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

Why We Changed Our Name

Here’s some news!  Our organization has legally changed its name to Green Energy Consumers Alliance, Inc. This single new name better reflects our nonprofit mission: to harness the power of energy consumers to speed the transition to a low-carbon future. 

By way of history, Mass Energy Consumers Alliance (Mass Energy) and People’s Power & Light were once two separate nonprofit organizations. Mass Energy actually began as the Boston Fuel Consortium in 1982, while People’s Power & Light started in 2002. Pursuing similar missions, we merged in 2006 as Energy Consumers Alliance of New England, but continued to operate with separate brands in each state until this week.

Boston’s Renewable Energy Play

Earlier this month, Boston's Mayor Walsh called for cities around the country to explore a group purchase of renewable energy, apparently for municipal buildings and streetlights. The hope is that a lot of purchasing power could support the construction of large-scale and low-cost clean energy. According to news accounts, the cities might jointly buy from one or more facilities that could be located anywhere in the U.S. Boston City Hall plans to finalize a list of partnering cities and issue a request for information to renewable energy developers late in the summer.

More and more renewable energy comes with batteries included

For over a hundred years, the rap on electricity was that you could not store as usefully as you could store oil, gas, coal, and wood. That has made matching power supply with demand a challenge. More recently, we have been told by New England utilities and their ally, the so-called “Independent Operator of New England” (ISO-NE) that increasing amounts of wind and solar, intermittent resources, will make the challenge even harder.

The Unbearable Lightness of Energy Efficiency

 

In a national ranking for energy efficiency, Massachusetts is number 1 and Rhode Island is number 3. Neither is doing enough. Please hear me out.

AG Healey’s Right About Electricity Suppliers

I had the pleasure of being at Massachusetts Attorney General (AG) Maura Healey’s press conference at which she released a report detailing how 500,000 residential consumers who chose competitive electricity suppliers have been ripped off and green-washed. 

Communities Hitting Home Runs with Green Power

We’ve been saying for a while that communities should exercise their right to choose their electricity supply because it’s a cost-effective way to increase renewable energy content. Today we have further proof that Green Municipal Aggregation (GMA) or Community Choice Energy (CCE), whatever you want to call it, works!

Time & speed are of the essence: the cost of clean energy is not a speed bump

Massachusetts and Rhode Island are nationally recognized as clean energy leaders. The gains made to date are impressive, but mitigating climate change necessitates even more substantial investment in efficiency, renewables, and emerging technologies.

Communities choosing renewable energy is now a big thing

Massachusetts is one of a few states allowing cities and towns to aggregate consumers for the purchase of electricity. In the last year, we have seen a good number of communities take the opportunity to do just that in ways that are bringing on significantly more renewable energy than required by state law.  The first to commit was Melrose, followed by Dedham. Both started their programs in January 2016. But this year, many more are following suit in the world of “Green Municipal Aggregation” or “Community Choice Energy”.  This summer, programs are starting in Arlington, Brookline, Cambridge, Lexington, Somerville, Sudbury, and Winchester.

Electric cars – going mainstream faster than you think

When we started our Drive Green with Mass Energy & People's Power & Light program on November 2^nd, we felt like we were catching a fast moving train. And nine months into the program, we can say that that’s an understatement. Month after month, sales in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, the US, and the world are significantly higher than a year before. Here in America, we have seen strong sales from Tesla (Models S and X), Chevrolet Volt and Bolt, Toyota Prius Prime, and Nissan LEAF.  But where is this all going?

It’s Time to Get Charged Up: Getting Ready for Electric Vehicles and Modernizing the Grid

We’ve written several blog posts about the environmental, health, and economic benefits of electric vehicles. Understanding these benefits helps to drive consumer demand for EVs, which helps to accelerate their adoption. When it comes to fully transitioning away from gas-powered cars, consumer demand is one piece of the equation, but the build-out of charging infrastructure is the other. There are important decisions to be made in this regard.  Here I explain what is taking place and how you can weigh in to the public process.