Why We Need a (Good) Clean Heat Standard – a message for Massachusetts & Rhode Island
Energy standards have changed our electricity and auto industries for the better. Now it’s time to bring the same idea to how we heat our buildings.
Energy policy & advocacy (8)
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What the Inflation Reduction Act Means for Massachusetts & Rhode Island
On August 16, President Biden signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the largest investment in fighting climate change on the national level this country has ever seen. The IRA is a huge deal and fundamentally changes the game for our work here at the state level. On August 31, we held a webinar to discuss the IRA and its impact on three levels: on individual consumers who want to go green, on towns and cities, and on the state. Here is the webinar recording, as well as a summary and clips of each individual section. Enjoy!
What Candidates for RI Governor Think about Phasing Out Gasoline
Last week, the Environment Council of Rhode Island (ECRI) hosted a forum for candidates running RI Governor to discuss their plans for the environment if elected. The forum covered several of Rhode Island’s most pressing environmental issues, including environmental justice and implementation of the Act On Climate. But one question stood out.
Moderator Ed Fitzpatrick of the Boston Globe asked: To reduce greenhouse gas emissions, should Rhode Island set an end date for the last sales of new gasoline-powered automobiles like some other states?
We Like the Massachusetts Climate Bill. The Governor Must Sign It.
On Thursday, the Massachusetts House and Senate both passed a major new climate bill, An Act Driving Clean Energy and Offshore Wind. The legislation now goes to Governor Baker for signature. The bill is basically what we expected: a combination of the House’s emphasis on offshore wind, the Senate’s emphasis on electric transportation, and some new policies in other areas. Overall, we are very pleased with the 96-page bill. Here are our views on some of the key provisions – and what you can do to get this over the finish line.
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A murky future for RI's electric vehicle programs
Rhode Island is in good shape to reduce emissions from the power sector after a successful 2022 legislation session. But it’s slow-going on policy to support vehicle electrification, which is an absolute necessity to displace gasoline use and meet 2030 climate goals.
The Electric Sector in the Massachusetts Clean Energy & Climate Plan
This blog covers strategies outlined in Massachusetts’ final Clean Energy and Climate Plan (CECP) to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the electric power sector. For more background on the CECP for 2025 and 2030, read this blog.
Thanks to policies like the Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard (RPS) and the Clean Energy Standard (CES), the Commonwealth has made significant progress in cleaning up the electricity supply in Massachusetts. For the rest of this decade, we will need to build on and accelerate that progress to meet the GHG reductions required by the Climate Roadmap bill that passed in 2021. In this blog post, we’ll go over what the Clean Energy & Climate Plan (CECP) has in store for the electricity sector and Green Energy Consumers' thoughts on that plan!
Buildings in the Massachusetts Clean Energy & Climate Plan
This blog covers strategies outlined in Massachusetts’ final Clean Energy and Climate Plan (CECP) to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the buildings sector. For more background on the CECP for 2025 and 2030, read this blog.
Residential and commercial heating and cooling contributed 29.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents to Massachusetts’ emissions in 1990, or about 15% of total GHG emissions. The newest draft of the state's Clean Energy and Climate Plan (CECP) now calls for a 49% emission reduction by 2030 relative to 1990 in the heating sector (virtually the same percentage decrease as the economy-wide target of 50%).
For the last several years, we have seen emissions fall significantly from within the electricity sector, while building emission reductions have been more stubborn. Here’s what the CECP says we’re going to do about that, and our take on those strategies.
Transportation in the Massachusetts Clean Energy Climate Plan
This blog covers strategies outlined in Massachusetts’ final Clean Energy and Climate Plan (CECP) to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the transportation sector. For more background on the CECP for 2025 and 2030, read this blog.
Transportation is the largest source of GHG emissions in Massachusetts and the state’s ability to meet its 2025 and 2030 GHG requirements will hinge largely on this sector. The final CECP requires reductions in the transportation sector of 18% by 2025 and 34% by 2030. In 2020, with all the reduced travel due to the pandemic, we reached 22% reductions under 1990 levels. But otherwise, transportation emissions have remained stubborn, as the green bar in the graph below demonstrates.