The Energy Consumer's Bulletin- a New England energy news blog

Our new car is a Chevy Volt!

This past Friday, the Chretien family traded in our fabulous 2002 Toyota Prius and bought a 2015 Chevrolet Volt.  After three months of research and test drives, we decided to go with the Volt if we could find a Chevy dealer we could tolerate.  It was a difficult choice because we also liked the Prius Plug-In Hybrid and the all-electric Nissan Leaf.  We would have been happy with either of those, especially given that we loved our 2002 Prius and still love our 2008 Prius.  In fact, we even thought about holding off on buying a plug-in for a year or two because the 2002 Prius has been running great.  On recent highway drives, it was getting 55 miles per gallon (mpg). 

Before he died in 2011, Dr. Paul Epstein of the Harvard School of Public Health researched the impacts of global warming on public health.  The work he did brought complicated science down to a very basic fundamental point – how does changing our climate affect human health? He illustrated the many ways that we are being harmed. Shortly before he died, he wrote a great piece for the Atlantic. 

After a lot of deliberation, my family has decided to pursue buying a 2015 Chevy Volt rather than the Nissan Leaf or Toyota Prius Plug-In.  We are not done yet, but here’s why we have settled on the Volt for our electric vehicle:

Larry Chretien is the Executive Director for Mass Energy Consumers Alliance and People’s Power & Light. This blog is the third in a series about the Chretien family’s experience purchasing an electric car. Download our e-book and read the series up until now! 

Larry Chretien is the Executive Director for Mass Energy Consumers Alliance and People’s Power & Light. This blog is the second in a series about the Chretien family’s experience purchasing an electric car. You can read the entire series in our e-book, available for free download. 

Some of us are big soccer fans, especially when it comes to the World Cup, now being played in Brazil.  On Monday, we witnessed an excellent match between the United States and Ghana.  As Americans, we can be proud of the 2-1 victory.  But there is more to that match than just the final score.  We also learned that Ghanaians were quite stressed out about the possibility that they would be unable to watch the big game due to electricity shortages.  For them, the World Cup is the equivalent of the World Series, Stanley Cup, Super Bowl and NBA Championships all rolled into one.

Rhode Island was one of the first states in the country to establish a renewable energy standard, a requirement for electricity suppliers to include an increasing percentage of power from sources such as local wind turbines and solar. The standard has worked well, changing the mix that Rhode Islanders get, whether they purchase from National Grid or through a competitive supplier. The standard is scheduled to increase by 1 or 1.5% per year. However, we were disappointed in December to learn that the Public Utilities Commission (PUC), appointees of Governor Chafee, voted 2–1 to delay a scheduled increase in the state’s requirement. What it means, very simply, is less renewable energy purchased by Rhode Islanders. And that means less green power on the New England grid because generators cannot get financing to build projects unless there is sufficient demand.

If you work for a non-profit organization in Massachusetts, this survey can help. Do you think your organization is losing valuable dollars to leaky buildings or old heating systems? Are chilly offices making your staff and clients uncomfortable? There may be help on the way.  At Mass Energy, we are working to help non-profits with energy management.

Over the weekend, we saw how political turmoil in Ukraine was followed by Russian military action.   Today, we are seeing one result – sharply rising prices on the spot market for natural gas and oil.  Heating oil has increased over 6 cents.  Markets are responding as thousands of Russian troops solidified control over Crimea in the Ukraine. The U.S. warned Sunday that Moscow could face economic penalties unless it retreats.