Energy

Massachusetts is joining seven other states in an effort to get more plug-in electric vehicles on the road.

World Energy Solutions of Worcester said it helped the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), which manages government assets, procure energy for 119 federal accounts throughout New England, totaling more than 920 kilowatts hours of electricity.

Unitil Corp., the New Hampshire-based utility that provides power to customers in Fitchburg, Ashby, Lunenburg and Townsend, reported increased earnings over fiscal 2012 in the third quarter ended Sept. 30, thanks to a jump in natural gas sales.

Renewable energy is a great source of comfort to both job seekers and the climate, the commonwealth's energy and environmental affairs secretary said Wednesday.

National Grid has proposed a new site in Worcester's Tatnuck area for a specialized communications tower.

Grafton will be home to Central Massachusetts's largest residential solar electric system, thanks to a project completed Monday, according to the company that designed and installed it.

It appears A123 Systems' presence in MetroWest has survived following bankruptcy and sale of the lithiom-ion battery maker to a Chinese firm, and will perhaps emerge more robust than it was before A123 filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December 2012. The Livonia, Mich.-based company announced a new organizational structure with its owner, Wanxiang Group, last week. In short, Wanxiang will roll its battery-making activities in China into A123 operations that existed there before Wanxiang bought the majority of A123's assets in January. What does this mean for A123's facilities in Westborough and Hopkinton? Not much, according to Roger Lin, director of marketing for A123 in Massachusetts.

Should Massachusetts buy electricity from large Canadian hydropower facilities? Ask Christophe Courchesne of the Conservation Law Foundation, a group dedicated to environmental causes, and he says “the devil is in the details.” Ask Robert Rio of the business group Associated Industries of Massachusetts (AIM), and he uses the exact same phrase.

No wind turbine goes up in Massachusetts without a fight. That's a key reason the Bay State ranks just 35th in wind power capacity, several industry experts argued.

With passenger vehicles leaving Logan International Airport every 20 minutes on weekdays, the cost of fuel for Knight's Airport Limousine in Shrewsbury adds up quickly. Owner Michael Hogan said the business spent $1.1 million on gasoline in 2012 and was on track to spend about the same this year.