed during over 100 community engagements is the foundation for Clean Energy Lives Here.

We take the mystery out of home technologies that are unfamiliar to you, and give you the facts so you can have an informed conversation with contractors and service providers about your home system and appliance choices.

 

 

Here are some ways for homeowners to use Clean Energy Lives Here:

  • Browse Clean Energy Solutions for Your Home to see a list of home technologies that we cover

  • Use our Introduction to the Clean Energy Home guide to see what clean energy systems and appliances would be right for your home

  • Visit our Resources section to watch videos, read individual technology guides, and explore blogs about real homeowners who have tackled clean energy projects

  • Check out Benefits + Savings to see what to expect for up front and monthly costs, savings, incentives and greenhouse gas reduction

  • Fill out a Clean Energy Home Plan to document the condition of your current home systems and appliances, along with notes on what you might replace them with when they stop working or they are part of a renovation

  • Use our Installers page to find clean energy professionals who serve your community

If you are a renter, while you might have less control over the space you live in there are still ways you can benefit from clean energy and influence the conversation about clean energy:

  • If your building doesn’t produce its own solar electricity onsite, as an electric bill payer you can sign up for clean electricity in any of the following ways, all of which are explained further in the Buying Clean Electricity section of our site:

  • When systems or appliances in your unit or building are at the end of their useful life, inform your landlord and provide input on the benefits of electrified home technologies as replacements for fossil fuel-powered versions. Our Technologies For Your Clean Energy Home guide provides comprehensive information on these products.

  • If you notice that your building’s roof seems to have good sun exposure, suggest to your landlord that they investigate adding solar electric panels. We’ve got a Solar Landlord Toolkit to help them understand their options.

 

We’re In This Together

Whether we’re homeowners or renters, many of us face unique challenges with our quirky, lovable, and (in many cases) decades-old dwellings here in Massachusetts! Be a discerning customer of energy sources. Help the climate as you improve your house or apartment. The energy decisions of the past won’t dictate our energy future if we are informed consumers of energy and select clean, efficient systems and appliances when replacing legacy home technologies.