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Mass. awards $27 million to help ‘decarbonize’ hundreds of affordable housing units

November 22, 2023

Gov Healey

A WBUR story

The Healey administration awarded $27 million to several affordable housing developments on Tuesday to help them reduce planet-warming emissions and increase energy efficiency in more than 700 units across the state.

The money, which comes from the Affordable Housing Deep Energy Retrofit Grant Program announced earlier this year, will be used to install electric heat pumps, insulate walls, replace old or leaky windows and, in some places, put up solar panels.

“In Massachusetts, affordable homes and clean energy go hand-in-hand,” Gov. Healey said at an event celebrating the grant recipients. “This program is what our approach is all about. [It’s] an opportunity to invest in homes and good jobs, an opportunity to create more livable communities.

"It's an opportunity as well for the people who've borne the brunt of extreme weather and high energy costs to be the first in line to benefit from a clean energy revolution.”

There are more than 2.6 residential homes and apartments in Massachusetts and many of them are old, poorly-insulated and heated with fossil fuels. “Decarbonizing” them — or dramatically reducing emissions by electrifying appliances — is central to Massachusetts’ climate goals.

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