ARIEL HOROWITZ

Director of Technology Development, Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC)

Ariel is a sharp millennial, she is one of our characters with the largest personal stake in the future. She helps us see how policy and funding spark the growth of renewable energy and how the customer is the one who ultimately benefits. Her work at MassCEC is at the forefront of connecting customers to this growth.

Not all states pay equally for electricity, and one of the reasons is geography. Ariel’s home state of Massachusetts is at the literal “end of the natural gas pipeline,” and pays for that extended transportation. She explains how supporting local generation and controlling efficiency - bringing down the peak - are essential to her state reducing costs for all ratepayers.

“We're paying every single hour of the year for the cost associated with that one highest hour. And so when we control our peak usage – through energy efficiency and demand response, active demand management – it lowers costs for everybody throughout the region.”