State grants $510,000 for ‘zero net energy’ projects in Amherst, Northampton and Easthampton

By Chad Cain Gazette Staff Writer

The Hitchcock Center for the Environment’s quest to build a new education center on the Hampshire College campus in Amherst is among three projects in the region that received a total of $510,000 in grants from a new state program to assist development of “zero net energy” buildings and homes. The new Pathways to Zero program under the direction of the state Department of Energy Resources recently announced $2.9 million in grants statewide, including $330,000 to the Hitchcock Center in Amherst; $156,000 to Transformations Inc., of Townsend, for two planned housing developments at Village Hill Northampton; and $24,000 to Pioneer Valley Habitat for Humanity to build two new homes on East Street in Easthampton. Read full article…