Vicinity
Summary
The City of Boston, like many cities across the nation and beyond, has set aggressive climate goals to curb the negative effects of climate change. Boston is aiming to be carbon-neutral by 2050, meaning the City will only be able to release as much carbon as the environment can safely absorb.
But how does the City plan to make this happen?
Achieving carbon neutrality, in large part, will come from decarbonizing the energy-intensive buildings that operate in Boston: commercial offices, hospitals, colleges and universities, and many others.
Originally enacted in 2013, the Building Emissions Reductions and Disclosure Ordinance (BERDO) required large buildings in Boston to report and disclose their emissions.
In 2021, however, the amended ordinance — BERDO 2.0 — was unanimously passed by the Boston City Council and signed by Boston’s Acting Mayor Kim Janey, officially moving the ordinance beyond reporting, and setting enforceable emissions standards for buildings.
Crucially, the ordinance aims to eliminate the 70% of greenhouse gas emissions that commercial buildings contribute to the City of Boston.
How district energy can help meet BERDO 2.0 requirements
Our team of experts at Vicinity are prepared to help commercial building owners, operators, and property teams in Boston meet the aggressive emissions reductions requirements posed by BERDO 2.0 and avoid costly fines.
Building from success stories in European countries like Norway, Finland, and Sweden, Vicinity is electrifying our district energy systems. Our approach is based on our ability to:
- Leverage established technologies such as industrial-scale electric boilers and heat pumps to convert electricity into steam;
- Capitalize on the flexibility of our existing assets that connect to the electric transmission system today;
- Take advantage of the future economics of renewable electricity to introduce green electrons to our fuel mix;
- And utilize the agility of fuel-agnostic district energy to decarbonize, easily “flipping the switch” to greener fuels.
Critically, we are electrifying our central factilities, and buildings that are already connected to our system will not need any costly building modifications and can immediately reap the benefits of carbon-free steam.
Our team is actively working towards our goal of net zero: in November of 2022, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu officially kicked off our electrification plans with the deconstruction of a steam turbine at our Kendall Green Energy Facility. We are installing an electric boiler in its place, which will enter service in 2024.
In April 2023, we took another crucial step in the electrification of our Kendall operations by announcing our partnership with MAN Energy Solutions to collaborate in the development of low-temperature source heat pump systems for steam generation. This partnership will allow us to install an industrial-scale heat pump complex at our Kendall Station facility by 2026.
“District heating systems are one of the most efficient and sustainable ways to provide heat to commercial buildings and industrial facilities.” — Uwe Laber, CEO and CSO, MAN Energy Solutions
Today, the Vicinity team also assists our customers in Boston with BERDO 2.0 reporting energy usage through Energy Star Portfolio Manager, one of the three reporting requirements set by BERDO 2.0.
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