LYNN – Bamidele Akinwolemiwa brings a world of experience – literally – with him to his job as the City’s first energy manager.
Akinwolemiwa, who started in August, is working in the newly formed Capital Projects Unit, a division of Inspectional Services. His task is both simple and significant: determine how the City can maximize its energy resources in order to consume less energy and spend less money.
And he thinks he is starting from a good place, which is one of the reasons he was attracted to the job, which is being funded by National Grid.
“With Lynn having the Green Communities designation (from the State), you could see what they have done in renewable energy,” said Akinwolemiwa, who worked in research and development in the energy sector in Asia and the United Kingdom for 14 years before emigrating to the U.S. “Lynn has taken some serious energy-saving measures already and made strong strides in making sure buildings have less energy consumption.”
Green Communities are those which have met specific criteria for energy efficiency and renewable energy.
“We are very excited to have Bamidele on board in this very important position,” said Mayor Jared C. Nicholson. “We are proud of the Green Communities designation and committed to continuing to take steps to make our buildings as energy-efficient as possible.”
Akinwolemiwa, a native of Nigeria who has a Ph.D. in Energy Technologies from the University of Nottingham, said part of his job is to document those efforts.
“We have to aggregate the measures already taken and then expand the scope and apply for grants,” said Akinwolemiwa, who will be tracking and analyzing energy use, utility costs, and greenhouse gas emissions across all municipal buildings. “We want to create a strong energy-conservation culture.”
Akinwolemiwa acknowledges the age of Lynn’s municipal buildings, especially the schools, presents challenges – and opportunities.
“We will be doing energy audits and looking at historical energy consumption of all the buildings,” he said. “We can then make recommendations to develop strategies to retrofit the buildings.”
Electrification and the use of solar are two methods that will help with reducing energy costs and carbon emissions across the City, said Akinwolemiwa, who will be working with the sponsors of Mass Save and the Green Communities program. “That will give us more opportunities to make buildings more energy efficient. Part of energy conservation is harnessing the capability of what we have,” he said.
In his first month on the job, Akinwolemiwa has been struck by people’s willingness to cooperate as they work for a common goal.
“One of the most important aspects of the job is the people,” he said. “Everybody has been willing to help.”
Akinwolemiwa said it is important for project managers to be cognizant of the energy needs of buildings, to make attempts to obtain grants that can be used for energy efficiency and to be willing to interact in multi-disciplinary ways to achieve energy conservation.
The City will also be hiring an energy advocate, who will work closely with Akinwolemiwa in terms of outreach to the Mass Save program. This role is geared toward helping residents lower their energy consumption and costs.
