by Emily Langner
Matt O’Malley
On season 3, episode 1 of the Build Better podcast, Anastasia talked with Matt O’Malley, the first-ever chief sustainability officer for Vicinity Energy. He is responsible for leading Vicinity’s decarbonization efforts and guiding the execution of the firm’s Clean Energy Future, Net Zero Carbon plan. He shared more about the company’s plan which includes working with its customers, communities, and local government to decarbonize its operations across the country and reduce the impact of the energy sector on the earth’s atmosphere.
Before joining Vicinity Energy a year ago, O’Malley spent 11 years as a member of the Boston City Council, where he chaired the Environment committee. He authored the Building Energy Reduction and Disclosure Ordinance (BERDO), which required buildings to report their annual energy and water use. With buildings accounting for the vast majority of all greenhouse gas emissions in cities like Boston, O’Malley said the ordinance was eventually embraced by building owners as they saw a decrease in energy usage and money savings for their tenants.
The 2021 amendment to BERDO gives the city authority to set emissions standards for large existing buildings, with the goal of all buildings achieving net zero emissions by 2050. As Vicinity Energy’s chief sustainability officer, O’Malley said Vicinity is “one of the companies that is stepping up to meet this moment and to both surpass the goals set therein and really changing how we do business as a company.” With the goal of being a leader in renewable thermal energy, O’Malley explained that the company has a three-pronged approach to moving away from fossil fuels and accomplishing its decarbonization plan: electric boilers, a heat-pump complex that will rest on the River Charles, and a thermal storage capability.
O’Malley said an electric boiler is in the process of being built, and that a water intake permit has been secured for the Charles River. He said the technology is ideal for large-scale, high-intensity buildings such as lab spaces, hospitals, hotels, and municipal buildings, and that the technology is not proprietary. “We’re happy to share it and to work with other folks because you need to use every tool in the toolbox to address the climate crisis…looking at buildings in a city like Boston or Cambridge, there’s not a one-size-fits-all approach so we need to be nimble and we need to have a wide array of tools to use.”
O’Malley said it’s great to see businesses, educational institutions, and healthcare facilities, among many others, set their own decarbonization goals, and he’s encouraged by the interest other cities around the country have shown in learning more about Vicinity’s decarbonization plan. He said as he and the leadership of Vicinity look to the next 20-30 years, they want to be “fully decarbonized across the board, and looking at new innovation and technology to support our customers,” adding that the company is focused on “continuing to help our cities and be the best corporate citizens we can be, and be the best stewards of this environment as we can be.”
