Energy

The average price of a gallon of gas in Greater Worcester dropped another 2 cents since last week and is down 5 cents since last month.

MBTA officials estimated Thursday it would need at least a year and about $5 million to get a widespread low-income fare option off the ground, plus tens of millions of dollars per year to cover its recurring costs.

Ameresco, Inc. of Framingham has partnered with Alaska Pacific University to design and upgrade infrastructure at the Nordic Ski Center for Winter Olympic athletes and world championship cross country skiing athletes.

The MBTA's commuter rail network only goes as far as Worcester. Amtrak offers passenger rail service to points further west, but on its current schedule, just one train per day -- the Lake Shore Limited bound for Chicago -- travels nonstop from Boston to Springfield.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities has approved a rate reduction for National Grid plc electric customers. The decision, announced Tuesday, will result in residential customers seeing roughly a 40% decrease in monthly bills starting after May 1. 

Ameresco, Inc. has extended its partnership with the British charity Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust to plant 1,000 trees and help landscape the Yorkshire Dales National Park in England.

The Healey administration on Wednesday rolled out its refreshed roster for the Department of Public Utilities and charged the new trio with creating a "21st Century DPU."

Ascend Elements in Westborough has reached an agreement with Koura Global to provide the United Kingdom-based company with up to 5,000 metric tons of recycled and recovered materials from lithium-ion batteries, enough to support the production of 1 million electric vehicles per year.

Utility company National Grid plc announced on Thursday it is reducing electric bills for its customers who received its basic service starting on May 1. 

Natick-based clean energy company Ameresco has entered into an agreement to acquire Italy-based energy efficiency and renewable energy company ENERQUOS Energy Solutions S.r.l.