Lakeville committee endorses Green Communities report after portal data show roughly 50% drop in building EUI since baseline

The Town of Lakeville Energy Advisory Committee reviewed the municipal energy metrics and voted Nov. 3 to recommend submission of the Green Communities annual report to the town manager.

Committee members used the Massachusetts Energy Insight portal to examine trends. The committee's presentation showed the town's combined Energy Use Intensity (EUI) across municipal buildings dropped from about 40 (baseline year) to just above 20 in fiscal year 2024. Portal data also indicate total annual energy consumption (measured in MBTUs) declined from roughly 57,000 MBTUs to just over 30,000 MBTUs over the same period. The portal breaks use out by fuel type and shows a multi-year decline in number of MBTUs of oil and a concurrent decline in overall energy intensity attributable to measures such as insulation, LED lighting and equipment upgrades.

The committee discussed data quality and normalization for weather (heating/cooling degree days), the need to reconcile school district accounting and meter configurations (some campuses combine multiple meters), and the importance of verifying portal inputs (gallons versus dollars for heating oil). Members noted submetering, historical changes in building stock and weather variation can affect year‑to‑year comparisons and that the portal data are audited as part of the Green Communities reporting process.

The portal output also identifies municipal hotspots: per‑square‑foot EUI shows the animal shelter as relatively inefficient (highest EUI per square foot), while total dollars and CO2 emissions are dominated by the regional school campus because of size and fuel type (school heating is primarily oil). Committee members discussed prior performance contracting efforts, the value of submetering and the possibility of bringing in experts (e.g., past consultants who worked on school efficiency) for targeted efforts.

Formal action: after review and minor discussion, the committee moved, seconded and approved a recommendation that the annual Green Communities report be submitted to the town manager for final review and signature. The vote carried with no abstentions.

Next steps include final portal audits and follow‑up work to validate school meter inputs, create a building‑by‑building table of completed energy conservation measures, and pursue targeted projects for high‑EUI buildings (for example, animal shelter measures and school campus efficiency projects).