Patrick looking for more ‘green’ <br> at malls and big-box stores

BOSTON – Looking to promote “green” development at malls and big-box retail stores, Gov. Deval L. Patrick last month directed his energy secretary to work with the development community on ways to encourage efficient and solar-powered buildings.
Mass. Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Ian Bowles will initiate a dialogue with developers and ultimately work to put together the technical assistance, financing support and regulatory standards to facilitate the universal adoption of the measures, Patrick said in a statement.
“Reducing energy use, making electricity from the sun, and getting the most out of buildings we will leave to our children and our grandchildren is a value proposition that ought to make sense to developers as businesspeople,” Patrick said. “It is up to us in state government to make that proposition too good to turn down.”
Bowles noted that there are already substantial financial incentives in place for solar power, but that only a few large retailers have taken advantage of them. These incentives include Commonwealth Solar, the state’s rebate program, which provides as much as 40 percent of the cost of a solar energy installation, and federal investment tax credits for solar installations, which were recently extended for another eight years. •