Day Joins In Celebrating State's $1B GreenWorks Plan

A release from House Representative Michael Day:

(BOSTON) – Representative Michael S. Day (D-Stoneham) joined his colleagues in announcing
a new initiative to invest $1 billion over the next 10 years to help communities across
Massachusetts adopt technologies – including clean energy, energy efficiency, and climate
change resiliency measures – that cut greenhouse gas emissions, fortify infrastructure and reduce
municipal costs. The proposal – known as GreenWorks – builds on the House’s consistent
approach of providing concrete tools directly to communities.

“This is an exciting development, and one that will provide our town with a meaningful and direct say in the future of our climate,” said Representative Day. “I am very confident that our community will take full advantage of the opportunity these grants provide us and will be involved in our efforts to secure these grants.”

These competitive grants are for cities and towns to fund projects including, but not limited to
energy efficient buildings, solar, microgrids, energy storage, electric vehicle charging stations, or
resiliency infrastructure. Under the proposal, the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental
Affairs will administer the grants through its agencies.

“Many of our residents have reached out to me since I’ve been in office to communicate their
ideas for innovative approaches to how we can better fund green projects impacting our energy
sources and consumption and climate change resiliency,” continued Representative Day. “I am
very happy to join the Speaker in taking these steps that will lead us towards a cleaner energy
future for all.”

The announcement was met with widespread excitement and support. Speaker DeLeo unveiled
the legislation during a visit to the Greentown Labs Global Center for Cleantech Innovation.
Located in Somerville, Greentown Labs is the largest cleantech business incubator in the United
States. Since its founding in 2011, it has graduated more than 170 companies with more than 86
percent of them still in operation.

“Greentown Labs’ mission is to support cleantech startups and help get their technologies to
market,” said Emily Reichert, CEO of GreenTown Labs. “We’re excited to learn of Speaker
DeLeo's new GreenWorks plan and eager to see the positive impact it will make on deploying
cleantech and clean energy solutions across the Commonwealth.”

“ELM welcomes Speaker DeLeo's announcement. The Commonwealth has so much to gain
from proactively investing in resiliency and sustainability – and so much to lose from inertia,”
said Environmental League of Massachusetts President Elizabeth Henry. “We look forward to
working with the Speaker and the Legislature to craft an effective program."