Woburn Wins $100K Green Communities Grant For Senior Center

WOBURN, MA — Woburn won a $100,000 state grant for energy-serving projects at the Woburn Senior Center, the city said Thursday. The grant was available due to the city's Green Community designation.

The funding will be used to upgrade the Senior Center's insulation and install additional air-source heat pumps in the cafeteria, changes expected to save the city over $25,000 per year in energy-related costs.

Since the city won the Green Communities designation in 2011, it has received nearly $1.7 million in energy-related grants from the state Department of Energy Resources. They have gone to retrofitting public buildings and street lights with LED lighting, buying electric vehicles for the city fleet and modernizing heating and cooling systems in city schools and other buildings.

"I want to thank Deputy Superintendent of Public Works Lenny Burnham, City Planner/Grant Writer Dan Orr, and our energy conservation consultant, Susan McPhee, for their hard work in putting this year’s application together," Mayor Scott Galvin said in a statement. "As in past years, our team identified energy efficiency projects that will help the City achieve its long-term goal of reducing its energy consumption by at least twenty percent (20%), while also ensuring good stewardship of taxpayer dollars."

Christopher Huffaker can be reached at 412-265-8353 or chris.huffaker@patch.com.