School committee approves CMTA contract to begin energy study at Hopkinton High School

The Hopkinton School Committee voted on July 24 to authorize the assistant superintendent of finance to execute a contract with CMTA to begin a performance-based energy conservation project at Hopkinton High School. Committee members said the work is intended to support the town’s goal of reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045 and to identify energy-savings projects that could be paired with scheduled capital work at the high school. Jess Farber of CMTA, the firm the district selected after a request for qualifications, told the committee the first step will be a building assessment and identification of potential cost-saving measures. “Our first step is really to do an overall assessment of the buildings and come up with some ideas of what we think we can do and what some costs would be,” Farber said. She said on-site work could begin in the weeks before school starts and that CMTA hopes to return to the committee with findings in September. Committee members asked where project money would come from. Farber said that projects would likely be capital requests and that some portion of upgrades could be offset by demonstrated energy savings and by utility incentives available through Mass Save; she said she did not yet have figures because field testing and analysis had not been completed. A motion to approve the assistant superintendent of finance to execute the contract with CMTA was moved and seconded; the committee indicated approval by voice vote.