Nov 26 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Matt Murphy The Sun, Lowell, Mass.

Bernie Shapiro, a retired UMass Lowell math professor, doesn't consider himself a zealous global-warming activist.

Still, his house in Lowell's Highlands neighborhood tells a different story.

Shapiro started small, building a "super insulated" 1,680-square-foot home in 1983 to save on energy costs.

Next he would add a solar-powered hot-water system. Then, last August, Shapiro installed solar panels on his roof that, during the summer months, produce more electricity than he can use, and, on average, have cut his monthly heating bills by two-thirds.

"The payback, as I figure it, depending on the cost of electricity, will be 20 years, but the person who buys this house after me will have a great benefit," Shapiro said. "I've always felt that if I could be energy-efficient, that's what I'm looking to do."

To install the solar panels, which cost about $29,000, Shapiro took advantage of grant money offered through the state's Renewable Energy Trust.

Overall, more than $19.6 million has been funneled to 57 green-energy projects in Greater Lowell since 2002. More than 1,425 kilowatts of power have been installed, enough to power close to 2,000 homes for a year. There are another 72,240 kilowatts in the pipeline.

Of those projects, 41 grants went to residential homes or small businesses, primarily for solar panels that yield between 2 kilowatts and 10 kilowatts each.

Controlled by the quasi-public Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, the trust takes in about $25 million a year generated by a small tax on consumers' electric bills to fund renewable-energy projects throughout the state, including wind turbines, solar panels, energy-efficient schools and public-awareness campaigns.

Shapiro received about $10,000 in grant money to fund the project, but it was enough to entice him to make the long-term environmental investment.

Small-scale experiments in renewable energy, like Shapiro's Lowell home, have their rewards.

Critics, however, argue that the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative has failed in some respects to use the money available to get the best results, investing instead in too many small-scale initiatives.

Since 2002, the MTC has provided nearly $250 million in funding to more than 1,300 clean-energy projects across the state, resulting in the installment of solar panels, wind turbines, biomass generators and other facilities with a capacity of about 84.7 megawatts of green power.

Those projects, collectively, have yielded more than 350 million kilowatt hours of electricity, or enough to power about 44,000 homes in Massachusetts for a year, according to statistics released by the MTC through the end of August.

There are an additional 129.7 megawatts of capacity in the pipeline.

Konarka Technologies in Lowell received a $1.5 million direct business investment from the MTC, while Evergreen Solar in Ayer was awarded $15 million to help with construction of a new facility that will add as many as 375 new jobs in the region.

Peter Clark of Swift River Hydro in Pepperell credited the agency with coming through with a $754,348 commitment to purchase the energy produced by the hydro plant over the next 10 years, a contract that enabled Clark to get financing to restore an old paper mill and install a new turbine.

Swift River Hydro now produces 7,000 megawatt hours of renewable energy a year, enough to power 875 homes.

Not everyone is convinced, however, that consumers' money is being put to the best use.

"The bottom line is to get the money into the hands of people that can build this stuff, and the concern is that the MTC hasn't always been successful at that," said Robert Rio, senior vice president of Associated Industries of Massachusetts.

AIM, an industry trade group, published a survey of businesses in October that said very few were aware of renewable-energy programs offered through the MTC, or had taken advantage of the grants.

Sixty-six percent of businesses surveyed were unaware of the MTC, and 70 percent had no impression of the renewable-energy program.

A sweeping energy bill filed by House Speaker Sal DiMasi and currently being debated in the state Legislature would wrest control of the Renewable Energy Trust from the MTC and place the money in the hands of Gov. Deval Patrick's secretary of energy and environmental affairs, Ian Bowles.

DiMasi spokesman David Guarino said the speaker shares AIM's concern that despite all the good work being done by the technology collaborative, the program is not producing enough results.

One major criticism is that too many resources are being put into small projects instead of large-scale efforts to really impact the state's clean-energy production.

"We would prefer if they focused on some of the larger projects," Rio said. "Our theory is megawatts in the ground. I understand we want to subsidize all these feel-good projects, but the bottom line is megawatts in the ground."

Emily Dahl, a spokeswoman for MTC, refuted the criticism, arguing that applications for projects are constantly streaming in, and the collaborative does outreach to make sure businesses know about their programming.

The MTC's mission, Dahl said, is as much about creating renewable energy as it is about getting people to think about efficiency and green alternatives.

"Part of the mission is also to create awareness," she said. "They're not ready for the big stuff because they haven't been acclimated to the small projects. It's sort of like walking before you can run."