LUDLOW — A new regional energy manager will guide decarbonization and sustainable energy efforts for 15 communities in Hampshire and Hampden counties as part of a collaboration to bring down energy costs.

The Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, the designated regional planning body for 43 cities and towns in the two counties, secured a Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant of $292,500 to fund the new position.

The regional energy manager will advise town employees on energy-saving options for municipal buildings, PVPC Director of Economic and Municipal Collaboration Eric Weiss said, with the goal of lowering operational costs for towns.

“Towns will save money in the long run because they won’t be using as much energy, and the benefit of that is that they will be decarbonizing which is good for us all,” Weiss said.

The Pioneer Valley’s regional energy manager will serve Easthampton, South Hadley, Belchertown, Ludlow, Granby, Goshen, Hatfield, Plainfield, Palmer, East Longmeadow, Chester, Hampden, Huntington, Longmeadow and Wilbraham. The new municipal officer will split his or her time based on population and number of publicly-owned buildings, so larger towns like South Hadley and Ludlow will receive more attention than Goshen or Plainfield.

“We’ve worked with towns on regional efforts before, whether water, health, shared policing and shared animal control facilities,” Weiss said. “Part of our mission is to apply shared services where it makes sense, especially as towns struggle with budget constraint.”

Ludlow Town Administrator Marc Strange said all the municipal buildings in his town require energy upgrades, and he assumes many of the other towns in the program deal with the same challenges. It’s difficult for each individual town, where budgets are already tight, to hire their own employee to evaluate energy needs of the town.

“We and the other participating towns are so excited to have an opportunity to collaborate on this,” Strange said. “The goal of the program is to find an energy manger or consultant to take a look at all the buildings in all the towns and make a plan on how to make buildings more energy efficient.”

Older buildings, like schools at the end of their lifespans or colonial-style homes, have energy inefficient building envelops, windows and doors that cannot trap hot or cool air very well, requiring more energy to maintain thermal comfort. Heat pumps and energy efficient buildings are one way for towns to help the commonwealth reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2025.

Due to the mandate to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the state offers grant funding for towns looking at reducing energy consumption. Utility companies also offer money to help them reduce energy.

“There’s a Green Community program which also provides funding for (decarbonization efforts),” Strange said. “A lot of the communities in the regional energy manager program are green communities.”

Currently, Weiss said PVPC is writing the job description and waiting on a couple more grants before opening applications. Any expert on installation, heat pumps, renewable energy, windows and other aspects of a heating and cooling system can apply for the job.

Emilee Klein can be reached at eklein@gazettnet.com.