BFIT Hosts Sen. Warren for Renewable Energy Panel Discussion

November 12, 2021

Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology was delighted to host Sen. Elizabeth Warren, White House National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy, Boston Acting Mayor Kim Janey, and other local leaders for a panel discussion about the bright future of clean energy jobs in the Commonwealth.

The event included a visit to one of BFIT’s Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning, & Refrigeration (HVAC&R) classes, where Prof. John Terasconi and his students demonstrated a heat pump. Powered by geothermal energy, heat pumps can work in concert with solar panels to completely eliminate the need for fossil fuels to heat or cool a home. Terasconi said growing demand for heat pumps and other clean technology has created a strong job market for trained HVAC&R technicians.

“We’ve basically doubled the number of students in our program over the last year,” he said. “I can’t graduate students fast enough because the demand is huge.”

Sen. Warren came to Boston to promote the recently passed bipartisan $1 trillion federal infrastructure package and to build support for passage of the Build Back Better Act, which would provide funds for an array of social services, access to education, and investments in renewable/clean energy. She said technician training programs like those offered at BFIT are a key part of President Biden’s plans to reinvent and strengthen the nation’s economy. “This is how the pieces fit together,” said Sen. Warren. “We’ve already gotten the bipartisan [infrastructure] bill passed and there is money to replace diesel buses, for example. But we need trained people to work on the electric vehicles that will replace them.”

McCarthy praised the work of the panelists and others to promote green technology as a way to tackle the climate crisis, saying, “I can’t be more excited and grateful for all the work that’s being done here and being done across the country.”

The roundtable panel discussion was held in BFIT’s electric and hybrid vehicle lab. The panelists included:

• Senator Elizabeth Warren
• National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy
• Acting Boston Mayor Kim Janey
• State Senator Sonia Chang Diaz
• State Representative Jon Santiago
• Dr. Aisha Francis, President, BFIT
• Elizabeth Turnbull Henry, Environmental League of MA
• John Terasconi, Chair HVAC&R Technology program at BFIT
• Christ-Lee Fils-Aime, Renewable Energy Engineering Technology student at BFIT
• Maria Belen Power, GreenRoots
• Eugenia Gibbons, Healthcare with Harm
• Roseann Bongiovanni, GreenRoots
• Andrea Nyameke, Neighbor 2 Neighbor
• Elvis Mendez, Neighbor 2 Neighbor
• Renee Dozier, IBEW 103
• Caitlin Peale Sloan, Conservation Law Foundation representative

(Video courtesy of the City of Boston)