Significant Issue Reports

Creating Opportunity: Building a Massachusetts Battery Energy Storage Innovation Ecosystem
2019

by UMass Clean Energy Extension

Under sponsorship by the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center and the Department of Energy Resources, UMass Clean Energy Extension surveyed leading Massachusetts academic researchers and principals and entrepreneurs at a broad range of Massachusetts-based battery ventures to evaluate our battery energy storage (BES) innovation ecosystem.  In our report, we present a set of Key Findings and Recommendations to empower new opportunities to grow this research, innovation, and business development in Massachusetts.

PDF icon Creating Opportunity: Building a Massachusetts Battery Energy Storage Innovation Ecosystem
A Natural Resources Assessment of the Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company’s Proposed Northeast Energy Direct Project’s Pipeline Route Within Massachusetts
2015

by Scott Jackson, Extension Associate Professor, Bethany Bradley, Assistant Professor, Thomas Cairns, MS Candidate, Department of Environmental Conservation, University of Massachusetts Amherst

The authors created this assessment by utilizing a compilation of twenty available inventories of natural resources and environmental resources in Massachusetts, from state and UMass Amherst sources. These inventories were mapped against the mainline route of the proposed pipeline and then the proportion of affected resources was compared to the availability of the particular resource countywide and statewide. This method resulted in identification of key resources most likely to be impacted by the pipeline. Volume One covers the mainline of the pipeline and is provided for download here as Edition 2, May, 2015, which includes several corrections made to first edition. Volume Two (forthcoming) will cover the spurs.

PDF icon Pipeline Natural Resources Assessment, Volume 1 Mainline
Farm to Institution Markets in Massachusetts
2014

by Jill Ann Fitzsimmons, PhD Candidate, Department of Resource Economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst

This Working Paper outlines the market relationships that underlie Farm to Institution (FtI) and regional food procurement programs.  The implied regional product attributes that motivate many FtI program discussed, and theories of industrial organization and shifting market roles for institutional supply chain actors are used to model the possibilities that regional-scale farm to institution supply chains can deliver these product attributes to the satisfaction of all. Using the example of Farm to Institution programs in Massachusetts, this paper reviews the varied origins and goals of FtI programs, describes the institutional wholesale markets for regionally grown differentiated products, summarizes the current market, and suggests topics for future research, based on currently available data.  In addition to the review of relevant published and publicly available literature, information was gathered through interviews and review of internal organizational documents.  29 pages.

PDF icon Farm to Institution Markets in Massachusetts