Nine-state Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative further clamps down on power sector emissions
The Boston-based Acadia Center said the bipartisan governors are “filling the void of irresponsible federal policy” and at “the vanguard of climate action following the Trump administration’s misguided decision to withdraw from the Paris Accord.”
Read the full article from Mass Live here, also published in The Springfield Republican.
Regional plan would further cap power plant emissions
The move was praised by environmental groups, including the Conservation Law Foundation, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Acadia Center.
Read the full article from the Providence Journal here.
9 Eastern States Agree to Cut Power Plant Emissions an Extra 30%
According to a recent analysis by the Acadia Center, carbon dioxide emissions from the RGGI states have fallen more than 40 percent compared to 2008 levels. In 2016, their annual CO2 emissions fell to just under 80 million tons.
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One of those would lower the post-2020 cap by the amount of excess allowances banked in the years leading to 2020, which the Acadia Center has estimated could prevent nearly 50 million tons of carbon pollution. The other would automatically lower the cap, by up to 10 percent a year, if allowances fall below expected levels.
Read the full article from InsideClimate News here.
Northeast States Just Delivered A ‘Major Victory’ Against Climate Change
“This is what climate leadership looks like in the wake of the misguided and irresponsible decision to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris agreement,” said Peter Shattuck, Massachusetts director at the Boston-based Acadia Center.
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New Jersey, a founding member of the group, dropped out in 2011. The move cost the Garden State nearly $300 million in lost proceeds from permit auctions ― a number which could balloon to $489 million by 2020, according to a 2015 estimate from the Acadia Center. Gov. Chris Christie (R) called the program a “failure,” and vetoed legislation to reinstate New Jersey’s membership three times, most recently last month.
Read the full article from Huffington Post here.
Nine states aggressively step up plans to cut emissions
“This is what climate leadership looks like,” said Peter Shattuck, director of the Acadia Center in Massachusetts. “Despite the misguided and irresponsible decision to pull the US out of the Paris agreement, states and regions continue to lead, and these improvements put Massachusetts and other RGGI states in the vanguard of climate action.”
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In a report last year, the Acadia Center found RGGI states reduced emissions by 16 percent more than other states, while the region’s economy had grown 3.6 percent more than the rest of the country. At the same time, energy prices had fallen by an average of 3.4 percent, while electricity rates in other states rose by 7.2 percent.
Read the full article from The Boston Globe here.
Commenters Seek Broader Response on Millstone
Kerry Schlichting of the Acadia Center said that because the study results could influence Connecticut’s long-term energy strategy, her organization asked DEEP and PURA to “issue a draft methodology and base case scenario sometime this fall for stakeholder review and comment” before the release of the draft report in early December. If the agencies wait too long it will be difficult to incorporate stakeholder feedback on modeling issues, she said.
Read the full article from RTO Insider here.
TOU rates could spur energy and bill savings, but customer advocates urge caution
But despite findings that time-based rates can help customers reduce peak load—and may help the utility reduce supply costs—several variables must be juggled when designing the proper rate. According to a group of consumer, clean energy and environmental advocates, any changes must be made cautiously and gradually to ensure more vulnerable customers are not left higher bills they can’t control.
“TOU rates can have adverse impacts on consumers, especially on those who may have less ability to shift their usage to capture the benefits of TOU pricing, and on those who have trouble budgeting for bills that exhibit greater monthly volatility,” the group warned in a recent paper.
Titled “Guidance for Utilities Commissions on Time of Use Rates,” the paper represents a shared perspective from a range of advocates. Among the authors are representatives from US PIRG, The Utility Reform Network, National Consumer Law Center, Acadia Center, and others.
Read the full article from Utility Dive here.
Massachusetts takes on leadership role with new greenhouse gas-cutting regulations
This new state program would set more aggressive emissions-reducing targets than RGGI uses. Since RGGI was created in 2009 to cut utility-sector carbon emissions, the states in the regional compact have cut their carbon emissions from electric generation by 37 percent and reduced electricity prices by 3.4 percent. At the same time, the state’s economies have grown 3.6 percent faster than states outside the compact, according to a study by the clean energy nonprofit Acadia Center.
Read the full article from ThinkProgress here.
Sustainable Transportation Solutions for Maine
Maine’s climate and transportation policymaking is at a critical juncture. Last week, the Governor’s Energy Office convened an expert task force of private, public, and non-profit stakeholders to consider the challenges and opportunities ahead and to develop the Maine Energy Roadmap. The group faced complex and seemingly contradictory goals.
Through one lens, maturing transportation technologies are transforming the marketplace. Most major automakers already offer electric vehicles, dozens of additional long-range, reasonably-priced models are in development, and Volvo will sell only hybrid or electric vehicles starting in 2019. As options expand, battery ranges increase, and costs fall, Maine consumers will increasingly choose EVs for their lower driving and maintenance costs and lighter environmental impact. Fossil fuels burned for transportation are responsible for 40% of Maine’s greenhouse gas emissions—the largest share of any sector—and Acadia Center’s EnergyVision 2030 project shows that electric vehicle adoption is crucial to reducing climate pollution and meeting Maine’s climate targets. Clearly, we should do everything we can to support consumer access to electric vehicles.
Changes in vehicle technology are revealing that traditional transportation funding is out of step with an evolving marketplace and that new approaches are needed so Maine can enjoy a first class transportation system. Maine’s current funding for transportation infrastructure relies primarily on taxing gasoline. Without significant revision, this mechanism will not support a system in which drivers choose vehicles that do not depend on gasoline or diesel fuels. Proposals to impose fees on EVs and hybrids in an attempt to capture lost gas-tax revenue is not the answer—EVs and hybrids only make up about 1% of all the cars in Maine and have had little impact on overall transportation funding. Imposing fees and taxes that target a new, innovative, lower cost technology will not solve Maine’s transportation revenue needs and only act to burden consumers. Clearly, Maine policy should not stand in the way of consumer choice.
The Governor’s Energy Office doesn’t have to choose between accelerating EV adoption and strengthening infrastructure investments. If it’s willing to think differently, rely on accurate data, and distinguish between fair and equal contributions to transportation funding, the Maine Energy Roadmap could set a course to do both.
Recommendations for the Maine Energy Roadmap
Electric vehicles benefit all Mainers. Electric vehicles are a practical way for consumers to control their transportation expenses. Even with low gas prices, fuel efficiency is one of the top 9 reasons consumers choose a vehicle, and electric vehicles offer the additional benefit of lower maintence costs. Even drivers of convential vehicles benefit from expanded EV adoption, thanks to reduced greenhouse gas emissions, lower conventional pollution, and economic contributions to the state budget—from sales tax on electricity and electric systems benefits charges t0 elevated excise and sales taxes compared to conventional vehicles due to their higher value.
Maine should actively support EV adoption. Ramping up EV adoption will require clear goals and concrete policy actions. Maine should join the cooperative, Multi-State Zero Emissions Vehicle Memo of Understanding, which would commit Maine to putting close to 51,000 zero-emission vehicles on the road by 2025. Consumer incentives toward the purchase of new electric vehicles and EV charging equipment would support this ambitious goal.
Maine should explore consumer-friendly transportation funding mechanisms. Transportation funding mechanisms must evolve to keep pace with a changing marketplace and ensure that all drivers contribute fairly to infrastructure maintenance. The energy sector’s Regional Greenhouse Gas Inititative offers a successful mechanism to create revenue for reinvestment in Maine projects while capping climate pollution emissions. Acadia Center is working with regional partners to adapt this proven, market-based approach to transportation. Additional transportation funding solutions may be implemented as EV technology continues to mature and reaches market maturity.
Meeting Maine’s climate and emissions reduction goals should not undermine our ability to invest in our roads and highways. The Maine Energy Roadmap can facilitate these complex, crucial goals.
Clean Energy Group Says Connecticut Needs To Invest More In Solar
The Acadia Center said Thursday that while Connecticut’s greenhouse gas emissions have increased over the past five years the reforms proposed as part of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection’s Comprehensive Energy Strategy “appear to raise significant new challenges to distributed solar deployment that put its crucial climate mitigation at real risk.”
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Renewable power is of particular concern to those who champion solar power, such as the Acadia Center.
“While nationwide, forward-thinking states are looking towards smart, interconnected homes, often powered by rooftop solar, the draft CES recommendations for customer-sited solar are a major step away from that future,” Kerry Schlichting, policy advocate for the Acadia Center, said.
“The new policy package for rooftop solar outlined in the draft CES will create barriers for Connecticut residents and businesses who want to install solar, limiting their right to produce and consume their own clean energy,” she added.
The Acadia position paper stated that the draft CES recommends a cap of 20 MW (megawatts) a year through 2030 for customer-sited solar installations.
“In 2016 alone, Connecticut installed about 90 MW of customer-sited solar,” according to Schlichting. “The new cap would result in a nearly 80 percent cut in new installations in 2021 compared to 2016.”
The group is also advocating for a way that allows residents to bank unused kilowatt hours from their solar installations in a way that benefits all ratepayers. There’s a dispute over how much value to give the solar kilowatt.
The report estimates the value of a solar kilowatt hour at 15 cents, but doesn’t, according to Schlichting, go into detail about how it arrived at that number.
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“There’s a risk that the draft CES, if enacted, would cut the legs out from under solar PV deployment in our state – effectively preventing consumers from having the choice of rooftop solar. To meet our climate targets and continue to grow the state’s clean energy economy, we need policies that enable even more customer-sited solar, not restrict it.” Schlichting said.
Dennis Schain, a spokesman for the DEEP, said the draft report “presents DEEP’s best thinking about how to meet the goal of deploying the maximum amount of clean energy resources to reduce carbon emissions in the most cost effective manner for ratepayers.”
He said the report is open for comment and that includes comments from the Acadia Center.
In its position paper, Acadia Center said it has four high priority concerns regarding distributed solar, stating each concern must be resolved in the final CES for it to be satisfied.
Those concerns are: continue the expansion of new distributed solar capacity; improve, but do not end, net metering; properly account for all ratepayer benefits from distributed solar; and, seriously commit to a full statewide community solar solar program.
“Connecticut should be heading down a path towards consumer choice and ambitious goals, not new arbitrary limits,” Schlichting said.
Read the full article from CT News Junkie here.