“Have you heard the one about Maine’s electric grid?”

A regulator, an environmentalist, and a utility executive walk into a bar…and come out with an agreement “to plan, build, and operate the electric grid that is needed to meet Maine’s climate and energy requirements.”

A bad joke, but a good result! After six months of deliberations, a high-level stakeholder group of investor-owned utilities, current and former PUC Commissioners, environmental groups, renewable energy companies, municipalities, and state agency officials coalesced around a set of strategies, that if implemented, could change Maine’s electricity grid for the benefit of energy consumers.

The Maine Utility/Regulatory Reform and Decarbonization Initiative (MURRDI) was convened in the fall of 2020 by The Nature Conservancy and the Great Plains Institute and charged with developing strategies to:

1. plan, build, and operate an electricity grid, that
2. meets the State’s aggressive climate and energy requirements, while
3. maintaining a safe, reliable, secure, and affordable grid.

In the spring of 2021, the participants emerged with a verdict that could set Maine on a course to modernize the grid while achieving major climate, energy, economic, and equity benefits for everyone.

Acadia Center was honored to be chosen for a seat at this table, joining experts from Efficiency Maine Trust, Governor’s Energy Office, Public Utilities Commission, the Public Advocate, Maine’s two investor-owned utilities (CMP & Versant), representatives of the state’s biggest cities, and a handful of our environmental and renewable partners. Together, MURRDI advanced discussion and strategies designed to achieve the following outcomes:

• Reduction in greenhouse gas emissions 45 percent by 2030 and 80 percent by 2050;
• Increased renewable resources to account for 80 percent of electric sales by 2030 and 100 percent by 2050;
• Accelerated deployment of electrified transportation and buildings, distributed generation, load flexibility, and renewable electricity supply resources, including grid-scale wind and solar;
• Regional electricity market integration that harnesses innovation and emerging technologies;
• Enhanced focus on consumer needs related to climate requirements, equity and environmental justice, safety, reliability, resiliency, and other quantifiable benefits.
• Siting of distributed and grid-scale renewables and storage where they bring the greatest benefits to the grid and least adverse impacts to Maine’s natural resources; and
• Much, much more.

Acadia Center is especially excited about two of the nine recommendations it helped develop:

1. To investigate, adopt, and implement an all-encompassing, long-term, strategic grid planning process, with an eye toward phasing out fossil fuels and separating utility planning from ownership.
2. To expand the PUC’s decision-making framework to consider Maine’s climate requirements, equity implications, and impacts on environmental justice communities to enable consideration of the full costs and benefits of energy investments in all decisions.

Acadia Center supports the entire report, including the seven other recommendations to:

3. Endorse the New England States’ Vision for a Clean Affordable, and Reliable 21st Century Regional Electric Grid and extend it with regard to distributed energy resources and demand participation, comprehensive integrated system planning, and state policy objectives.
4. Move toward a more dynamic grid with more granular load flexibility capabilities in a concerted manner, including time of use rates and/or other dynamic rate structures that more accurately reflect the cost of producing and delivering power, and take into account how time-varying rate designs could help to meet the state’s climate and energy requirements.
5. Explore the opportunities, challenges, benefits, and drawbacks of establishing a market framework at the distribution level, including through pilot projects.
6. Identify and implement temporary measures to advance new EV fast charger (including DC fast charging and clustered Level 2 charging) deployment in the near term.
7. Provide useful, accessible, transparent, and dynamic hosting capacity information to developers and customers, including enabling greater understanding of the data, tools, and processes required.
8. Explore opportunities to enable using ratepayer dollars to pay for innovation investments in return for PUC oversight.
9. Support development of transmission that is carefully sited to avoid and minimize environmental impacts.

Acadia Center is deeply engaged in this topic with a wide array of allies and stakeholders and will be moving forward to help implement plans to reform rates, incentives, and resource planning to create a reliable, affordable, and clean energy system in Maine. For example, in 2021-22 Acadia Center will monitor Power Sector Transformation Stakeholder group to explore the transformation and planning of Maine’s electric sector to help achieve greenhouse gas emission reductions. Acadia Center will use, complete, and apply recommendations from its UtilityVision and Next Generation Energy Efficiency frameworks to inform policymakers and stakeholders on energy efficiency; electrification; GHG reductions; utility structure; load management; non-wires alternatives; distributed energy resources; and other solutions necessary to change existing statutes and regulations to achieve climate, energy, and equity objectives. Finally, Acadia Center will continue to push a bill in the 130^th Legislature to add climate and equity to the PUC’s responsibilities, empowering it to value emissions reductions and environmental justice in all policy, programmatic, and regulatory decisions.

The MURRDI report deserves a standing ovation clean energy, zero carbon, and equity for all. Who knew?

Rhode Island Adopts Mandatory, Enforceable Climate Targets

On April 10th, Governor Daniel McKee signed the landmark Act on Climate bill into law, updating Rhode Island’s climate goals with mandatory, enforceable targets which scientists indicate are necessary to avoid the worst effects of the climate crisis. The law updates the 2014 Resilient Rhode Island Act which set aspirational goals and will ensure the state takes actions necessary to reduce carbon emissions below 1990 levels by 45% by 2030, 80% by 2040, and to net-zero levels by 2050. With the strokes of 5 ceremonial pens, Governor McKee added Rhode Island to the growing number of states in the region that have committed to reducing carbon pollution.  As a result, Rhode Islanders will see benefits from cleaner air, healthier homes, increased investment in the local economy, and a more independent and resilient energy system. 

This law puts Rhode Island at the forefront of a changing regional economy that is actively reducing its dependence on polluting, imported fossil fuels by transitioning to local, clean, and renewable sources of energy.
– Hank Webster, Acadia Center’s Rhode Island Director and Staff Attorney

The Act on Climate law requires the state to update its greenhouse gas reduction plan by the end of 2022 with another update in 2025 and every five years thereafter. At the signing ceremony on historic Bowen’s Wharf in Newport, Governor McKee instructed his cabinet to “ramp up the strategic planning and outreach needed to put together plans and meet the targets under this act, and do it quickly.”

Acadia Center will continue to be a key stakeholder in those discussions and on Monday, Acadia Center’s Rhode Island Director, Hank Webster, convened leaders in the business community to discuss opportunities to work together to achieve these important environmental goals for the benefit of all Rhode Islanders. “This law is really about making sure Rhode Island prepares itself for an energy transition that we know is occurring on a global scale. It will ultimately help create and sustain jobs, improve our energy resiliency, and attract new businesses and workers. Rhode Island was the birthplace of the American industrial revolution and with this significant commitment to a clean energy economy, we can recapture that legacy of innovation.”

The Future: One Day at a Time

President Abraham Lincoln is credited with saying “The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a  time.” It’s also true that the present has often been built one day at a time through incalculable numbers of small and large actions. Acadia Center supported passage of Rhode Island’s initial climate legislation in 2014 and has been a lead organization in the annual efforts to strengthen Rhode Island’s commitment to clean energy, working in collaboration with other advocates as part of the Environment Council of Rhode Island, the Climate Crisis Campaign, the Energize Rhode Island Coalition, and Climate Jobs RI Coalition—a partnership between environmental and labor organizations. Acadia Center provided regular climate and energy briefings to legislators, demonstrating the health and economic benefits of climate action for their constituents, such as lower rates of asthma, cardiovascular disease, and even premature death.

Acadia Center and its partners conducted several virtual webinars throughout the Covid-19 pandemic and the transition to a new governor and House leadership in 2021. Acadia Center worked with legislative sponsors to strengthen the law and testified in support of the latest versions of the Act on Climate in 2020 and 2021. In recent weeks, Acadia Center played a key role in correcting a steady stream of disinformation coming from fossil-fuel aligned opponents to climate action.

Acknowledging the longstanding efforts of advocacy groups like Acadia Center, State Representative Lauren Carson, lead sponsor of the law in the House, said, “To the environmental advocates, I say years and years of work in the legislature have culminated in a bill that has moved a tremendous percentage of voters in the state of Rhode Island.” Attorney General Peter Neronha said, “I want to recognize the advocates that pushed elected officials—people like me—to do what is best for the people of the state of Rhode Island and around the country. The time to act is now.”

With the Act on Climate now in statute, Acadia Center is urging the state to implement key findings from numerous state-led energy studies, including the recommendation to plan a heat pump conversion effort outlined in the Heating Sector Transformation process and to implement the bipartisan, regional Transportation and Climate Initiative, as recommended by the state’s Mobility Innovation Working Group.

Climate Change Already Impacting Rhode Island

General Assembly leaders in attendance at the bill signing ceremony spoke about the importance of Rhode Island developing plans to address climate change and the ongoing energy transition away from fossil fuels. Senate President Dominick Ruggerio told the crowd, “climate change is happening more rapidly than we anticipated. We have a number of pieces of legislation in the Senate and House that we will be addressing this year to make significant changes to our policies. Obviously, we are looking to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels.”

Senate Environment & Agriculture Committee Chair Dawn Euer, the lead sponsor of the legislation in her chamber, noted that Rhode Island is particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, recalling that the site of the ceremony was underwater during Superstorm Sandy in 2012. “I think that we’ve seen the effects of climate change have been increasing and the reality is that the energy transition is coming.”

House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi spoke about the moral imperative of climate action: “My colleagues in the House came to me and said we need to do this. We need to do this for the future of Rhode Island. We all have to do our part and we have to leave this state better than we found it.”

Indeed, Governor McKee noted that “With 400 miles of coastline, the Ocean State is on the front lines of the climate crisis.” McKee also told the crowd of supporters that climate change threatens the “tourism industry and the countless small businesses it supports. This is especially true right here in Newport.” Governor McKee also touted the economic opportunities Rhode Island could seize by taking steps to address climate change, referencing efforts at the federal level to advance a federal infrastructure plan. “Rhode Island must seize this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. This means growing green jobs and promoting resiliency.”  

Next Steps

With the Act on Climate now in statute, Acadia Center is urging the state to implement key findings of the organization’s EnergyVision 2030 Roadmap and from numerous state-led energy studies. As part of the state’s initial climate action plan due by the end of 2022, Acadia Center will urge state policymakers to develop a heat pump conversion program as outlined in the Heating Sector Transformation process, to implement the regional Transportation and Climate Initiative recommended by the state’s Mobility Innovation Working Group, and to update the state’s Renewable Energy Standard to 100% by 2030. 

For more information:

Hank Webster
Rhode Island Director & Staff Attorney
hwebster@acadiacenter.org
401.276.0600 ext.402 

Fossil Gas, a Bridge Too Far

In a major milestone for the federal and New England electric grid, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced on March 8^th that it had completed the required final environmental impact statement for Vineyard Wind, the nation’s first industrial-scale offshore wind (OSW) facility, to be located off the coast of Massachusetts. Slated for completion by mid-2024, this 800 MW project will power the equivalent of 400,000 homes with renewable energy, and it represents just the beginning for a burgeoning clean energy industry. The Biden administration recently announced plans to develop 30,000 MW of OSW by 2030 in the Northeast.

The emergence of a homegrown clean energy economy provides Massachusetts with an opportunity to end our long-running dependency on natural gas (more accurately called “fossil gas”), reduce the amount of money sent out-of-state, and build a strong and local engine for economic growth. Massachusetts has recognized the vital role that OSW will play in the gas-less future. The Commonwealth recently published its Energy Pathways Roadmap,  a planning and analysis process to identify cost-effective and equitable pathways to reaching the 2050 target of reducing emissions by at least 85% by 2050, a target that was recently enshrined into law. The analysis notes that “offshore wind is the backbone of decarbonized electricity generation in Massachusetts,” with all modeled pathways requiring at least 15 GW of regional offshore wind by 2050.

Due to significant land constraints and the potential for delays in siting projects and transmission that limit onshore renewable development in the region, OSW will be a crucial resource for decarbonizing Massachusetts’ electric grid. OSW will displace polluting and dangerous gas infrastructure, which is currently the dominant energy resource on the grid (over 50% of electricity was generated from gas in 2020 regionally). With increased wind at night and winter, when demand for heat is highest, OSW will be able to meet peak demand for electric home heating.

According to the Massachusetts 2050 Roadmap, in all modeled scenarios, gas demand in the electric power sector needs to decrease drastically in the next 10 to 15 years. The graph below shows that regardless of the scenario in the Commonwealth’s modeled analysis – including one where it adds new pipelines — if we wish to meet climate targets, production of electricity from in-state fossil gas power plants must fall from roughly 70% of generation today to 37% by 2025 and 15% by 2030, finally decreasing to less than 10% between 2040 and 2050. Massachusetts’ modeling indicates that now is the time to decarbonize the grid, rather than in some distant future. Acadia Center, in our recent public comments on the Clean Energy and Climate Plan for 2030, made similar points that now is the time to reduce our dependence on gas and make this decade count.

To better understand the strategy behind this rapid decline in gas demand and how this will impact our chances at reaching net-zero economy-wide by 2050, it helps to think of what the Commonwealth needs to do between now and 2050 in ten-year increments.

2021 to 2030 – Use Offshore Wind to Push Out Gas Generated Electricity

Between 2021 and 2030, Massachusetts must focus on decarbonizing the electric sector through a rapid and sustained buildout of offshore wind, in addition to hydropower imports from Canada, while continuing successful utility and distributed solar, onshore wind, and energy efficiency programs. Decarbonizing the electric sector will serve as the low-carbon backbone for a broader decarbonized economy. As more OSW comes online, the less gas Massachusetts and the region will need. In the words of former Massachusetts utility regulator Paul Hibbard, “the less offshore wind there is, the more generation from gas-fired, carbon emitting power plants there will be. It’s almost a 1-to-1 offset.”

2030 to 2040 – Electrify, Electrify, Electrify

In the following decade, as the electric grid is increasingly low-carbon, it will be necessary to aggressively electrify home heating and vehicles. While there are serious and successful efforts underway right now to electrify these sectors in New England, by 2030 the region will have the low-carbon grid ready to reap the climate, public health, and consumer benefits of a decarbonized grid. According to the 2050 Roadmap’s modeling, high-efficiency electric air-source heat pumps need to overtake fossil gas heat in residential buildings by 2034 and in commercial buildings by 2036. For light-duty vehicles, the 2050 Roadmap predicts that electric vehicles could overtake fossil fuel vehicles sometime in the mid-to-late 2030s. During this time, the region will continue to add OSW and other renewable resources, as well as battery storage and flexible demand response, increasingly pushing out gas generation.

2040 to 2050 – Sustaining the Zero Carbon Economy

In the last decade before mid-century, it will be crucial to continue to build on the success of the previous decades through continued investment in renewable energy and electrification while working to fully retire the remaining gas resources in the region. Even as late as 2045, the Commonwealth projects that gas will rely on between 1% to 5% of total electric demand during periods of peak demand. Massachusetts and other New England states project that the region will infrequently run its fleet of fossil gas generation in the region through 2050 to balance the operational needs of the grid, while providing backup to renewables.

Conclusion

While the natural gas industry claims that gas is a “bridge fuel” to a cleaner future, much of Massachusetts’ planning documents rely on polluting and dangerous gas resources through 2050. It is time for policy makers to realize that for our region, gas is a bridge too far, one that the region needs to get off as soon as possible by decarbonizing the grid, shifting to all-electric homes, electric vehicles, and continuing to invest in energy efficiency and innovative demand-side technology solutions.

We know that polluting and dangerous fossil gas resources are more likely to be in environmental justice communities. It is necessary then to invest in renewables and electrification while deploying long-term energy storage, dynamic load management, and smart grid transmission technologies in order to eliminate demand for gas and to shut down polluting plants. Making full use of decarbonization technologies will help wean our state off its addiction to fossil gas and shorten the fossil gas bridge.

How Massachusetts Can Make this Decade Count: Acadia Center Weighs in on the Interim CECP

Overview

As the decade opens, Massachusetts is breaking new ground in climate policy with stronger, legally binding carbon emission targets and an ambitious 10-year plan that will set the course for a just, equitable, and decarbonized economy by 2030. These advances are the outcome of several years of focused advocacy, analysis, and stakeholder engagement. Acadia Center is pleased to have been a leader in this process through ACES coalition engagement, as an original member of the Implementation Advisory Committee, and by drafting and organizing comments on the Interim Clean Energy and Climate Plan (CECP) for 2030.

Overall, Acadia Center believes that the interim Clean Energy and Climate Plan (CECP) provides the Commonwealth and its stakeholders a solid basis upon which to advance climate policy. Acadia Center provided extensive detailed comments to the Plan, including several overarching points:

• With the passage of S.30 into law on March 26, 2021, Acadia Center recommends EEA update its Roadmap Modeling scenarios and issue a final 2030 CECP that accounts for the more stringent, science based 50% economy-wide target and the new statutory requirements related to all major carbon-emitting sectors; and
• Acadia Center urges EEA to refine the final CECP’s specificity regarding how the state will achieve the components of the plan. This should include: establishing the timing for each action in the plan, identifying the agency or department responsible for overseeing the action, estimating any additional funding necessary, and determining the need for additional statutory or regulatory authority to fully implement all actions in the plan.

The bulk of Acadia Center’s comments focused on buildings and energy supply.   Acadia Center is committed to supporting the effective implementation of the final CECP for 2030 through engagement with the Executive Office for Energy and Environmental Affairs and other responsible agencies and the many interested and affected stakeholders seeking to ensure that Massachusetts reaches its 2030 climate goals and set the state on a path to reaching a net-zero economy.

Transforming our Buildings

As Massachusetts prepares to implement an unprecedented policy program to reach zero net emissions by 2050, the targets included in the interim CECP for the buildings sector are appropriately ambitious. Acadia Center commends the Commonwealth for recognizing the critical role that a decarbonized commercial and residential building stock will play in reducing overall emissions. Buildings account for nearly a third of the Commonwealth’s annual emissions, and rapid building electrification is the only reasonable way to eliminate these emissions.

Acadia Center presented a number of recommendations for the interim CECP’s approach to building electrification, including:

• The creation of a specific framework for electrifying one million homes and 300-400 million square feet of commercial real estate by 2030;
• The necessity of a regulatory or legislative target to ensure rapid progress and jump-start the marketplace for zero-emissions-ready technologies in buildings;
• Address Mass Save program’s design and cost-effectiveness accounting methods that may limit electrification;
• Prioritize weatherization, supported by strong education and awareness campaign and implemented through expanding workforce development and jobs;
• Use solid data to carefully track the progress of the deployment of the measures in buildings;
• Fully prepare for the challenges in electrifying and weatherizing older, substandard housing;
• Target improving housing in environmental justice communities and make it possible for renters to participate in weatherization and electrification programs; and
• Revisit electric rate design to ensure that electric rates reflect and support the Commonwealth’s electrification policy goals.

Transforming our Energy Supply

Similarly, Acadia Center reviewed the interim CECP’s plans to achieve the 2030 target through strategies aimed at the state’s Energy Supply.  A successfully decarbonized electric grid will serve as the backbone to economy-wide decarbonization efforts in the building and transportation sectors. Acadia Center’s comments on the Energy Supply sector focused on the need to ensure continued progress in meeting the Commonwealth’s renewable energy procurement targets while ensuring proper siting and equitable outcomes. The comments also reinforced the need for significant reforms of both the regional market and the distribution-level system.

Acadia Center detailed its concerns regarding the interim CECP’s lack of commitment to further deployment of clean energy generation beyond what is already planned in anticipation of future market reforms. Those regional reform processes, particularly at the ISO-NE level, are likely to take years, and this should not be a justification to pause or curtail renewable generation procurements in the meantime.

Acadia Center’s comments presented a range of recommendations about Energy Supply, including:

• Expand solar power while protecting farmland and forests, incentivizing development on contaminated and brownfield sites, and providing stakeholders with clarity, predictability, and technical assistance to address siting challenges;
• Extend the applicability of the state’s climate and clean energy policies to include Municipal Light Plants;
• Require that future imported energy under the Global Warming Solutions Act (GWSA) be subject to stringent attribute accounting procedures and tracking systems;
• Explore using existing and possibly new transmission resources in a bi-directional method to employ existing Canadian hydropower as a form of pumped storage; and
• Exclude additional buildout of hydroelectric impoundment dams in Canada and elsewhere from eligibility in procurements and other clean energy policies.

Acadia Center-led Coalition Comments on the Future of Gas

Acadia Center was the lead author and coordinator of coalition comments focusing on the need for the CECP to address the use of natural gas in buildings. The Commonwealth continues to use gas in buildings for space heating water heating and other uses, contributing to more than 18% of the state’s emissions as of 2016.  Yet gas companies continue to build new pipelines and solicit new customers, who install new gas equipment, which in turn increases emissions, damages public health, and locks in more stranded assets each year.  Acadia Center and 37 co-signers urged the Commonwealth to add clarity to the goals of the CECP as they relate to gas, so future planning will take into account the Commonwealth’s targets.  The specific recommendations include:

• Creating a cross sector infrastructure plan that addresses both the increase in demand for electricity through electrification and winding down of gas use in buildings;
• Retaining an independent consultant to support EEA’s capacity to address the public’s needs and as a counterbalance to the gas companies’ consultants engaged in the DPU’s inquiry into the future of gas companies;
• Focus on electrification rather than alternative fuels like hydrogen and renewable natural gas to reduce emissions in buildings;
• Require accurate accounting for methane leakage from the gas pipeline and distribution system
• Design the next Mass Save 3 year plan with the gas phase out in mind;
• Accurately and holistically account for the costs of the health impacts cause by maintaining or expanding gas infrastructure; and
• Provide realistic and well-publicized pathways away from gas for low-income and other marginalized households.

Other Joint Coalition Comments

Acadia Center contributed to and signed on to the following joint comments with a broad range of advocacy and activist groups on both transportation and environmental justice.

Transportation recommendations prioritized a multi-pronged approach to reducing transportation emissions, including tailpipe pollution that disproportionately harms marginalized communities and greater emphasis on public transit.  These provisions include:

• Expanding public transit service and electrifying transit buses and trains;
• Ensuring equitable and timely investment through the Transportation and Climate Initiative Program;
• Increasing EV sales goals to 50% by 2030;
• Modifying EV rebate programs to accelerate deployment and expand access to electric mobility options;
• Accelerating the coordinated deployment of EV charging stations;
• Prioritizing electrification of cars, trucks, buses and private fleets in environmental justice (EJ) communities;
• Implementing strategies to reduce vehicle miles traveled (VMT); and
• Improving and expanding public transportation and biking and pedestrian infrastructure.

Environmental Justice recommendations focused on the need to center and prioritize justice, equity and worker rights in the CECP to address unequal burdens to impacted and vulnerable communities and avoid further harms to those communities as Massachusetts transitions toward a pollution-free economy.  Among the many important recommendations are the following:

• Improve community engagement and EJ considerations in infrastructure siting
• Require diverse hiring and workforce development practices across all sectors to achieve quality jobs
• Not assume that any biogenic feedstocks are “zero emission” or “net zero”
• Prioritize investments in overburdened and underserved communities
• Address the environmental justice and low-income needs for public transit, EV incentives, electrification of public transit fleets and school buses, diesel phase out, alternative transportation modes
• Address heating fuel emissions from existing buildings, and provide funding and other support for LMI and EJ populations
• Focus Mass Save/Energy Efficiency programs on pre-electrification, weatherization, and electrification
• Remove MSW and woody biomass from eligibility in clean energy incentive programs
• Eliminate existing and ban future high heat waste facilities (MSW) and employ zero waste policies
• Preserve existing trees and plant new trees in urban areas
• Allocate funds and jobs for climate adaptation projects that benefit EJ populations

Contact for more information:

Deborah Donovan, Massachusetts Director
ddonovan@acadiacenter.org
617-742-0054 ext.103

New England Governors’ Energy Vision: Shifting Power on the Regional Electricity Grid

Acadia Center works at the forefront of the effort to move toward a just, equitable and climate-focused future for New England and the Northeast. Central to that shift is the urgent need to fundamentally reshape the system we rely on to deliver electricity over the regional grid.  We must ensure the region has an electricity grid that can serve the needs of a fully electrified economy while rapidly evolving toward greater reliance on newer, cleaner, and more advanced energy technologies, including renewable generation powered by the wind and sun, energy storage, and flexible energy demand. The region must approach this transformation by putting the needs of customers at the center, especially the needs of those hose communities have borne a disproportionate economic burden of the detrimental impacts of energy, endured the damaging impacts of the fossil-fueled system and are at greatest risk when it comes to climate-driven disasters.

Today, the way the region’s electricity grid is planned and operates neglects to consider the climate crisis and environmental justice priorities while perpetuating our dependence on fossil fuels.  That is largely because the grid is not currently managed to embrace viable clean energy technologies or consider the impacts of its decision on vulnerable communities. Over the last year, Acadia Center, states, and a multitude of stakeholders throughout the region have intensified their commitment to transform the electricity grid through reforms that will reduce the burdens the grid places on consumers and the planet and broaden the universe of stakeholders providing input into goals and priorities for the region. The outcome of these ongoing discussions will have far-reaching implications for achieving state climate policy goals and establishing a clear pathway toward a fully decarbonized economy.

Who’s got the power now?

The Independent System Operator of New England (ISO-NE) is a non-profit entity formed over 20 years ago to oversee the electricity grid that serves all six New England states. It manages the wholesale electricity market so there is sufficient electricity generation capacity to reliably and cost-effectively meet consumer demand at all times. When the ISO was created, electricity mostly came from centrally dispatched plants fueled by nuclear, hydropower, coal and oil, mostly owned and operated by for-profit corporations. Over the last two decades, the region’s energy needs have been increasing met through gas-fueled power plants as fracked gas became increasingly cheap and was perceived as lower-polluting than dirtier coal and oil.

There is one notable success story that demonstrates the meaningful benefits that state clean energy commitments provide to consumers and the climate.  Investments in energy efficiency programs and solar energy have cut the region’s energy use by 15%, and continued expansions of efficiency and solar could result in as much as a 25% reduction, conferring significant savings and carbon reductions.

In many ways, ISO-NE’s decisions are stuck in this out-of-date world centered on fossil fuels. The status quo benefits the owners of today’s fleet of plants and is holding the region back from fully achieving a clean energy future. What’s more, the byzantine, exclusionary decision-making forums dominated by ISO staff, its board, and the powerful incumbent energy companies shut out the people most affected by the decisions that result.

What is needed?

Times have changed and our grid must change with it. Today, access to affordable, clean sources of electricity, and investing in efficiency and emerging technologies will enable us to transform the grid yet again into the grid of the future, one that equitably meets everyone’s needs as we face the climate crisis.  And that means changing the mission of the entity that operates the grid to one that:

• Prioritizes attaining state policy goals for clean energy and climate emission reductions
• Supports the expansion of renewable energy resources, including community-based sources
• Ensures full consideration of the justice and equity implications of the grid’s impacts
• Makes decisions by accounting for all benefits (reducing carbon emissions) and costs (damaging public health and the climate)

Where’s it going? New England Governors’ Energy Vision of Regional Cooperation

In October 2020, the New England Governors released a Vision Statement expressing dissatisfaction with this status quo, and committing to fully transparent, publicly accessible regional discussion about three major areas of concern:  wholesale energy market design; transmission infrastructure planning; and governance.  After issuing their public commitment to regional cooperation in March 2019, the states have been frustrated with the slow progress and narrow scope of discussions happening behind closed doors between ISO leadership and members of NEPOOL, the regional stakeholder body. The Governors’ October Vision Statement describes in detail the states’ mutual concerns about the inability for the regional market to enable the states to meet their clean energy and climate goals in a timely and optimal way.  Specifically, the statement:

• Lays out a set of minimum principles necessary to address the fundamental shortcomings of the energy market rules;
• Articulates the priorities for a significantly re-engineered transmission planning process; and
• Calls for an update of the ISO’s mission statement, governance structure, and mechanisms for stakeholder participation.

“A clean, affordable, and reliable regional electric grid – together with transparent decision-making processes and competitive market outcomes that fully support clean energy laws – is foundational to achieving our shared clean energy future… To achieve these goals, we need a decarbonized grid capable of supporting the accelerated adoption of more sustainable electric, heating, and transportation solutions for families and businesses.”

— Governors’ Statement on Electricity System Reform

The states committed to holding a series of public forums focusing on the three topics (wholesale energy market design, transmission infrastructure planning, and governance), and are seeking stakeholder input in the form of written comments. Overall, the Governors have set the stage for the region to reach resolution on a range of interrelated issues by putting state climate policy and stakeholder needs at the center of the process. Acadia Center strongly supports and presses for the commitment to reaching consensus solutions, understanding that politically durable progress must begin with states asserting themselves and taking control of the dialogue.  Acadia Center and its coalition partners have attended three forums and have prepared comments on Market Design, Transmission Planning, and Governance issues.  In Acadia Center’s comments, we have raised substantive policy reforms for consideration, including their implications for a just transition.

Thus far, calls for fundamental reforms have been met with strong resistance by the ISO and incumbent stakeholders that dominate the NEPOOL and ISO agendas.  With the states opening the forums up to everyone, this process has the potential to bring about reforms that can bring the region an electricity system that is centered on the states’ climate commitments and protective of all the region’s residents. This process has the makings of a major paradigm shift.

What’s next? The Energy Vision Forum on Equity and Environmental Justice

While Acadia Center applauds the states for launching the Energy Vision initiative, we were concerned about the initial lack of focus on equity and environmental justice outcomes.  It is essential that these values be considered when weighing the range of market design, transmission, and governance reforms. And that can only happen when the voices of front-line communities are part of the conversation from the beginning. After hearing about these concerns, the state organizers agreed to add a fourth forum focusing on environmental justice and equity.

On March 18, 2021, the states convened the fourth and final forum designed to be a dialogue between state policymakers and the public to address equity and environmental justice concerns. The virtual forum was free and presented in both English and Spanish.  A recording of the session is located on the New England Energy Vision website as well as presentations by the speakers.  Stakeholders can join the mailing list to hear about next steps by signing up here. In addition, stakeholders are invited to submit written comments regarding equity and environmental justice perspectives on the regional energy grid. Comments should be sent to Claire.Sickinger@ct.gov by April 29, 2021.

Conclusion

Acadia Center is working to ensure that New England has an electricity grid that can rapidly evolve toward greater reliance on cleaner, safer, and more affordable energy technologies, including renewable generation powered by the wind and sun, energy storage and flexible energy demand. The region’s governors have opened a dialogue on a range of interrelated issues by putting state climate policy and stakeholder needs at the center of the process. As the initiative progresses, Acadia Center will be pressing states to set and meet a high bar when it comes to delivering forward looking solutions that put equity and environmental justice concerns that their center.  Acadia Center will work with allies to unlock the door to a clean energy future while pushing for greater accountability, transparency, fairness, and equity for the communities that bear the worst burdens of our fossil fueled electricity grid.

Additional Resources:

• Acadia Center remarks at the CT League of Conservation Voters 2021 Legislative Planning Summit
  • Meeting recording [starting at minute 39]
• Acadia Center presentation at the Fix the Grid 101 webinar
  • Meeting Recording, Access Passcode: Ncc?7.QH
• Massachusetts Attorney General’s office public education efforts such as the December 2020 Teach-In covering the regional markets and their role in transitioning to clean energy.

Advocating for an Ambitious and Equitable TCI Program in Connecticut: The Power of Coalitions

The Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI) project continues to move forward in Connecticut with strong support from the Lamont Administration and many others, attesting to the strength of the TCI Coalition that Acadia Center has been working to build over the past two years. An important milestone occurred on March 8, 2021, when the Connecticut General Assembly’s Environment Committee held a public hearing on Senate Bill No. 884, a governor’s bill that would establish the TCI Program as state policy and require the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) to adopt implementing regulations.  The hearing was well attended by numerous and wide-ranging supporters who countered misinformation provided by the fossil fuel industry, spoke to the benefits the TCI Program would bring to the state, and called on state leaders to adopt additional measures to ensure equitable outcomes. Following the hearing, Governor Ned Lamont, legislative leaders and Middletown officials held a press conference on March 17, 2021, to express their support for the program and to highlight the state’s first electric school bus—the type of investment that could be replicated across the state with TCI funds.

Acadia Center has led and coordinated the advocacy efforts of the Connecticut TCI Coalition since 2019.  The TCI Coalition now includes over 50 environmental, transportation, labor, justice and energy policy advocacy groups and businesses. This broad group of stakeholders from across the state has been coordinating virtually over the last year, extending outreach, amplifying campaign messages, and meeting regularly with state agencies to communicate our shared vision.

The success of the legislative hearing is the result of months of preparation on the part of Acadia Center and our coalition partners, sharing regional data and studies with the coalition, and refining a coordinated message. The TCI Coalition coordinated and conveyed a positive narrative that addressed the many benefits of the TCI program, from cleaner air and achieving climate targets to transportation improvements that will help businesses and communities thrive. Testimony from Acadia Center and our allies also called on Connecticut to go above and beyond the terms of the regional agreement by strengthening equity provisions and dedicating more TCI-P funds for investment in the state’s overburdened and underserved communities. Early modeling projects that TCI could save Connecticut over $360 million in public health costs annually by 2032; if implemented equitably, most of those health benefits will occur in the communities hardest hit by transportation pollution.

Staff from the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) and the Department of Transportation (DOT) responded to misinformation about the TCI-P. As in other states, members of the fossil fuel industry exaggerated the program’s costs, ignored its benefits, and offered no alternative to address the climate, public health, and transportation challenges facing Connecticut. Katie Dykes, Commissioner of the Connecticut DEEP, and the other representatives of the Lamont administration gave strong testimony. Commissioner Dykes noted:  “This is an environmental program that will cap greenhouse gas emissions and require the oil industry to pay for the damage it is causing to public health and the climate … I believe that Connecticut, being a leader on addressing climate and air pollution, is going to provide significant benefits to our communities,” Dykes told members of the committee. “I am very confident that if we do move this program forward, that we will see more states joining.”

Senator Christine Cohen, Co-Chair of the Environment Committee, expanded on her testimony by publishing a pro-TCI op-ed in the Connecticut Post. “Turning climate change around is the challenge of our time, and we owe it to future generations to do all we can to mitigate its impacts. We need bold action. I look forward to doing my part, along with my colleagues in the legislature, to ensure that Connecticut enacts legislation to implement TCI.”

Amy McLean, Acadia Center Connecticut Director,  testified that “Connecticut has an opportunity to deliver the clean air and improved transportation options that the state’s residents and businesses deserve. Chronic under-investment—both in marginalized communities and in alternatives to personal vehicles—has resulted in congested roads, inadequate public transit, and neighborhoods lacking access to economic opportunities. At the same time, the imported fossil fuels used to power vehicles remain Connecticut’s greatest contributor to climate change and a major source of the air pollution that disproportionately harms minority residents. It is time to end that toxic combination by passing Senate Bill 884 to advance a modern, equitable, and sustainable transportation future.”

Acadia Center and its TCI Coalition partners look forward to continuing their partnerships to support this program that will bring enormous benefits to all Connecticut residents. The Environment Committee is expected to vote on SB 884 by March 31^st, and the conversation will continue from there. For more information on the next steps and how you can support an equitable and ambitious TCI-P in Connecticut, contact Amy McLean, Senior Policy Advocate and Connecticut Director at amclean@acadiacenter.org

A Clean Energy Future for Rhode Island

Acadia Center’s Goals in Rhode Island

Rhode Island offers a unique opportunity for clean energy action. With its small geographic size, high population density, and a single utility serving nearly all the state’s energy customers, Rhode Island is a model venue for the equitable, clean energy vision central to Acadia Center’s work. Known in history as the birthplace of the American industrial revolution, Rhode Island is poised, once again, to become a center for innovation and the birthplace of a clean energy revolution. Rhode Island is also particularly vulnerable to the worst effects of climate change given its 400 miles of shoreline and low-lying topography. Rhode Island has set a goal of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions 80% by 2050, but Acadia Center is pushing the state towards even more ambitious and meaningful targets through the Act on Climate 2021 bill (S. 78 / H. 5445), which aims for net-zero in 2050, and includes transparency, equity, and accountability provisions.

Landscape

Acadia Center played a significant role in some recent victories for clean energy in Rhode Island, including the following:

• 2017: Governor Raimondo announces a commitment to increase Rhode Island’s clean energy production 10-fold by 2020, moving from 100MW to 1000 MW.
• 2019: Regulators approve the 400MW Revolution Wind offshore wind contract.
• 2020: Rhode Island commits to generating 100% of its electricity from clean energy by 2030.

Yet Rhode Island still faces many hurdles to clean energy development, including some of the following:

• Low-income households and communities of color in Rhode Island are most affected by outdated systems, and climate-warming pollution, are often the last to benefit from solutions.
• Periodic efforts to terminate energy efficiency programs thwart additional progress.
• The state’s utility regulations do not appropriately weigh the health, economic, and environmental benefits of clean energy options against the risks of continued fossil fuel dependence.
• National Grid, the state’s monopoly utility, continues to push for natural gas expansion that is incompatible with the state meeting its current climate goals, much less the emissions reductions targets in line with the latest science.

Our Priority Issues

Acadia Center has built strong, lasting relationships with stakeholders throughout the Rhode Island climate community. Through these relationships and a holistic approach combining, data, advocacy and implementation, Acadia Center is well positioned to create change in Rhode Island.

Energy Efficiency: Rhode Island has been a leader in energy efficiency; since 2011, the state has scored within the top 5 states in the nation in energy efficiency, according to the yearly reports by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEE). Acadia Center is proud of its role shaping the efficiency policies that led to this ranking and advancing the creation of a stakeholder energy efficiency council.  We will continue to offer guidance and input to Rhode Island’s Energy Efficiency and Resource Management Council and press for heating electrification incentives to be included in energy efficiency programs, which will also help transition buildings away from fossil fuels.
Clean Power: Support additional procurements of large-scale renewables and work to align the regional grid operator with climate goals.
Transportation: Build upon Acadia Center’s leadership in the Rhode Island Mobility Innovation Working Group to help build a strategy for clean transportation policy.
Climate Planning: Ensure Rhode Island meets its goal to reduce GHG emissions 80% by 2050 through intermediate and specific targets, and work to pass the Rhode Island Act on Climate 2021 bill.
Utility Innovation: Reform the utility business model to put climate and consumers first and make sure the Public Utility Commission holds the utility accountable when exploring non-pipeline alternatives.
No Natural Gas: In addition to the work to switch to clean power sources, we continue to educate stakeholders and consumers about the dangers of natural gas. We will intervene where necessary to encourage options beyond new pipelines.

Spotlight on Aquidneck Island

Rhode Islanders on Aquidneck Island (Newport, Portsmouth, and Middletown) had a recent brush with danger in January 2019, when an operational failure of National Grid’s natural gas pipelines to Aquidneck Island forced a gas shutoff that left about 7,000 people in Newport County without heat in sub-freezing temperatures and forced them to evacuate their homes in the middle of the night.  Since the gas accident, Acadia Center has been engaged in the community, pushing back against the utility’s narrative and proposed solutions set. Acadia Center presented information to the town councils demonstrating weatherization and heating electrification are viable and preferred alternatives to building more gas infrastructure. Following this engagement, two of the three towns on Aquidneck Island supported moratoriums on natural gas pipelines, including new gas connections, instead choosing what are known as “non-infrastructure solutions” to eliminate the need for additional natural gas capacity on the island and encourage replacing gas with electricity.

Although we collectively managed to get National Grid to commit to planning non-pipeline alternatives and studying gas reliability, Acadia Center will be tracking developments to ensure that the work is being done. We will continue evaluating the options put on the table and advocating for the best possible scenario, as the utility still has no financial incentive to stop pushing for new pipelines.

Contact us:

Hank Webster, Staff Attorney and Rhode Island Director
hwebster@acadiacenter.org

For Media Inquiries:

Nancy Benben, Director of Communications and External Engagement
nbenben@acadiacenter.org
617.742.0054 ext. 104

The Missing Piece of State Climate Goals: Public Utilities Reform

Acadia Center is shaping reforms to the statutory mandates that guide state agencies in order to enable those agencies to be stronger partners in meeting climate goals. By reforming directives, state agencies will be better positioned to address the climate crisis and to make decisions that work for all communities, both now and in the future.

States have committed to significant economy-wide cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. But despite these goals, states have not explicitly empowered the agencies that impact carbon emissions – such as Public Utilities Commissions (PUC) and Departments of Transportation – to prioritize climate, equity, and environmental justice, in their decision-making. To achieve our climate goals, government agencies should be empowered to prioritize climate change impacts and mitigation in their decisions.

The decisions that PUCs and other state agencies make in 2021 will create the building, transportation, and energy infrastructure of 2030, 2050, and beyond. But because of outdated mandates, agencies are limited in their ability to make decisions in line with state climate goals. Public Utility Commissions, for example, which regulate the rates and investment decisions of electric and gas utilities, are legislatively mandated to reduce the costs of energy, ensure reliable gas and electric service, and guarantee utilities the opportunity to earn a profit. PUCs cannot regulate utilities in alignment with state climate targets or make decisions that value reducing greenhouse gases.

The result of outdated mandates is that PUCs often fail to treat clean energy resources on a level playing field as fossil fuels, furthering a dependence on energy sources that are exacerbating the climate crisis and leading PUCs to undervalue the future costs and climate impacts of energy investments that lean heavily on fossil fuels.

Other state agencies make many decisions with long-term climate ramifications, including establishing building codes, setting land use policy, and approving transportation projects such as new highways and road construction. Without taking long-term climate risks into consideration, these types of decisions could reinforce existing systems and products that rely on carbon emissions and fail to make the changes that will be necessary as we transition to a more resilient, zero-carbon economy.

By updating agency mandates, we can allow regulators and other policymakers to make decisions that support greenhouse gas reductions and consider climate change impacts. This would minimize long-term costs from climate change that now fall outside the scope of the core responsibilities of many state agencies.

To put these reforms into action, Acadia Center is working with other organizations, such as the Environmental Priorities Coalition in Maine, to support legislation for reforming PUC and state agency mandates in order to put climate and energy justice front and center and to ensure that all agencies are committed to helping states reach their emissions reduction targets.

Progress is already underway in the Northeast. In Massachusetts, Bill S.9, the major climate bill that is back on Gov. Baker’s desk after his initial veto in January, adds greenhouse gas reductions and equity as core responsibilities for the Department of Public Utilities.

In Maine, state representatives will soon introduce a bill that Acadia Center spearheaded to add climate and equity responsibilities to the PUC’s mandate and to task other state agencies to align their decision-making with the state’s climate laws.

And in Connecticut, Acadia Center has put together a factsheet describing opportunities to reform the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) and other state agencies, including amending the state’s Global Warming Solutions Act and modifying PURA’s statutory mandate directly.

Winter 2021 in Massachusetts – All Climate, All the Time

As the sun set on the last days of 2020, Massachusetts’ Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) published two key documents – the MA 2050 Decarbonization Roadmap report (plus its 6 technical appendices), which evaluated 8 different pathways towards more than 85% reductions in greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) by 2050, and the Interim Clean Energy and Climate Plan for 2030, (“CECP”), which detailed the actions and policies that the Commonwealth proposed to employ to cut economy-wide GHG emissions by 45% from 1990 levels by 2030.  Acadia Center has been hard at work reviewing the 2050 Roadmap, including determining what the “end dates” may be for the use of fossil fuels in Massachusetts, and is leading a coalition in writing comments on the CECP.

Less than a week after EEA released these long-awaited documents, the Massachusetts climate bill – legislation that Acadia Center and its partners had supported through the Senate, House, and conference committee process throughout 2020 – emerged from committee and passed both bodies in the waning hours of the 2019-2020 legislative session. The bill (S.2995) called for a net zero stretch code, 50% cuts in GHGs by 2030, reforms to the enabling statute of the Department of Public Utilities, and requirements that the energy efficiency plans achieve a GHG reductions goal and include the value of GHG reductions in cost-effectiveness calculations – three reforms at the heart of Acadia Center’s Next Generation Energy Efficiency strategy.

Governor Baker vetoed the bill on January 14^th, citing, among other reasons, the expense of a net zero stretch code and a $6B incremental cost to achieve 50% emissions reductions by 2030, instead of the 45% planned for in the administration’s CECP.

Acadia Center debunked the Governor’s primary cited reasons for his initial veto in two blog posts. One demonstrated that a net zero stretch code is both a key provision of the administration’s own Clean Energy and Climate Plan for 2030 and an attainable threshold that many builders in Massachusetts are already meeting at little additional cost. The other concluded that the $6B price tag cited by Governor Baker as the additional cost of achieving S.2995’s requirement of 50% cuts in emissions by 2030, versus 45% in the Clean Energy and Climate Plan was likely off by orders of magnitude, based on the 2050 Roadmap.

The timing of the veto as one legislative session ended and another began made it impossible for the legislature to override the Governor’s veto.  With the overwhelming support for the landmark bill, House and Senate leadership refiled an identical bill, S.9, which passed on January 28^th with veto-proof margins. As one of the co-chairs of the Alliance for Clean Energy Solutions (ACES), Acadia Center brought together over twenty clean energy businesses and advocacy organizations to sign on to a letter urging Governor Baker to sign the bill and empower Massachusetts to address the climate crisis – as well as another letter thanking legislative leadership for quickly passing S.9.

Governor Baker’s second veto took the form of an amended version the bill, S.13.  As of this publication, the legislature is still considering whether to adopt the proposed changes or override the veto directly. Acadia Center has been engaged in conversations with legislative leadership about positive changes requested by the Governor that strengthen environmental justice provisions and stringency of the base building code, and encouraging the legislature to reject other changes, such as making the “floor” levels for 2030 and 2040 interim greenhouse gas emissions limits into “ceilings” and preventing future administrations’ abilities to reduce greenhouse gas pollution faster.

Why Acadia Center wants to see the Climate Bill become law:

As written, S.9 will put into law the commitments made by the Baker Administration’s Clean Energy and Climate Plan for 2030 and beyond, setting Massachusetts on a path to reach net-zero emissions and avoid the worst impacts of climate change. It represents a sea change in Massachusetts’ approach to climate change. While current law enables climate targets to be seen simply as an aspirational goal that feels good, this legislation would require the state to make a real commitment and plan to reach net zero by 2050. It also:

• Includes vitally important provisions ensuring that front line communities and low-wage workers will benefit from the Commonwealth’s transition to a low-carbon economy;
• Gives the Department of Public Utility (DPU) the authority it needs to consider equity and climate in its decisions;
• Requires interim targets and all sectors of the economy to strive towards emissions reductions;
• Puts in place real protections for environmental justice communities; and
• Makes the Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) a true tool to add significant renewable power on the system.

These are just a few of the benefits, and why Acadia Center is advocating so strongly for this bill.

Image credit: Office of Governor Baker on Flickr

Weatherization: The Little Climate Action that Could

New England is full of drafty houses. Regionally, almost a third of housing units were built before 1940, and more than half were built before the 1970’s, when the first building energy codes were adopted. Anyone who lives in such a house knows how uncomfortable it can be, on a February day, to feel the cold outside air seeping in through cracks around the windows and under the baseboard.

Less well-known is just how much these drafts contribute to the region’s greenhouse gas emissions. Acadia Center analysis shows that heating equipment in the draftiest houses can emit more than six times the CO2 of the same size house built to the current building code.

Not only is it possible to increase comfort and reduce energy bills in these drafty homes while also slashing emissions—it’s easy. Tens of thousands of New England homes undergo weatherization treatment through energy efficiency programs every year.

How does weatherization work?

Imagine poking holes in the bottom of a plastic cup and holding it under the tap. The larger the holes, the faster the water needs to come out of the tap to keep the cup full. Heating your home is like that: the cup is your house, the water is heat energy, the tap is your heating equipment, and the holes are—well, holes. Tiny cracks all around the house can let in cold air from the outside, while gaps in insulation allow heat to move faster through walls, ceilings, and floors. In the summer, heat and humidity can sneak in just as fast as they sneak out in the winter.

Weatherization is a way to slow the movement of heat by sealing up cracks and adding or improving insulation. Blocking the pathways that heat uses to escape your house means that heating and air conditioning equipment doesn’t need to work as hard, which saves money and avoids emissions.

Wait, I don’t see any cracks.

Like water, heat can move through spaces that are hard to spot. Window frames, door thresholds, fireplaces, switch plates, duct supply and return grilles, recessed light fixtures, attic hatches, and the joists that sit atop foundation walls are all common sites for air leakage. Homes settle over time, which unavoidably creates small cracks in all manner of locations.

Yikes! What can I do about that?

There’s an energy efficiency program in every Northeast state that will cover a big part of the cost of weatherization. These programs are designed to make it easier for homes and businesses to be more energy efficient, which benefits everyone. Weatherization work is often completely free for income-eligible households. Here is a list of programs by state:

Is there anything I can do myself?

Hiring a weatherization contractor will save you the most money, but some weatherization measures are easy enough for homeowners to do on their own. For example, V-seal weather stripping can be applied to the tracks of double-hung windows or sliding doors. Foam tubing on exterior door thresholds is also effective and easy to install. Caulking can be useful for larger gaps around baseboard molding and in the framing around windows and doors. Some caulking products dry clear, making the seal invisible. Others are white but can be painted.

Other types of air sealing projects are better completed by a professional. These include any work done on or near something hot—the vent for a furnace or clothes dryer, for example. Some projects are also just too onerous for building owners to do by themselves. While it may be technically possible to seal and insulate an entire attic as a DIY project, it is perhaps not advisable—for safety reasons, because of the effort involved, and because small mistakes can affect the success of the project.

Why would I insulate my attic?

While air sealing stops the movement of warm air through cracks, insulation stops the movement of heat through building components. Older homes very often have little or no insulation.

Heat moves slower through insulation because it’s full of air pockets—that’s why six inches of pink fiberglass insulates better than a brick wall four feet thick. Aside from fiberglass, contractors also commonly insulate with blown-in cellulose. Made from ground-up newspaper treated with a flame retardant, cellulose can often be inserted into wall cavities from the outside by temporarily removing a piece of siding, drilling a small hole, and then capping the hole when the insulating is complete.

Together, insulation and air sealing can improve the comfort of your home while cutting emissions. And because strong incentives are available no matter where in the Northeast you live, the work often pays itself off in bill savings in three years or less.

So this can save me money?

Weatherization is one of the best ways to save money on utility bills. For an older home, insulation and air sealing can reduce bills by more than 50% and emissions by 60% or more. If your heating bill in a cold winter month costs more than $250, look into weatherization.