The Northeast Is Considering A Major Extension To Its Emissions Program
From 2008 to 2015, RGGI states have seen their economies grow faster than the rest of the country, while decreasing emissions twice as quickly, according to the first of a two-part report from Acadia Center looking at what RGGI has done so far.
The second part of the report, due out later this month, will look at what RGGI needs to do going forward.
According to Peter Shattuck, director of Acadia Center’s Clean Energy Initiative, RGGI negotiators have already suggested the 5 percent annual decrease in carbon credits — and they are considering a 10-year extension on the program.
“The fact that they are considering a more ambitious rate of decline is a first step,” Shattuck said. But he was quick to add that complying the the Clean Power Plan is only one part of lowering emissions.
Read the full article at http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/08/02/3803740/rggi-extension-considered/.
Radio: Understanding The State’s Energy Bill
Guests on WBUR’s Radio Boston:
Peter Shattuck, director of the Clean Energy Initiative and director of the Massachusetts office at the Acadia Center. He tweets at @petershattuck.
Dan Dolan, president of the trade group New England Power Generators Association, which tweets @NEPowerGen.
Click here to listen to the full segment.
Massachusetts Bill Boosts Offshore Wind, Canadian Hydro
Members of the Alliance for Clean Energy Solutions, a coalition of clean energy companies, environmentalists and consumer representatives, had a different perspective.
“This bill is a huge step on the path to a clean energy future,” said Peter Shattuck, Massachusetts director of the Acadia Center. “The legislation solidifies the commonwealth’s leadership in reducing carbon pollution and will help reduce our growing over-reliance on natural gas.”
Read the full article at https://www.rtoinsider.com/massachusetts-bill-offshore-wind-canadian-hydropower-29805/.
Clean Energy Leaders Congratulate Massachusetts Legislature and Urge Governor to Sign Major Energy Bill
Environmental and Business Organizations Agree on Benefits
BOSTON — Leaders of the Alliance for Clean Energy Solutions (ACES), a coalition of business groups, clean energy companies, environmental organizations, health and consumer representatives dedicated to advancing clean energy for Massachusetts, applauded the Massachusetts Legislature for passing An Act to Promote Energy Diversity this weekend and call upon Governor Charlie Baker to sign the comprehensive energy legislation into law to ensure Massachusetts remains on its path towards a clean energy future.
“This bill is a huge step on the path to a clean energy future,” said Peter Shattuck, Massachusetts Director of Acadia Center and co-leader of ACES. “The legislation solidifies the Commonwealth’s leadership in reducing carbon pollution and will help reduce our growing over-reliance on natural gas.”
“The Massachusetts Legislature has passed a bill that will not only accelerate the deployment of clean energy, but will also serve to accelerate our economy by providing a stable policy framework for investors and developers of clean energy,” said NECEC Executive Vice President Janet Gail Besser, co-leader of ACES. “We commend the Legislature for including Class 1 eligible renewable energy resources, offshore wind, energy storage, fuel cells, commercial clean energy financing, and other key policies that will make Massachusetts’ energy more cost-competitive, reliable, and clean for future generations.”
Over the last year, Alliance members worked to promote policies to enable the Commonwealth to achieve its climate commitments while protecting consumers and the environment, and many of these priorities were reflected in the final bill:
Large-Scale Clean Energy Procurements — procurements of 9.45 terawatt hours of Renewable Portfolio (RPS)-eligible resources (such as onshore wind) and hydroelectricity, which will facilitate costeffective achievement of the RPS, replace retiring generation, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and diversify our electricity supply.
Pairing of Wind and Hydroelectricity — support for bundled procurements of RPS-eligible resources (such as onshore wind) and hydropower in order to drive in-region development and maximize efficient use of transmission for clean energy.
Offshore Wind — phased procurement of 1600 megawatts of offshore wind in order to tap Massachusetts’ world-class offshore wind resource and develop a sustainable industry in Massachusetts.
Energy Procurement Standards and Criteria — provisions to ensure competitive procurement of cost-effective clean energy resources through a process that protects against self-dealing, ensures reliability, price stability, affordability for all income levels.
Energy Storage — authorization for the Department of Energy Resources to develop procurement targets and incentives for utilities, households, and businesses to deploy cost-effective energy storage technology that integrates renewable energy sources and improves the operation of the grid.
Property Assessed Clean Energy (CPACE) — expansion of energy efficiency and clean energy financing options for commercial customers by leveraging private funds, while ensuring consumer protections and aligning with existing energy efficiency objectives.
Distributed Energy Resources — support for small hydropower and fuel cells will contribute to the diversity of the Commonwealth’s electricity supply and economic development.
ACES sought additional provisions which were not included in the final bill, including increasing the Renewable Portfolio Standard, provisions to avoid, minimize, and mitigate environmental impacts of energy projects, prohibiting gas pipeline subsidies, creation of oil heat energy efficiency programs, measures to increase electric vehicle uptake, and Community Empowerment. However, the final bill represents a strong commitment to clean energy leadership, and ACES encourages Governor Charlie Baker to ensure Massachusetts’ place as a clean energy leader by signing the bill and implementing the sound provisions it includes.
Contacts:
Krysia Wazny, Acadia Center
617-742-0054 x107, kwazny@acadiacenter.org
Kate Plourd Johnson, NECEC
617-500-9933, kjohnson@necec.org
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About ACES: The Alliance for Clean Energy Solutions (ACES) is a “coalition of coalitions” comprised of business groups, clean energy companies, environmental organizations, labor, health, and consumer advocates dedicated to advancing clean energy for Massachusetts. ACES is committed to ensuring that those charged with shaping Massachusetts’ energy policies have the most rigorous, current data on the benefits and costs of clean energy. Our goal is to ensure that the Commonwealth can attain a cost-effective, reliable and diverse energy supply to power its businesses, communities and households, which will reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, create a stable and prosperous business environment and meet the Commonwealth’s greenhouse gas emissions requirements. For more information: acesma.org
Members Include: Acadia Center, Alliance for Business Leadership, Climate Action Business Association, Clean Water Action, E4theFuture, Energy Storage Association, Environment Massachusetts, Environmental Entrepreneurs, Environmental League of Massachusetts, Health Care Without Harm, Mass Audubon, Mass Energy Consumers Alliance, Northeast Clean Energy Council, Northeast Energy Efficiency Council, RENEW Northeast, Solar Energy Business Association of New England, Union of Concerned Scientists, US Green Building Council Massachusetts Chapter, Vote Solar.
New Data Shows Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative Working for Bay State
BOSTON – A new report finds the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative is producing major drops in climate pollution in states such as Massachusetts, and despite dire predictions, the economies of RGGI states are leading the nation.
Peter Shattuck, is director of the Clean Energy Initiative at the nonprofit Acadia Center, which produced the new report. Shattuck said CO2 emissions dropped by just over 6 percent below the initiative’s cap in 2015; and there have been greater reductions over the long term.
“Massachusetts and other states participating in RGGI have been able to curb carbon pollution by 37 percent since the program started, even as electricity prices remain below where they were when RGGI started,” he said.
Shattuck said despite opponents’ claims that these environmental efforts would be a drain on the economy, the new research found the economies of Massachusetts and the other states participating in RGGI are outpacing the rest of the nation.
Shattuck said Massachusetts and other states in the initiative are conducting a review of the program and will soon determine what kind of emission-level reductions states in the initiative should aim for by 2030. Meantime, he said, state lawmakers have a measure pending to expand clean energy in the Bay State.
“The Legislature right now is considering a bill that would launch the nation’s first offshore wind industry, and would support other forms of clean energy,” he added.
The measure, S. 2400, is expected to come up for a vote during the final days of the state legislative session over the weekend.
Mike Clifford, Public News Service – MA
RGGI Riding Clean Energy to a Low Carbon Future
The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) has now produced enough data to make certain trends abundantly clear: the electric sector is becoming cleaner while the regional economy grows. The nine participating RGGI states, which held their first allowance auction nearly eight years ago, have delivered on their promise of cutting carbon emissions from the region’s power plants. As Acadia Center’s most recent report details, these emissions reductions have been driven, in part, by the steady growth of renewable energy generation and energy efficiency programs. Not only has this transition to a clean energy system helped to curb harmful pollution, it has produced substantial benefits for the regional economy.
Slashing emissions
Emissions in 2015 continued the downward trend of recent years. Carbon emissions from the power plants covered by RGGI totaled 83.2 million tons in 2015, which was 6.3% below the 2015 emissions cap of 88.7 tons and 37% below emissions levels in 2008, the year before RGGI started. RGGI’s experience continues to show that power sector emissions can be reduced much more quickly and cost effectively than expected.
RGGI Caps and Actual Emissions
Fostering a clean energy transition
Energy efficiency programs are reducing demand for electricity across the region, while electricity is increasingly being supplied by renewable energy sources. Both of these trends help to displace electricity generation from aging, inefficient, carbon-intensive sources like coal and oil, while deferring the need to invest in costly natural gas infrastructure. All together, these factors are helping to make electricity in the region cleaner and more affordable.
Increasing Role of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Generation
Both energy efficiency and non-emitting generation are projected to continue increasing in the years ahead. In the nine RGGI states, budgets for electric efficiency programs grew from $575 million in 2008 to $1.9 billion in 2015, an increase of 230%. These efficiency programs are the primary beneficiaries of RGGI revenue, and investments in energy efficiency yield economic benefits on the order of 3 to 4 times the up-front cost. Renewable generation will continue increasing, as all nine RGGI states have Renewable Portfolio Standards that require electric utilities to procure increasing quantities of renewable electricity.
Going forward, many of the RGGI states are increasing commitments to clean energy. Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts are procuring significant quantities of hydroelectricity and renewable energy through a joint procurement, and soon-to-be-enacted legislation in Massachusetts will require additional procurements of hydroelectricity, offshore wind, and other renewables equivalent to approximately 30%–40% of the Commonwealth’s electric consumption. New York has committed to a 50% renewable energy supply by 2030, and Rhode Island recently adopted a 40% renewable energy requirement by 2035.
As the RGGI states continue to achieve these increasingly ambitious targets for clean energy growth, the economic and environmental well-being of the region will continue to benefit. New, high-quality jobs will be created in the booming clean energy sector. The region will pay less for the imported fossil fuels needed to power traditional generation. Cleaner air will result in healthier citizens who spend more time at school and work, rather than making costly hospital visits. And last but not least, achieving these goals will enable the RGGI states to meet their own economy-wide GHG targets for 2030 and 2050, doing their share to help avoid the worst impacts of a warming planet.
Stay tuned for Part II of our RGGI report, with the latest on the 2016 program review and the CPP.
Report: RGGI resulting in emissions reductions, lower electricity costs
BOSTON – A new report examining the effects of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a coalition of Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states, including Rhode Island, shows participating states are outpacing other parts of the country for both emissions reduction and declining electricity prices.
Acadia Center, a nonprofit advocate of low-carbon energy, released the report, showing the region has realized a reduction in carbon emissions in each of the last five years, and is down 37 percent since the program launched in 2009. The coalition, known better as RGGI, is a mandatory cap-and-trade market comprising nine states, including all of the New England states, Delaware, Maryland and New York.
Read the full article at Providence Business News.
RGGI’s Success Continues: Region Outpacing the Rest of the Country on Emissions and Economics
BOSTON — A new report from Acadia Center shows that the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic States’ Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) continues to succeed in driving down emissions, which have declined in each of the last 5 years and are down 37% since the program launched. Over the same time period electricity prices have declined across the region, even as prices in other states have increased, and RGGI states have outpaced other states on both emissions reductions and economic growth. The analysis, Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative Status Report, Part I: Measuring Success describes key trends and drivers, including that:
- Emissions of CO2 fell 6.3% below the RGGI cap in 2015.
- Electricity prices across the region have decreased by 3.4% on average since RGGI took effect, while electricity prices in other states have increased by 7.2%.
- RGGI states have reduced emissions by 16% more than other states and seen 3.6% more economic growth since RGGI launched.
- Electric sector trends responsible for low emissions — including increasing generation from renewables and natural gas and growing investments in energy efficiency — show no signs of reversing.
- Reforms decided during the 2016 Program Review will determine whether RGGI continues to succeed.
“The experience of the RGGI states shows that we can reduce emissions while benefitting consumers and boosting economic growth,” said Daniel L. Sosland, Acadia Center President.
“States within RGGI have done better since the program’s launch than states that have yet to act,” said Peter Shattuck, Director of Acadia Center’s Clean Energy Initiative. “As more states consider how to reduce climate pollution, RGGI’s precedent is an important example of how market-based programs deliver real benefits.”
Against this backdrop of success to-date, RGGI’s member states are currently working to determine the program’s future course through the 2016 Program Review. The reforms being considered will determine the extent to which states can use the RGGI model to continue to reduce emissions to meet state and federal requirements and address the threat of climate change. “These states have the opportunity to continue their role as national leaders on climate,” said Jordan Stutt, Policy Analyst at Acadia Center. “RGGI is an effective and proven tool to address the increasingly apparent threats of climate change, and experience to date shows that more progress is achievable.”
Part II of RGGI Status Report will focus on key decisions states face in the 2016 Program Review, including RGGI’s level of ambition through 2030 and other changes needed to achieve state-level climate commitments and the requirements of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan.
For more information, see: acadiacenter.org/document/measuring-rggi-success
Contact:
Krysia Wazny, Communications Associate
617-742-0054 x107, kwazny@acadiacenter.org
Peter Shattuck, Director, Clean Energy Initiative
(617) 742-0054 x103, pshattuck@acadiacenter.org
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Acadia Center is a non-profit, research, and advocacy organization committed to advancing the clean energy future. Acadia Center is at the forefront of efforts to build clean, low-carbon, and consumer-friendly economies. Acadia Center provides accurate and reliable information and offers a comprehensive, real-world approach to problem solving through innovation and collaboration.
Report: Cap-and-trade system cuts carbon use, boosts growth
Albany — The nation’s first state-level emissions cap-and-trade program has vastly reduced carbon dioxide emissions in a nine-state region including New York since 2009, according to a report to be released Thursday.
The Acadia Center, a non-profit research organization that advocates for clean energy and economic growth, found that the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states involved in the cap-and-trade program have also reported more economic growth than states without a similar initiative….
Thursday’s report notes RGGI states’ economies grew 24.9 percent, opposed to 21.3 percent in non-RGGI states, again excluding California.
Almost 60 percent of revenue generated by carbon dioxide allowances was reinvested in energy efficiency programs between 2012 and 2014, the report says, and Jordan Stutt, policy analyst for the Acadia Center, said other states may begin noticing the economic growth in RGGI states.
“The rest of the country is really primed to experience similar results by implementing well-designed carbon reduction program(s),” Stutt said.
See full article from the Albany Times Union.
Acadia Center’s Community Energy Forums continue with event in the SouthCoast
Last month, Acadia Center co-hosted the first event in the South Coast Community Energy Series with Leadership SouthCoast, the Marion Institute, South Coast Media Group, and Toxics Action Center. The New Bedford forum, “Building the SouthCoast’s Clean Energy Future,” explored the current energy landscape, energy challenges affecting the SouthCoast, and local clean energy alternatives for the region.
Because of new developments in the way energy is generated, delivered, and used, communities and neighborhoods have exciting opportunities to benefit from clean, efficient, and affordable energy at the local level and move away from increasing their overreliance on fossil fuels. However, reforming our existing and outdated utility model is necessary to enable these transformative community energy projects to flourish. Through forums like this one, residents can learn more about their current energy system, the reforms that are possible, and the ways they can have an influence.
Speakers at the event included: Claire Miller, Lead Community Organizer, Toxics Action Center; Roger Cabral, Organizer with South Coast Neighbors United; Peter Shattuck, Director of the Clean Energy Initiative and Massachusetts Office, Acadia Center; and Janet Milkman, Executive Director, Marion Institute.
The diverse panel examined how energy decisions affect a person’s wallet, health, and community. The speakers presented an overview of the current energy system and how it works; highlights of local efforts to combat proposed pipeline expansions; an explanation of the Attorney General’s Natural Gas Report and of Acadia Center’s EnergyVision — outlining a pathway for creating safer, cleaner, and more affordable energy systems; tips for deciphering a utility bill; and local opportunities, like the SouthCoast Energy Challenge, for reducing energy usage through energy efficiency.
SouthCoast Today, a local media outlet, covered the event with a piece here: Panel Explores SouthCoast Region’s Clean Energy Future.
The New Bedford forum was the first event in the SouthCoast Community Energy Series, which seeks to explore energy issues affecting the SouthCoast and how local residents and communities can maximize the economic, environmental, and public health benefits of clean energy. Two more events are planned for the coming months.
Tyler Soleau is Acadia Center’s Energy and Climate Outreach Director working from the Boston office. He focuses on raising awareness, network building and advancing Acadia Center’s clean energy program goals in Massachusetts and the Northeast. Tyler came to Acadia Center from the Massachusetts House of Representatives where he served most immediately as Staff Director and Counsel for the House Committee on Climate Change.