California-based real estate development company IQHQ has partnered with clean energy firm Vicinity Energy to reduce its carbon emissions.
Under a long-term agreement signed between the two companies, Vicinity will provide its new carbon-free, renewable thermal energy solution, eSteam, to IQHQ to decarbonize its developments in the Fenway neighborhood district of Boston, Massachusetts.
“We are proud to partner with IQHQ as our first carbon-free eSteam customer to reduce their buildings’ carbon emissions and enable IQHQ to achieve their ESG goals while complying with the city’s BERDO 2.0 regulations,” said Bill DiCroce, president and chief executive officer of Vicinity Energy.
Vicinity says it will start delivering eSteam to IQHQ in 2024. The real estate firm’s development at 109 Brookline Avenue will use 100-percent eSteam for heating, making it one of the first carbon-neutral buildings in Boston. The 305,000 square feet laboratory and office space is part of IQHQ’s growing life science cluster known as the FWD district.
Additionally, IQHQ is considering the use of eSteam at its Fenway Center development, a transit-oriented, mixed-use life science campus located at the western gateway to Boston. The center will feature nearly 1 million square feet of commercial lab and office space, and will be the anchor of the FWD district.
According to Vicinity, the partnership marks a significant milestone in its Clean Energy Future plans, and opens the door for other building owners and property managers to embrace eSteam to combat climate change and meet their sustainability goals.
Vicinity claims to be the first district energy company in the U.S. to commit to fully decarbonizing its operations, providing renewable thermal energy by installing industrial-scale heat pumps, electric boilers and thermal storage at its central facilities, starting in Cambridge and Boston, with other districts to follow.
Vicinity is based in Boston and aims to achieve net-zero carbon across its portfolio by 2050.
Headquartered in San Diego, California, IQHQ focuses on acquiring, developing and operating sustainable transformational life science districts in the innovation hubs of San Francisco, San Diego, and Boston in the U.S., and the U.K.
