Massachusetts Electric Utilities to Announce the Winner of a Zero Energy Home Challenge...

Massachusetts Electric Utilities to Announce the Winner of a Zero Energy Home
Challenge at the State House - June 29th, 2009

Guest speaker Secretary Ian Bowles to discuss the vision for Massachusetts'
zero energy future

LEXINGTON, Mass., June 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Over the course of the last year,
Massachusetts' investor-owned electric utility companies - National Grid,
NSTAR, Unitil and Western Mass Electric Company -- successfully implemented a
unique energy efficiency pilot program called the Zero Energy Challenge. Five
home builders competed to construct super energy-efficient single-family homes
and will be awarded prizes based on their results totaling $50,000. The awards
event will be held June 29, 2009 at 1:00 p.m. at the Massachusetts State House
with guest speaker Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Ian Bowles.

The purpose of this initiative, in alliance with Governor Patrick's Net-Zero
Energy Goal and the Massachusetts Green Communities Act, was to promote the
use of advanced energy efficiency technologies and engage Massachusetts
homebuilders in utilizing advanced building techniques. Each competitor in the
Zero Energy Challenge was challenged to use best practice HVAC installations,
demonstrate the use of advanced and replicable building techniques and
integrate the use of renewable energy systems into their projects to make them
as energy-efficient as possible. The homes used energy efficiency and
renewable energy technologies such as double-stud wall and super-insulation,
passive solar design, thermal air panel, heat-recovery ventilation, mini-split
heat pump technology, super efficient windows, photovoltaic electricity panels
and other state-of-the-art green building methods and technologies to achieve
their goals.

"These homes will serve as 'laboratories' to help identify innovative and
cost-effective building technologies and practices that can be used by all
building professionals interested in constructing homes that have close to
zero energy use," states David Ruggiero, Zero Energy Challenge Manager.

The winners were selected based on their project scores on the nationally
recognized ENERGY STAR/HERS rating scale. The Home Energy Rating System (HERS)
index runs from 100 to 0. Typically homes built to the prevailing code
standard would score 100, homes built to the ENERGY STAR standard would score
85 and a zero energy home would score 0.

The homes, located in the following communities, are a mix of income eligible,
affordable, and market rate projects:

Lawrence National Grid Bread & Roses Housing
Sudbury NSTAR Electric Private residential development
Townsend Unitil Transformations, Inc.
Greenfield Western MA Electric Rural Development, Incorporated
Turners Falls Western MA Electric Private residential development

For more information, please visit www.zechallenge.com.

SOURCE ICF International

Marylou Einfalt of ICF International for Zero Energy Challenge,
+1-781-676-4076, meinfalt@icfi.com