Published by The Boston Globe
Governor Deval Patrick toured a Framingham energy-efficiency service company today, praising them for creating green jobs in Massachusetts and congratulating them on their successful initial public offering in July.
Ameresco, Inc., which helps companies across the world reduce their energy consumption, has doubled in size since 2005, said Patrick. He said recent growth in the clean energy sector of the Massachusetts economy during a recession signaled hope.
“The reason it works in Massachusetts from an economic point of view is that we have concentrated brain power,” he said. “We make the things we invent here.”
Over 400 solar panels have been installed in Massachusetts since the start of Patrick’s Commonwealth Solar program in 2009, according to a press release from the governor’s office.
The governor said he was glad the visit occurred the day after he defended the Cape Wind project in a gubernatorial debate with Republican candidate Charles Baker, Independent candidate Timothy Cahill and Green-Rainbow Party candidate Jill Stein.
“I left yesterday with the sense of, ‘Is this election about yesterday or tomorrow?’” he said. “This company is all about tomorrow.”
Ameresco is hiring close to 700 employees throughout the country, and the company does everything it can to hold on to its current employees, said company officials. The firm hires engineers with specific “energy engineering” degrees that equip them with the necessary skills, said Kathleen DevlinRuggiero, vice president of human resources.
Patrick offered the company help from the state in recruiting and training the types of employees needed. He met with a panel of employees behind closed doors before answering questions from the press.
Ruggiero spoke about training engineers who are currently out of work and utilizing local college programs such as those offered by University of Massachusetts Lowell and Northeastern University. She said the company offers tuition reimbursement and allows employees to work from home because finding enough qualified employees is such a challenge.
Patrick and the panel discussed challenges to making Boston more energy-efficient, such as changing the attitudes of renters and landlords who do not see the long-term economic benefits of energy saving approaches.
During his tour of the office, Patrick spoke briefly with Sarah Simon, Environmental Compliance manager, asking her about landfill gas and wastewater gas projects. Simon said Ameresco currently has 26 projects across the country which sell gas from landfills, and they have two wastewater plants.
“We don’t do enough of this here, it seems,” said Patrick, examining the list of plants. He suggested Ameresco partner with a landfill in Taunton, which he says is looking for an energy partner.
Ameresco recommends technologies and products to companies looking to lower their carbon footprints and save money, said Carolann Hibbard, vice president of strategic marketing and communications. The 10-year-old company designs and installs projects for the Federal government, schools, healthcare and utility companies and other customers.
Ameresco also has the largest amount of energy savings performance contracts of any company with the Federal Department of Housing and Development, company officials said. They are currently looking to train tenants of housing units in San Francisco for green jobs.
Mayor Thomas Menino contracted Ameresco in March to make $63 million worth of energy-efficient improvements on Boston Housing Authority facilities, which is the largest sustainable public housing project in the country, according to a press release from Ameresco.
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