{"id":2830,"date":"2021-03-05T13:22:48","date_gmt":"2021-03-05T18:22:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/?page_id=2830"},"modified":"2025-11-25T12:20:35","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T17:20:35","slug":"wright-cambridge","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/internship-impacts\/wright-cambridge\/","title":{"rendered":"Informing Electrification in Cambridge, MA"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t<ul class=\"profile-listing profile-format-advanced\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\n<li class=\"profile-item profile-item-advanced has-title post-1920 profile type-profile status-publish hentry\">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/profile\/jessica-wright\/\" class=\"profile-link profile-link-advanced\">\n\t\t<figure class=\"profile-photo profile-photo-advanced\">\n\t\t\t<img width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"\/urban\/files\/2019\/06\/JWright-150x150.png\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Jessica Wright headshot\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/files\/2019\/06\/JWright-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/files\/2019\/06\/JWright-633x636.png 633w, https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/files\/2019\/06\/JWright-768x764.png 768w, https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/files\/2019\/06\/JWright-550x550.png 550w, https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/files\/2019\/06\/JWright-710x710.png 710w, https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/files\/2019\/06\/JWright-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/files\/2019\/06\/JWright-600x600.png 600w, https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/files\/2019\/06\/JWright-598x600.png 598w, https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/files\/2019\/06\/JWright-100x100.png 100w, https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/files\/2019\/06\/JWright.png 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/>\t\t<\/figure>\n\n\t\t<h6 class=\"profile-name profile-name-advanced\">Jessica Wright<\/h6>\n\t\t<p class=\"profile-title profile-title-advanced\">Consultant, PA Consulting Group, Boston<\/p>\t<\/a>\n\n\t\n<\/li>\n\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\n<p><strong>Project Partner: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cambridgema.gov\/Departments\/citycouncil\/citycouncilmembers\/quintonzondervan\">Cambridge City Councillor Quinton Zondervan<\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.quant-aq.com\"><span><\/span><\/a>, Summer 2020<\/p>\n<p><strong>Project Summary: <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cambridge, MA, has a goal to transition off of fossil fuels (e.g., natural gas) toward more electrification in the coming decades as a part of its climate action initiative. One concern that City Councillor Quinton Zondervan had about realizing these goals was that Cambridge still allows for natural gas infrastructure to be installed in new buildings, thus slowing the overall transition. In efforts to expedite electrification, Jessica worked with Councillor Zondervan to write three policy briefs highlighting the scientific evidence and support for an ordinance transitioning towards electrification by banning natural gas infrastructure in new buildings. The briefs focused on 1) the public health benefits of a move off of natural gas, 2) the climate change impacts of natural gas energy and the benefits of electrification, and 3) the job market prospects for a wide-scale energy transition. These policy briefs were presented to the Cambridge City Council as Councillor Zondervan\u2019s ordinance was discussed.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Project Deliverables<\/strong>:<span>\u00a0<\/span>Three policy briefs focused on <a href=\"\/urban\/files\/2021\/03\/Climate-Change-Brief.pdf\">Climate Change<\/a>, the <a href=\"\/urban\/files\/2021\/03\/Job-Market-Brief.pdf\">Job Market<\/a>, and <a href=\"\/urban\/files\/2021\/03\/Public-Health-Brief.pdf\">Public Health<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2831\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2831\" style=\"width: 487px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/urban\/files\/2021\/03\/Photo-Sep-16-3-05-30-PM-477x636.jpeg\" alt=\"Street trees on a residential street.\" width=\"477\" height=\"636\" class=\"wp-image-2831 size-medium\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2831\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Street trees in Cambridge, MA, that could be protected by a move off of natural gas.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Jess and her URBAN internship were also featured in a video about BU URBAN, below!<\/p>\n<div class=\"responsive-video responsive-youtube\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"How can my PhD make a difference? | Boston University URBAN Program\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/odDPJXLevn0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Project Partner: Cambridge City Councillor Quinton Zondervan, Summer 2020 Project Summary: Cambridge, MA, has a goal to transition off of fossil fuels (e.g., natural gas) toward more electrification in the coming decades as a part of its climate action initiative. One concern that City Councillor Quinton Zondervan had about realizing these goals was that Cambridge [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16791,"featured_media":0,"parent":1881,"menu_order":6,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2830"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16791"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2830"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2830\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4112,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2830\/revisions\/4112"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}