Cities Look to Natural Gas Bans to Curb Carbon Emissions
In Massachusetts, residential buildings account for roughly 15% of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions. Commercial buildings represent another 9.5%. Power plants, by contrast, are responsible for almost 20% of Massachusetts’ greenhouse gases.
“If we are going to decarbonize the economy, we have to stop putting gas in new buildings now,” said Deborah Donovan, Massachusetts director at the Acadia Center, an environmental group. “Building stock built now will be us in 2050 when we need to be decarbonized.”
Read the full article from Scientific American here.
CT sets ambitious plan to put 500K electric vehicles on the road by 2030
“We have these goals that, frankly, we’re not hitting,” said Amy McLean Salls, Connecticut director at the nonprofit Acadia Center, a clean-energy advocate. “We’re behind.”
Read the full article from Hartford Business Journal here.
Climate Justice for Providence
Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza had powerful words about the role equity must play in climate work when the city released its Climate Justice Plan in late October.
“Despite being one of the three pillars of sustainability, equity is often an afterthought when it comes to climate action planning,” Elorza wrote in the plan’s introduction. “In creating this plan, we chose to lead with equity and partnered with those who are most impacted by the climate crisis and other environmental injustices.”
Acadia Center is proud to have supported Providence and its Racial and Environmental Justice Committee (REJC) in developing a plan that charts an equitable, low-carbon, climate-resilient future for residents.
Overall, the Climate Justice Plan is built around carbon-reduction targets in two key sectors – buildings and transportation – and a complete transition to carbon-free electricity sources like solar and wind. Acadia Center developed those targets in a two-step process. First, analysts in our CLEAN Center projected the city’s emissions out to 2050 assuming no new climate action and taking into account existing technologies and trends. Next, Acadia Center built another scenario to put Providence on track for at least an 80% greenhouse gas emissions reduction — and carbon neutrality — by 2050. Figure 1 below shows the emissions reduction trajectory by sector.
In addition to recommending targets, Acadia Center supported the REJC’s development of approaches to achieve deep reductions in carbon emissions and local air pollution to improve community health. The policies listed below are among those that will help Providence reach the necessary emission reductions.
Buildings:
| 2050 Target | 2035 Interim Target | Policy Examples |
|---|---|---|
| 90% of residential heating and 85% of commercial heating converted to high-efficiency electric heat pumps | 48% residential and 45% commercial heating converted to heat pumps | • Increasing energy efficiency program participation and total energy savings for low-income residents • Passing a Building Energy Reporting Ordinance requiring large building owners to report energy use and emissions to the city • Launching a formal stakeholder process to explore mandatory emissions reductions for large buildings |
Transportation:
| 2050 Target | 2035 Interim Target | Policy Examples |
|---|---|---|
| 20% reduction in Vehicle Miles Traveled in Providence; 80% of VMTs in Providence electrified | 11% reduction in VMTs in Providence; 43% of VMTs electrified | • Investing in cleaner, more accessible public transit through electrification of RIPTA, prioritizing routes in communities of color • Converting 100% of the city’s vehicle and school bus fleets to renewable vehicles |
Clean Energy:
| 2050 Target | 2035 Interim Target | Policy Examples |
|---|---|---|
| 100% of electricity is carbon-free | 50% of electricity is carbon-free | • Implementing a community choice aggregation program that prioritizes local renewable energy sources and includes principles of energy democracy • Increasing access to renewable energy for frontline communities via community solar • Exploring the use of municipal buildings to support a community solar project for low-income residents and renters |
Figure 2 below shows that the three sectors contributing the most to the city’s overall GHG emissions reductions in 2050 are clean electricity (44%), fuel switching to heat pumps (25%), and penetration of electric vehicles (22%). Eliminating energy waste through energy efficiency and reducing reliance on vehicles are also contributors.
Much hard work remains to put the plan into action. In addition to carbon reduction strategies, it calls for systems-level changes in the city’s governance structure and economic system and assurance that frontline communities will not be displaced as Providence becomes climate-ready.
Pol Tavarez, a member of the REJC, told The Providence Journal, “I have faith that this report is really the first step in community members coming together to recognize their influence and their power to reach these objectives.”
Visit Providence’s Climate Justice Plan home page for more resources including a Spanish translation and audio “future stories.” Complete information on Acadia Center’s modeling approach is found in the Technical Appendix.
by Erika Niedowski
CT debates emissions, cars
“We’re not going to meet these goals with the way we’re going right now,” said Amy McLean Salls, a senior policy advocate at the Acadia Center, a member organization of the Connecticut Electric Vehicle Coalition. She said that overall, the Acadia Center was “pretty happy” with the draft road map.
Read the full article from Yale Daily News here.
Marks joins Acadia Center as senior policy advocate
Jeff Marks joined Acadia Center as senior policy advocate and Maine director.
Marks previously served as executive director of E2Tech, a business trade association of Maine’s energy and environmental companies. Prior to that role, he was deputy director of the Maine Energy Office where he advised state officials and agencies on energy, environmental and economic policy.
Read the full article from Portland Press Herald here.
Deep State: Conservation — The Forgotten Alternative
The Acadia Center, a regional environmental group based in Rockport, recommends 500 new inter- and intracity electric buses for Maine at a cost of $750,000 each.
The center’s Jordan Stutt told me that this very large expense ($375 million, plus the cost of electricity-charging stations) could be financed by a “cap-and-invest” (a.k.a. cap-and-trade) agreement with oil companies similar to the existing emissions-trading agreements between power plants and 11 Northeastern states, including Maine, known as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI).
Read the full article from The Free Press here.
How much credit does RGGI deserve for the Northeast’s progress on emissions?
A report released last month by nonprofit environmental group Acadia Center found that the RGGI states — Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont — reduced carbon dioxide emissions in the power sector by nearly half, exceeding the national rate by 90%. At the same time, the economies in the partner states grew by 47%, much faster than the rest of the country, the report concludes.
And it’s clear that RGGI drove at least some of this movement, said Jordan Stutt, carbon programs director at Acadia Center.
“The RGGI states took a bold step when they created the program,” Stutt said. “That risk has paid off.”
Read the full article from Energy News Network here.
As Connecticut releases electric vehicle roadmap, some question its direction
Member organizations of the Connecticut Electric Vehicle Coalition were glad to see the draft’s release, but at the same time, “we were surprised at the contradiction in the reduction of the rebates,” said Amy McLean Salls, state director and senior policy advocate at the Acadia Center, a coalition member. “How do you achieve your goals if you’re actually reducing the incentives you’re offering to consumers?”
Read the full article from Energy News Network here.
If Pa. puts a cap on carbon emissions, what happens to electricity prices?
The nine northeastern states that participate in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative have seen average retail electricity prices drop 5.7% from 2008 to 2017, according to a separate study by the Acadia Center, a clean energy advocacy group.
Read the full article from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette here.
Make the Next Decade Count
Last month, young people around the world marched to demand action from decision makers. They echoed what thousands of the world’s climate scientists have concluded: only a short period of time remains — 10 years, from now until 2030 — for the world to reduce climate pollution by at least 45% from 2010 levels and shift to clean energy systems so the globe can avoid the worst impacts of a warming planet. For twenty years, Acadia Center has been accelerating strong state, local, and regional action to address climate pollution. Now, it will draw from its strengths in analysis, thought leadership, relationship building, and informed advocacy to meet these urgent climate deadlines and implement a refined strategy it calls Make the Next Decade Count TM.
Make the Next Decade Count seeks to bring greater attention to the need for policy action on climate and address the biggest challenges and opportunities to transition to a clean energy future as quickly as possible. Working together, Northeast states can take bold, effective, and broad-reaching action now to aggressively phase out fossil fuels and expand clean energy to achieve necessary reductions in climate pollution by 2030. Done right, these actions will grow the region’s economy, create jobs, enhance public health, improve the quality of housing, and increase access to transportation. Acadia Center will:
- Ensure that decision makers and stakeholders embrace a clear framework for aggressive climate action on the necessary time frame
- Cut emissions drastically by addressing transportation, buildings, and power generation—85% of climate pollution comes from these three sectors
- Reduce the region’s reliance on fossil fuels, including heating oil, propane, gasoline, and natural gas
- Shift the public narrative to grow understanding of the power of existing solutions and enthusiasm for the changes needed to achieve a clean energy future
Acadia Center believes this region can set an example and benefit all of its residents beginning with the big picture in four related areas:
Accelerate Comprehensive Climate Planning
To provide a roadmap for climate action, Acadia Center has for years developed analyses and reports that offer recommendations at the state, community, and regional levels. Its EnergyVision 2030 analysis is the latest example of a comprehensive framework designed to shape an achievable vision for the future. With the urgency of climate science in mind, Acadia Center will expand and accelerate state and regional action according to EnergyVision 2030, new analyses, and external resources to achieve deep reductions in emissions. It will influence and participate in a robust approach to regional climate planning, supporting processes that effectively prioritize input from many stakeholders to shape climate policies. And it will require that climate goals are accounted for in the laws and regulations used by states, cities, and regional authorities to make public utility rulings, energy siting and land use decisions, transportation plans and investments, energy choices, and other plans that will otherwise continue to be barriers to a rapid transition to clean energy.
Reduce Emissions from the Largest Sources
85% of climate pollution in the Northeast stems from three sectors: transportation, buildings, and power generation. Acadia Center will accelerate progress in all three.
Invest in a Cleaner, Modern Transportation System
The Northeast’s transportation system is its largest source of climate pollution, contributing about 40% of total climate emissions in the region while burdening public health and our pocketbooks. Power sector emissions have declined sharply in recent years, but transportation emissions have been level or growing. The region’s economy and health are suffering because its mass transit system is outdated and underfunded and transportation options in rural communities and many lower income neighborhoods are limited or non-existent. To address these interconnected challenges, the region needs a coordinated campaign that brings together all affected stakeholders. Acadia Center has played a leadership role in launching and advancing efforts to implement a regional cap-and-invest program for the transportation sector, the Transportation Climate Initiative (TCI). This program — if designed properly — can significantly reduce CO2 and co-pollutants while generating funds to invest in an equitable, modern, low-carbon transportation future. Acadia Center analysis shows that the economic potential for this policy is immense — in Massachusetts alone this policy could generate $5.5 billion in new funds to invest in modernizing the transportation infrastructure, creating 52,000 long-term jobs.
Improve the Quality of Buildings
Building heating, cooling, lighting, and operations are responsible for over a third of total emissions in the Northeast. Acadia Center is advancing policies that will reduce these emissions by supporting the transition to all-electric buildings, focused on clean electric heating and expansion of energy efficiency. Acadia Center will break down barriers to accelerating the transition from fossil fuel heating by working to expand markets for clean electric heat pumps. If all the homes currently burning oil in the Northeast switched to clean electric heat today, CO2 emissions would be reduced by about 19 million metric tons annually — equivalent to taking about 4.1 million cars off the road for a year. And Acadia Center will advocate for expanded investments in energy efficiency and building weatherization. Since 2010, energy efficiency has avoided 87 million metric tons of carbon pollution while bringing consumers $35.7 billion in economic benefits — as programs expand, these numbers will only grow.
Accelerate the Shift to Clean Power Generation
The Northeast’s power sector has been getting cleaner. In the last decade, the region has reduced emissions through policies that increase renewable energy supply and through the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), the country’s first multi-state cap-and-invest program, which limits carbon emissions from power plants and reinvests revenue from pollution allowances in clean energy improvements. Many states across the Northeast have committed to large-scale clean energy, particularly offshore wind, and expanded community based clean energy resources like solar. Acadia Center will work to advance clean, no- and low-carbon power generation options like offshore wind.
Outdated regulatory barriers stand in the way of growth in clean energy. Thanks to new technologies, the Northeast can have a power grid that is clean, flexible, and consumer-centered. Unfortunately, many state and regional policies sustain utility and energy investment models that fail to treat clean energy options fairly — particularly building and community-scale energy options. As a result, they cannot expand at the speed and scale necessary to slow climate change, and so these policies act to advance fossil fuels like natural gas. Acadia Center will build awareness about how outdated policies hamper the region’s ability to adopt clean energy, meet climate goals, and realize the best value for consumers. Acadia Center will develop and advocate for utility reform that invests in a modern, flexible grid and reforms utility finances and planning. While many government bodies have the power to make decisions critical to addressing climate change, state public utility commissions and federal regulators have an especially significant say in how and whether clean energy can advance. Acadia Center will work to remove entrenched power market barriers, design policies that capture and meet community needs, set smart principles for siting new projects and align regulatory agencies so they consider climate impacts alongside short-term rates and bills.
Phase Out Fossil Fuels and Make the Case Against Natural Gas Expansion
The Northeast is heavily reliant on fossil fuels for energy production, heating, and transportation and will continue to be if it remains committed to the false promise of natural gas and outdated rules and regulations that prefer fossil fuels. Renewable power generation, transportation powered by electricity, and clean electric space and water heating and cooking appliances can rapidly curb dependence on natural gas and other fossil fuels. But well-funded fossil fuel interests proliferate claims that the region needs more natural gas to maintain its current quality of life.
Acadia Center will make it clear through analytic materials that natural gas is not a bridge fuel—it is a fossil fuel — showing decisionmakers and the public that relying on natural gas will defeat climate goals. Acadia Center will offer ambitious but realistic solutions to replace natural gas with clean energy. It will counter misinformation from sources that profit from fossil fuels, seek to shift those business models, and work to ensure that people across the region have full access to clean energy options and the quality of life, economic, health, and climate benefits that they bring.
Shift the Public Discourse to Embrace Solutions that Make a Difference
Climate progress requires a widespread preference for a clean energy economy over a fossil fuel future. Today, fossil fuel proponents have an outsized impact on the region’s energy narrative. That can change. Data and policy analysis can illustrate a path forward that empowers the Northeast to meet its energy needs and stop depending on fossil fuels. To build popular support, Acadia Center engages audiences through targeted research, innovative communications, partnerships, and coalitions. It demonstrates the benefits of clean energy for consumers and the climate in order to shift public narratives and build enthusiasm for an economy that relies on clean energy. Its Climate and Energy Analysis (CLEAN) Center produces thought-leading materials that connect clean energy and climate progress with issues of concern to the public and their daily lives. Together the CLEAN Center and Acadia Center’s Public Engagement work will help people throughout the region envision a clean energy economy as a viable and preferable path forward.
Acadia Center is dedicated to advancing the clean energy future to benefit all. The clean energy future can strengthen the region’s economies, improve quality of life for all residents, and protect us from climate change. Acadia Center is excited to redouble its efforts and work with many partners to Make the Next Decade CountTM.
Announcing New Staff
Jeff Marks, Senior Policy Advocate & Maine Director
Jeff joins Acadia Center on October 23, 2019 as Senior Policy Advocate and Maine Director. Before joining Acadia Center, Jeff served as Executive Director of E2Tech, a business trade association of Maine’s energy and environmental companies. Jeff was Deputy Director of the Maine Energy Office where he advised two Governors, Legislature, and State agencies on energy, environmental, and economic policy. Read Jeff’s full bio here.
Camille McDaniel, Public Engagement & Communications Associate
Camille McDaniel is Acadia Center’s Public Engagement and Communications Associate. Camille coordinates storytelling initiatives across digital media to raise awareness of Acadia Center’s work and develops compelling and original content for social media and web publication while supporting other Public Engagement tasks. Camille comes to Acadia Center with a broad background in communications, having worked in the non-profit, sports, and advertising industries. Previously, Camille served as the Community Outreach Coordinator at All In Energy. Read Camille’s full bio here.
Acadia Center News & Events
Renewable Energy Vermont Conference & Expo
October 10-11, 2019 Burlington, VT www.revconference.org
Emily Lewis, CLEAN Center Director, led a panel entitled Renewable Building Heating: Pathways for Home & Business Savings
Jordan Stutt, Carbon Programs Director, led a panel entitled Improving Transportation Choices: The Transportation & Climate Initiative
ACEEE 2019 National Conference on Energy Efficiency as a Resource
October 15, 2019 Minneapolis, MN
Erika Niedowski spoke on a panel at ACEEE’s 2019 National Conference on Energy Efficiency as a Resource, being held in Minneapolis this month (Oct. 15-17). Her presentation, “Allies in the Climate Fight: The Interplay Between Energy Efficiency and Beneficial Electrification,” included Acadia Center analysis on the benefits of and barriers to switching from polluting fossil fuels to clean heating in the Northeast. It also showed how existing state energy efficiency programs are well-positioned to help customers access the benefits of high efficiency electric heat pumps.
CT’s Transportation Future, Confronting Climate Crisis
October 29, 2019 4pm-7:30pm Capital Community College, Hartford https://www.facebook.com/events/515419355910029/
Join Acadia Center, Transport Hartford Academy, partners, and stakeholders for a networking dinner and community meeting to learn more about critical efforts to deliver a more equitable, modern, low-carbon transportation future. Come share your thoughts to reach state leaders and help shape the policy’s future.
Acadia Center in the News
Boston Globe: Coalition of states unveil plan to curb transportation emissions
Utility Dive: Connecticut governor calls for 100% carbon-free power by 2040
Energy News Network: Cap and trade for transportation must consider environmental justice, advocates say
Pennlive.com: Gov. Wolf aims to raise Pa.’s profile in climate change fight by joining multi-state carbon tax program