Solving the Winter Energy Problem with Acadia Center

Year after year, the operator of New England’s electric grid, ISO-New England (ISO-NE), announces a risk of blackouts during the winter. New Englanders are stuck in a Groundhog Day scenario, asking: if this threat to the region’s electric grid happens every year, why hasn’t it been fixed by now? At a recent webinar for the Acadia Center community, our staff took on these vital questions.

Melissa Birchard, Acadia Center’s Director of Clean Energy & Grid Transition, explained how ISO-New England operates the region’s power grid and electricity markets. ISO-NE, with the backing of the federal government, has the power to institute measures like rolling blackouts to keep the electricity system safe during the winter. Although rolling blackouts would only occur if winter weather were to be unusually severe and prolonged, state utilities have been asked to plan for this possibility.

The region’s overreliance on natural gas is the root cause of these problems. New England has increased its use of natural gas to generate electricity by a massive amount in the last 20 years. New England relies on natural gas for over 50% of its fuel mix each year, which is risky both because an overreliance on any one fuel creates a liability and because natural gas is not produced locally in New England and is, therefore, more difficult to have on hand and subject to price spikes. Because natural gas is a fossil fuel, it also contributes to extreme weather, perpetuating the risk of blackouts. Our targets for climate health all involve eliminating the use of fossil fuels like natural gas now and in the coming years.

In the winter, natural gas is in high demand not only in New England, but around the country and the globe. It’s this increased demand that threatens rolling blackouts and that causes consumer bills to rise, as gas supplies are preferentially delivered to utilities to provide heat, rather than merchant generators to keep the lights on. This winter has added challenges due to Russia’s war in Ukraine, restricting global imports from a major global supplier of natural gas. In addition, supply chain issues due to the pandemic and climate change are elevating risks. These factors have made prices skyrocket and the chance of blackouts rise.

Acadia Center’s answer to this problem, which we detailed in a recent explainer written with our partners, is clean energy. Clean energy provides solutions for near-, medium- and long-term problems.

These solutions include:

• Resource Diversity – Stopping the overreliance on gas.
• Demand Management – Managing consumer demand in smart and strategic ways. This can include using residential solar and batteries to support the electric grid, automatically adjusting lighting and device charging, or delaying energy intensive processes in industrial facilities to help lighten the load on the grid during key stretches of time.
• Bringing online clean, renewable energy – Resources like offshore wind are strong in the winter and healthy for our planet.
• Energy storage – Saving energy for the times of highest demand, in short, medium, and long duration.

To implement these solutions, we need to scale up clean energy and transmission lines for newly generated clean energy to travel across the region. We also need to get behind new technologies and modern energy markets. Many of these solutions need to be driven by the New England states and ISO-New England working together.

Amy Boyd, Vice President, Climate & Clean Energy Policy, detailed some solutions consumers can implement in the near term. The biggest thing consumers can do is make sure their homes are as energy efficient as possible and shop around to get off fossil fuels. Alternatives like community choice aggregation offer more options and often come in at a lower cost than traditional utility bills due to greater diversity and added renewable energy. Community solar can also be a great way to participate in clean energy located in your community, even if you can’t add solar panels to your own roof.

It’s important to remember that rising energy costs and the risk of blackouts can disproportionately affect renters, lower income people, non-English speakers, and environmental justice populations. These communities are most likely to live in homes that are not weatherized or connected to green energy, meaning they are on average 25% less efficient, cost five times more to heat, and create 50% of greenhouse gas emissions The winter energy problem is a threat to everyone but presents even more serious concerns for these communities, so we need green solutions to help these communities that need it most.

You can watch the webinar any time to hear more about this topic, find more  for consumers looking to lower energy bills, and hear Amy and Melissa answer questions from the audience. This webinar was made possible by the Acadia Center donor community, and we’re so grateful for the support. If you’d like to join Acadia Center in the fight for the clean energy system of the future, please donate here.

Heat Pumps in Real Life – Part 2

If you’ve been hanging around Acadia Center’s blogs for very long, you’ve heard about how air source heat pumps work by moving heat, rather than generating it – so they can be 3-4 times as efficient as gas, and how “a heat pump is probably the biggest thing that consumers can to do help fight the climate crisis.” You might have even seen my colleague Ben Butterworth’s multiple photos in the Boston Globe as the face of heat pumps, or read about the lessons I learned back in May when investing in seven mini-splits to electrify my 1880s house.

But have you heard that under the Inflation Reduction Act, starting in 2023, heat pumps will be eligible for rebates and tax credits of up to $8,000, in addition to the rebates already in place from state programs like MassSave?

Here’s what I’ve learned from living with my heat pumps through one of the warmest summers in Boston, and into a fall that’s been both cooler than usual and repeatedly hit 70 degrees in November.

Power Cool: Even though this August was the hottest on record, my heat pumps kept my family comfortable and well air conditioned. Last year, we had one AC unit and a ton of fans to see us through August, and it was miserable. We spent too much time and money at the movie theater, mall, water parks, and other desperate ways to keep cool. This year, we happily spent our days at home in comfort. My daughter even discovered a “power cool” setting that sounded like a jet engine but felt amazing as it rapidly cooled her room. We did use 38% more electricity in August than the year prior but were easily 100% more comfortable, and spent roughly the same, once you factor in the movies and water parks. Although my home isn’t a good candidate for solar, I’m going to look into a community solar program, to be able to reduce our bills for next summer.

Dehumidification settings matter: My son’s asthma was flaring up late this summer and his room smelled even funkier than you’d expect for a 9-year old’s bedroom. I had a mold inspector come check things out. He didn’t find any mold but did find that the humidity levels in most of the house were 68-72%. Way too high. After some frustration, I dug into the settings on my heat pumps and discovered that the dehumidification mode (rather than the auto-cool setting I originally chose) resulted in a much lower humidity home with a much cooler feel. Better idea all around! So, watch out for humidity weirdness and play with settings. You may be surprised by what you find. Also run a full dehumidification cycle when you’re switching from cooling mode to heating season to make sure that you clear out all the moisture and prevent mold in the air handlers.

Keep it Clean: Although my instruction manuals said that I should clean the air filters monthly (and other filters periodically), I have only done it twice in the 6 months the heat pumps have been part of our family. Both times, though, there has been a lot more dust than I predicted. These things really are filtering the air! It’s important to keep the filters clean to maximize air flow, reduce the amount of energy they need to expend, and keep your air quality high. I’m going to put an alert on my calendar to make it more of a habit. I’d also encourage folks to install indoor units where they can reach them for maintenance – 10 feet into the air (like two of mine are) isn’t a great spot unless you love hanging out on ladders.

Shoulder season: I have been loving the flexibility that my heat pumps offer to heat up one room at a time or turn them on just enough to take the chill out of the air. With our radiators, it’s all or nothing and that first burst of heating inevitably wakes up my kids with all the banging. Especially on these days when it’s cold in the morning, but lovely by mid-day, I appreciate having the option to micro-adjust the temperature in my office or bedroom while leaving the rest of the house to float (because it also holds its temperature well after upgrading our insulation). And on the surprise 70-degree days, it’s nice to just turn the units off and not deal with residual heat like we would have with the radiators. As climate change makes our weather weirder, I’m glad to have equipment that can handle extremes in both directions and change up quickly.

Be a New Englander, Wear the Sweater: The first few days I tried to switch to heating mode, my heat pumps would run for a few minutes, then pause seemingly mid-cycle and show me an icon like a water droplet on top of a snowflake. This error message wasn’t included in any of the instruction manuals, and after some googling, I determined that it means that the outdoor temperature and humidity levels aren’t different enough from the indoor temp I’ve requested. In other words, my heat pump was telling me to suck it up and put on a sweater. It was right. Indeed, on the days when the temperature fell further, the error went away, and the unit started cranking out toasty warm air. I also remembered to lock closed all my windows, and that helped immensely, too.

The Financials: I got my full rebate from MassSave two months after it was submitted by my vendor. I’ve heard that it’s taking longer than in recent months because there’s been such a flurry of activity and rebate requests. Stay patient and keep checking the online tracker to see what’s happening. As I mentioned, my summer electric usage was 20-38% higher than last year (but we got a lot more AC out of the deal), but my fall usage has been within 15% of what it was. My gas use, however, was down 77% for the month of October. The biggest portion of my gas bills is now the $10 a month customer charge – indicating that once I get an induction stove and heat pump water heater, I can save even more by ditching gas entirely.

The Bottom Line: For me, the investment in heat pumps was more about comfort and doing what we could to decarbonize than it was about saving money. We have not saved much from the summer, but that’s to be expected with so much added air conditioning. I am excited to see how much we’ll save this winter! Check out the MassSave heating comparison calculator if you want to see the potential savings for your home. This year, I’m even looking forward to snow, so we can really see how the heat pumps fare and hope to make it through the winter without turning on our backup system. I’ll let you know in the spring!

Why Keeping Hydrogen Out of Easily Electrifiable Sectors Matters

Is hydrogen a clean energy source?

It depends. Hydrogen does not release greenhouse gas emissions when it is used, so, similar to electricity, what really matters from a climate perspective is how the hydrogen is produced. That can range from very dirty to very clean. The vast majority of hydrogen used today is made from natural gas and produces a lot of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Hydrogen produced in this manner is often referred to as “gray hydrogen.” There are also methods of producing “green hydrogen,” most notably by using renewable electricity to break water into hydrogen and oxygen through a process known as electrolysis. But, regardless of how hydrogen is produced, emerging research has found that – just like natural gas – hydrogen that leaks directly into the atmosphere is damaging to the climate.

What is hydrogen’s current role in our economy?

Today, hydrogen is used in industrial processes like oil refining and fertilizer production. In recent years, there has been expanded focus on the potential for using hydrogen to help decarbonize other sectors of the economy including power generation, transportation, and the natural gas distribution system. The question of whether to blend hydrogen into the natural gas distribution system to reduce the overall GHG emissions associated with using natural gas has been a particular hot button issue across the country, and particularly in the northeast.

Why is hydrogen suddenly a hot topic in the Northeast?

Many of the gas utilities in the Northeast have proposed hydrogen blending as a core strategy in their decarbonization plans and some are actively pursuing hydrogen blending pilot projects. The appropriate use of hydrogen was a key point of debate in the Massachusetts Future of Gas docket and four northeastern states (New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Massachusetts) have partnered to pursue a portion of the $8 billion of funding available through the Department of Energy to create a “regional hydrogen hub.”  Hydrogen is a central point of discussion in the currently underway updates to Connecticut’s Comprehensive Energy Strategy and Connecticut recently formed a Hydrogen Task Force to study hydrogen’s role in the state’s economy and energy infrastructure. Hydrogen will also undoubtedly be a focal point in Rhode Island’s own “Future of Gas” docket that recently kicked off.

What are the key problems and limitations associated with hydrogen?

Even if hydrogen is “green” (i.e., produced with 100% renewable electricity), it still faces a number of issues and limitations. Perhaps most importantly, most experts agree that hydrogen can only safely replace 7% of the total energy flowing through the gas distribution system, dramatically limiting any potential climate benefit of hydrogen blending. We still need to decarbonize  the other 93%. How? Gas companies have proposed replacing the remaining natural gas with so called “renewable natural gas” which is extremely problematic.

Additionally, the process of producing green hydrogen is inefficient and requires a huge amount of renewable electricity. As a result, for most sectors of the economy, it makes more sense to use clean electricity to “directly electrify” those sectors, rather than adding the inefficient middle step of converting that clean electricity to hydrogen. For example, using clean electricity to run a heat pump for heating a home is about five times more efficient and significantly more cost effective than using that same clean electricity to produce green hydrogen, blend that hydrogen into the gas system, and then burn that hydrogen in a boiler.

Because green hydrogen requires so much clean electricity to produce, producing green hydrogen at scale would require a ton of land to site the wind turbines and solar panels. We simply will not have enough land to produce green hydrogen at the scale necessary to decarbonize the whole economy. The limited green hydrogen we will have should be allocated to the sectors of the economy that are hardest to electrify, like aviation, shipping, and certain industrial processes. It is critical to use this limited resource strategically, and not waste it in sectors of the economy that are relatively easy to electrify, like building heating and passenger vehicle transportation.

Are there safety concerns associated with hydrogen?

Hydrogen does present unique safety challenges. It is the smallest molecule in the universe and is prone to leaks, highly combustible, and burns with a nearly invisible flame. So, while hydrogen is relatively safe in an industrial facility where trained professionals can constantly monitor the equipment, it does pose significant safety risk when you consider scenarios like people burning hydrogen in a furnace at their home.

What are the alternatives to hydrogen and why should we use them?

It is going to depend on the sector. As mentioned before, there are sectors of the economy that are exceedingly difficult to electrify such as shipping, aviation, certain industrial end uses, and chemical production. We are almost certainly going to need some amount of green hydrogen to decarbonize these sectors, but for many parts of the economy the main alternative is direct electrification using technologies like heat pumps and electric vehicles. For cars and home heating in particular, direct electrification is the superior alternative from basically any angle you can think of: Cost, efficiency, safety, and overall practicality.

Why should people be concerned about the gas company proposals to blend in hydrogen?

Direct electrification of homes using heat pumps and electric water heaters is a more cost-effective and safer means to decarbonize homes and save consumers money. Allowing gas utilities to blend hydrogen into the gas distribution system is a short-sighted decision that will only marginally reduce greenhouse gas emissions, cost ratepayers money, and distract from the more practical solution of electrification.

How do Acadia Center’s CLEAN-E and Beyond Gas Initiatives address these concerns?

Acadia Center is actively engaged in discussions around hydrogen in various forums  in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. Acadia Center is leveraging our technical expertise related to hydrogen and our analytical capabilities to question modeling assumptions through independent quantitative analysis, develop detailed public comments, present to state agencies, and educate partners. Acadia Center is also a member of the Connecticut Clean Energy Task Force Hydrogen Uses Working Group. Throughout all these processes, Acadia Center is providing technical analysis and research to demonstrate the limitations of using hydrogen in the gas distribution system and the benefits of electrification paired with energy efficiency.

How can people act on this and push for renewable, efficient sources of energy?

There are a few ways for people to get involved. You can write a letter or call your congressperson and advocate for hydrogen to be left out of the easy-to-electrify sectors like home heating and light-duty transportation. Additionally, weatherizing and electrifying one’s home with heat pumps and electric water heaters would lower demand for natural gas. The Inflation Reduction Act has made weatherizing our homes far more affordable, and you can learn more about that here.

For more information:
Ben Butterworth, Director of Climate, Energy, and Equity Analysis, bbutterworth@acadiacenter.org, 617-742-0054  ext. 111

The Third RGGI Program Review Should Advance Equitable Investments and Climate Goals

The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) is a market-based, cap-and-invest greenhouse gas reduction effort among the states of Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Virginia. RGGI has been a pioneer of climate policy since its founding in 2009, generating $5.6 billion in proceeds for participating states over the last 13 years. 

Every five years or so, RGGI undergoes a program review, giving the participating states the opportunity to consider the program’s performance and make various changes including the equitable disbursement of the program’s proceeds. RGGI’s third Program Review is happening now and will last through 2023. In addition to securing effective greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets, Acadia Center is advocating that the current review process focuses on returning proceeds to the environmental justice (EJ) communities that host a major share of fossil fuel infrastructure but that have not received a proportionate share of clean infrastructure benefits. Together with EJ organizations and other partners across the RGGI footprint, we are also spotlighting improvements needed to RGGI’s market-based mechanisms to provide both greater resilience to the program and optimize emission reductions. 

Ensuring Equitable Investment 

The RGGI Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is the framework for all states to participate in RGGI, signed by the governors of each participating state. However, the MOU does not impose any requirement for the states to guarantee the equitable investment of the monetary proceeds from the emissions auctions operated under the cap and trade program, which aims to stabilize and reduce emissions while remaining consistent with overall economic growth and a safe and reliable electric power supply. Most of the participating states lack procedures to ensure RGGI-funded investments deliver meaningful and proportional benefits to overburdened and underserved communities. Many states invest RGGI proceeds into clean energy projects that, while effective in reducing climate pollution, fail to address inequities that are a legacy of dirty energy as well as inequities that continue to arise as part and parcel of the clean energy transition. In other cases, RGGI funds have been used to fill state budget gaps, addressing neither climate nor justice imperatives. 

During the second RGGI Program Review in 2017, Acadia Center, environmental justice organizations, and many other partners from across the region submitted comments to RGGI1 calling on the RGGI states to require investments of RGGI auction proceeds in environmental justice communities. It has been five years since those comments were submitted, yet the RGGI program still requires no commitment from participating states to invest proceeds equitably. Since the time of these comments in the second Program Review, programs across the US have committed to environmental and energy justice including California’s 35% minimum from cap-and-invest, the federal Justice40 framework, New York’s 40% commitment from Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (Climate Act) and New Jersey’s new EJ law. But the equitable investment of auction proceeds accrued from RGGI remains a glaring work in progress for the RGGI program and should be the priority for improvement in the third Program Review.   

Soliciting and Incorporating Input from Environmental Justice Communities 

The Program Review offers another important chance for the RGGI states to make a detailed assessment of how RGGI funds are being invested in communities and work to make those investments more equitable, both through RGGI itself and through accompanying state laws. As an initial matter, RGGI must offer ample opportunity for public comment throughout the Program Review while reaching out to capture the input of key communities. The second Program Review offered a range of opportunities for participation from residents, community-based organizations, and environmental justice advocates. It is even more important for the third Program Review to incorporate the voices of communities, both through public comment opportunities and concerted community outreach. The updated Program Review timeline contemplates ongoing engagement with communities on environmental justice and equity in fall 2022, continuing through fall 2023. This outreach and engagement should be tailored to increase the understanding of the program’s achievements to date while addressing the full scope of concerns that environmental justice communities may have about the market-based cap-and-invest program, including its impacts, its mechanisms, and how its proceeds are spent. RGGI should work to increase participation by scheduling meetings at multiple times of the day, involving an interpreter in public hearings to alleviate language barriers, and translating materials into multiple languages. Additionally, the RGGI program must focus presentations on the EJ impacts of RGGI to date and investigate potential solutions, as well as make provisions to track comments and suggestions from communities of color and environmental justice communities on program changes. 

Tackling Emissions Reductions with Reforms to the Cost Containment Reserve (CCR), Price Floor, and Emissions Containment Reserve (ECR)  

To limit emissions from the electric power sector, RGGI sets an annual carbon dioxide emissions cap from all RGGI states. More recently, participating states have set individual, ever-more aggressive emission reduction targets to decarbonize the electricity sector. By 2050, most participating states will be striving for net-zero emissions. RGGI’s regional cap and market mechanisms have yet to reflect these targets. The RGGI cap and market mechanisms need to be restructured to assist states in achieving their ambitious state-level targets for decarbonization of the power generation sector.  

RGGI’s market mechanisms are outlined by the Model Rule, a set of prescribed rules that serves as the framework for the CO2 Budget Trading Program in each RGGI state. The Model Rule has undergone recurrent revisions since it was first created, and mechanisms such as the Cost Containment Reserve (CCR), Price Floor, and Emissions Containment Reserve (ECR) should be highlighted for further reform for as part of the third Program Review. 

RGGI’s Cost Containment Reserve (CCR) is a mechanism that provides the market with a ceiling price. This means that when the price of emissions allowances in an auction carried out by RGGI is equal to the CCR price, RGGI will release additional emission allowances into the market. In practice, when the trigger price for the CCR is low, the CCR can become a mechanism for polluting facilities to avoid aggressive emission reductions. The CRR has been triggered three times in RGGI’s history and the last auction that triggered the CCR was in December 2021. However, the last three auctions have narrowly avoided the CCR trigger by only a few cents, highlighting the potential future significance the CCR has in dictating the volume of emissions allowances that are released. Acadia Center advocates substantially raising the CCR trigger price, as doing so would be a step towards reducing the power sector GHG emissions in line with state-level emissions reduction targets.   

Similarly, the RGGI Model Rule sets a price floor for allowance auctions, which is the minimum price for an allowance. In 2022, the Price Floor is $2.44 per ton, with a 2.5% rate of increase each year. In RGGI’s 57 auctions since 2009, the Price Floor had only been reached 10 times with the last time being almost 10 years ago, in December of 2012. RGGI should increase the Price Floor and establish a more ambitious rate of increase closely aligned with market prices in the most recent years’ auctions. This reform will ensure that prices will stay more consistent and RGGI states will still have the proceeds necessary to encourage stable investments in renewable electricity and energy efficiency, to grow these resources and contribute to overall decarbonization. 

Since January of 2021, RGGI has implemented an Emissions Containment Reserve (ECR), a mechanism to withhold up to 10 percent of emission allowances when the market price falls below the trigger price. However, it is essential to ensure that states can make use of this mechanism in an equitable and fair manner. Acadia Center recommends that RGGI increase the ECR trigger price to reflect the aggressive emission reductions the states need to achieve. The ECR trigger price, which is currently $6.42 per ton, will only rise to $11 in 2030, a figure far below this year’s average market price. For the past three auctions, the ECR price has been twice the market price and therefore has been rendered almost irrelevant, failing to reduce emissions as designed. 

In its advocacy with the RGGI states and with RGGI, Inc., Acadia Center works with a coalition of environmental justice organizations, community-based groups, environmental and energy policy organizations, and other partners from across the RGGI footprint. Our shared objectives are to achieve more ambitious emissions cap goals, improvements in air quality – especially in overburdened and underserved communities – and a commitment from all participating states to ensure equitable investment of RGGI proceeds in environmental justice communities. We are also currently working to update our 2019 report entitled “The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative: Ten Years in Review” to include information on RGGI’s successes and opportunities from 2019 to the present. Please speak to your state energy leaders about how RGGI can better serve you and your communities – and stay tuned to the Acadia Center website for more information.  

For More Information: 

Paola Moncada Tamayo, Policy Analyst, ptamayo@acadiacenter.org, 860-246-7121 x204
Joy Yakie, Manager, Environmental Justice & Outreach, jyakie@acadiacenter.org, 617-742-0054 x110 

Connecticut Explores Performance-Based Regulation for the State’s Utilities

In August 2020, Tropical Storm Isaias left more than 1 million customers in Connecticut without power. For many customers, it took nearly a week to restore power.

Partly in response to the storm, state legislators passed the “Take Back Our Grid” Act (PA 20-5). The bill required the state’s investor-owned electric utilities, Eversource and United Illuminating, to provide credits back to customers for the delayed storm response. It also required the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) to open a proceeding to explore and implement a new framework for how the state should regulate its investor-owned utilities.

While Tropical Storm Isaias may have been a catalyst, adopting a new approach to utility regulation—specifically Performance-Based Regulation (PBR)—has been a nation-wide conversation for years. Performance-Based Regulation includes a broad set of policy tools that regulators can use to tie utility revenues more directly to improved performance, helping to overcome outdated financial incentives.

PURA’s PBR proceeding is a key opportunity to help make utilities work better for customers.

What would it mean to improve utility performance through PBR? Regulators could, for example, require utilities to track the number of customers enrolled in time-varying rates, which have been shown to help reduce both costs and greenhouse gas emissions. Often, tracking data in scorecards leads to improved performance based simply on the pressure of public comparisons to peer companies. But if regulators felt that there was sufficient data and experience to set specific performance targets for the metric being tracked, here enrollment in time-varying rates, they could then impose either rewards or penalties (or both) according to how performance changed over time.

PURA’s PBR proceeding began in earnest in March 2022. The process is expected to last well into 2023, and possibly 2024. While this is a long proceeding, it is critical to make sure that regulators take the time to consider all potential solutions.

Acadia Center has been working closely with other advocacy groups in Connecticut, including Vote Solar, Conservation Law Foundation, and Save the Sound, to raise awareness about the proceeding and to ensure that the proceeding incorporates a broad set of interests and perspectives.

While PURA and stakeholders will figure out many details over the coming months, PURA’s overarching goals for any PBR framework in Connecticut are to 1) enhance electric distribution company performance; 2) advance public policy; 3) improve customer empowerment and satisfaction; and 4) ensure reasonable, affordable, and equitable rates.

So far, PURA has held three stakeholder workshops, each with an accompanying working paper from PURA staff to gather specific feedback from stakeholders. While later stages of the proceeding will explore performance metrics and potential rewards and penalties in more detail, the process so far has helped stakeholders develop a better sense of which regulatory tools in Connecticut are working and which are not.

As the proceeding continues, Acadia Center will work to ensure that a broad set of voices are heard and to make sure that any new regulatory tools support key public policy goals and prioritize customers.

For more information, including Acadia Center reports and an introductory webinar on PBR that Acadia Center co-hosted with Vote Solar, Conservation Law Foundation, Save the Sound, see: https://votesolar.org/resources-for-performance-based-regulation-of-connecticut-utilities/

Moving Beyond Gas in RI

Following the success of the Massachusetts-based Beyond Gas coalition, Acadia Center has formed a similar coalition in Rhode Island. Acadia Center and its partners in the Beyond Gas-RI advocacy coalition have submitted comprehensive comments to the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission (PUC) outlining our recommendations for the forthcoming Future of Gas investigation. The proceeding, expected to unfold over the remainder of 2022 and well into 2023, will examine how the state’s overreliance on “fossil” gas must change for the state to meet the Act on Climate’s requirements of a 45 percent reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030, 80 percent reduction by 2040, and to net-zero by 2050.

The letter, signed by Acadia Center, Audubon Society of Rhode Island, the Environment Council of Rhode Island, Conservation Law Foundation, Green Energy Consumers Alliance, the Climate and Development Lab at Brown University, Sierra Club and concerned citizens, makes a series of recommendations for the scope of the proceedings.

• First, the coalition notes the General Assembly granted broad powers to state agencies to promulgate rules and regulations to achieve the GHG emissions reductions required by the Act on Climate, so the PUC has the power to make significant changes in this sector, if it finds them appropriate.
• Extensive studies have repeatedly concluded that the most favorable and realistic pathway for a decarbonized future relies primarily upon heating electrification, including thermal energy networks, rather than so-called decarbonized gases such as renewable natural gas or hydrogen.
• Beyond Gas RI urged the PUC to explore the assumptions and methodologies concerning methane leaks as a primary area of focus in light of recent utility filings that confirm repeated studies that the gas distribution system might be leaking nearly 4 percent of total “sent out” gas. Gas leaks are particularly dangerous public safety concerns and doubly problematic for the climate because methane released directly into the atmosphere has a 20-year global warming potential (GWP) that is 86 greater than carbon dioxide over the same period.
• Finally, the coalition urged the PUC to expand its usual regulatory purview to also look at health and safety implications related to gas use. Studies have repeatedly shown that gas combustion inside of buildings is linked to higher rates of respiratory illness and cardiovascular disease. Recent studies have also shown that, in addition to the pipeline leaks documented above, gas stoves routinely leak methane even while they are off — accounting for between 0.8 percent and 1.3 percent of all gas they use.

“Ultimately, the PUC’s primary focus should be to identify the most aggressive and feasible gas system decarbonization pathway that both rapidly and equitably reduces current GHG fossil gas emissions in the near-term while eliminating the potential risk of new long-lived fossil fuel connections to the network and protecting ratepayers from stranded costs.”

The PUC proceeding follows several years of Acadia Center engagement with the Public Utilities Commission, Energy Facility Siting Board (EFSB), Division of Public Utilities and Carriers, Rhode Island Attorney General, and other stakeholders across a series of dockets that highlight the imprudence of continuous gas system expansion. In 2021, Acadia Center urged the EFSB to impose a moratorium on new gas connections on infrastructure constrained Aquidneck Island while awaiting a determination on utility proposals to build new gas facilities to enable future growth. While that moratorium was not granted, the case is still pending and the EFSB did order a first ever comparative analysis of the GHG impacts of the utility’s preferred solution and all rejected alternatives. Acadia Center’s work on the Massachusetts Future of Gas proceeding, as well as Infrastructure, Safety, and Reliability (ISR) dockets, energy efficiency plans, non-pipes alternative frameworks, and intervention in the sale of the utility to PPL have all led to this critical Future of Gas investigation in Rhode Island.

For more information:
Hank Webster, Senior Advocate and Rhode Island Program Director, hwebster@acadiacenter.org, 401.276.0600 ext.402

Winter (Energy Price Spike) is Coming

You  may have seen the headlines recently warning of massive electricity price spikes this winter, with National Grid announcing a 64% increase in Massachusetts. What you may have missed is the anticipated jump in residential natural gas heating costs as well, an expected 22% hike. Ratepayers in other utility jurisdictions will face similar price increases.  Two questions probably jump to mind: 1) why is this happening and 2) what can I do about it? 

Why is this happening? 

Why prices are spiking so swiftly is a complex question, but the answer to each component comes back to two words: Natural Gas. New England is heavily reliant upon natural gas for both electricity and home heating. About two-thirds of Massachusetts’ in-state generation is natural gas and more than half of homes are heated with the fuel. Over the years, the region has “cleaned up” the grid by replacing generation fed by other fossil fuels like coal and oil with even more natural gas. Given the leakage rates in the natural gas system, it’s debatable how much this has lowered GHG emissions, but the fuel has, at times, been relatively inexpensive. This is no longer the case.

Unfortunately, single-mindedly pursuing natural gas has led to an overdependence on the fuel source. As Acadia Center has previously highlighted, this has left the region vulnerable to price spikes when there are shifts in the commodity markets, which are international and therefore not subject to state regulation or controls. This is exactly what is occurring now. Natural gas prices have risen over the past few years thanks to the global pandemic and climate change disrupting production and causing unexpected shifts in demand. Those issues have continued, but the Russian war against Ukraine has greatly exacerbated the problem. Russia is the world’s largest exporter of natural gas, causing upheaval in the natural gas markets. As a result of Russia’s aggression and global instability, international commodity prices are spiking. This combination of factors has led to massive hikes in prices for both electricity and heating in New England.

Overreliance on a single fuel source, specifically a fossil fuel commodity, is never a wise decision. New England needs to double down on expanding investment into many locally based renewable electricity options, buoyed by a flexible grid and flexible demand to provide ratepayers with safe, reliable, and affordable energy.

What can you do about it? 

Given that the underlying problem is structural, there are no easy or instant solutions to address it. But that does not mean that consumers are helpless.  New England residents need to contact their legislators, executive branch, and local officials to advocate for long-term solutions, like more investment in demand response, weatherization, other energy efficiency options, and a diversified and decarbonized grid powered by renewable energy. Acadia Center is also advocating for these changes with ISO-NE, the region’s power operator, and state decision-makers.

In the meantime, there are a number of short-term options for consumers heading into this winter that can help blunt the current or upcoming pain in your pocket. Renters should speak with their landlords about these options as well, as some may require authorization from a landlord.

• Shop Around: Cities and towns often run community choice aggregation programs. These programs allow local governments to procure power for constituents, often at lower costs to consumers. Boston, for example, runs a community choice program that provides power to residents at rates that are lower than Eversource’s current rates, and much less than the expected winter rates. It is important to distinguish these from Competitive Electric Supply programs, which are run by private entities. These programs will often actually lead to higher rates for consumers, according to an investigation by the Massachusetts Attorney General, and are not recommended by Acadia Center. If you have questions about community choice aggregation programs, reach out to your local officials or search for state.
• Energy Efficiency Programs: Your state’s energy efficiency programs will often offer low cost or free upgrades for your home such as weatherization, which can save you money from day one. Contact them as soon as possible because there may be a long waitlist! You can find more information for MA, RI, CT, and ME.
• Community Shared Solar Programs: Community shared solar programs allow residents to take advantage of solar power without having solar panels on their own roof. They allow consumers to purchase power from solar farms that are located away from their residence or business. Search for community shared solar programs in your area for more resources, or your state may be able to offer direction.
• Fuel Assistance Programs: The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) is a federally funding program administered by states that provides assistance to low-income households seeking help with their energy bills. Your state may have additional resources as well. You can find more information for MA, RI, CT, and ME.
• Legislative Rate Relief: In addition to contacting your legislators to push for long term solutions, residents should reach out to their legislators to ask for short-term economic relief spending packages to help all residents.
• Utility Payment Plans: Utilities often will work with customers to offer payment plans to help residents struggling to pay their bills. It is important to note that this relief is only temporary, and you will still ultimately owe the full amount of the bill. Some states, like Massachusetts also offer protection from utility shutoffs during the winter. Your utility may have additional programs to help. For example, National Grid has launched this website for Massachusetts residents.
• Local Charities and Programs: Charities near your municipality may offer programs that can provide assistance on your energy bills. Contract your local officials to see if they are aware of these resources.

For more information: 

Kyle Murray
Senior Advocate and Massachusetts Program Director
kmurray@acadiacenter.org
Phone: 617-742-0054 x106 

Will the Inflation Reduction Act Meet Environmental Justice Goals?

On August 16, 2022, President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) into law. This act makes provisions for healthcare, job opportunities, and climate and energy security. The law contains clean energy infrastructure for transportation, housing, solar, and wind facilities, prioritizing low-income and environmental justice communities. Through the IRA, around $60 billion will be allocated toward environmental justice communities and low-income communities with investments made towards infrastructure and improved funding. 

The Biden administration has been forward in its response to meeting demands of climate and clean energy transition. Early on, the administration demonstrated its commitment to mitigating climate impacts and consideration to environmental justice by issuing Executive Order 14008 titled Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad. While that order quickly set the pace in putting climate and environmental justice discourse forefront, the recent Inflation Reduction Act builds on previous efforts including climate bills, Build Back Better Act (BBBA) and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act) (IIJA), placing the nation at an advantageous position to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reach climate targets in the near decade.  

The IRA provides an opportunity to establish clean energy infrastructure in low-income and environmental justice communities. Such infrastructure can provide energy credit for solar and wind facilities situated in the communities, thus ensuring increased clean energy deployment and economic benefit to those overburdened and disadvantaged communities. The dividends for environmental and climate justice were expanded to include grants and financial incentives provided through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Energy (DOE), Department of Transport (DOT), Department of Housing and Urban Development, and a few other federal agencies. This will provide federal intervention that reaches environmental justice communities, low-income communities, and tribal communities to reduce pollution and environmental injustice across the country.  

The Inflation Reduction Act provides funding for pollution monitoring equipment and cleanups needed to address environmental injustice—a key provision for which Acadia Center advocated as a companion policy to the Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI).  While the law is particularly aimed to provide infrastructure on clean technologies that get situated in already disadvantaged communities, it is essential that implementation of these programs, grants, and financial incentives are administered with clarity through a transparent approach that is led by the voices and participation of communities across the country. 

Though the Inflation Reduction Act may be the biggest and most ambitious climate legislation enacted to provide climate solutions and support low-income communities, environmental justice communities, and tribal communities, continued climate leadership and stewardship is needed for climate solutions and environmental justice. The White House Interagency on Environmental Justice and White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council, both created through Executive Order 14008, and the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), are examples of equity and environmental justice stewardship at the federal level. With more state and municipality-level engagement from communities of color, tribal communities, and low-income communities, equity and environmental justice in climate action becomes foreseeable. 

For more information: 

Joy Yakie, Manager, Environmental Justice and Outreach, jyakie@acadiacenter.org, 617-742-0054 x110  

The Inflation Reduction Act Makes Climate Change History

The Inflation Reduction Act has passed in the Senate, the House of Representatives, and has been signed into law by President Joe Biden. Alongside desperately needed funding for healthcare, this bill is the first major clean energy investment ever passed in the U.S. The IRA will invest $386 billion dollars into climate related initiatives. Prior to the adoption of the IRA, the U.S. was estimated to be on track to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions 25% below 2005 levels by 2030. With the IRA, 2030 emissions are estimated to be about 40% below 2005 levels – demonstrating the magnitude of the bill in reducing emissions. The figure below demonstrates how U.S. “business as usual” (BAU) GHG emissions without the IRA compared to the “low,” “moderate,” and “high” emissions scenario trajectories associated with the IRA.  

According to analysis conducted by Energy Innovation, the IRA also has the potential to deliver significant public health and economic benefits, preventing up to 4,500 premature deaths in 2030 and creating up to 1.3 million jobs in 2030. Let us break down where the $386 billion in the bill is going:

• $161 billion for clean electricity tax credits
• $40 billion for air pollution, hazardous materials, transportation, and infrastructure
• $37 billion for individual clean energy incentives
• $37 billion for clean manufacturing tax credits
• $36 billion for clean fuel and vehicle tax credits
• $35 billion for conservation, rural development, and forestry
• $27 billion in building efficiency, electrification, transmission, industrial, DOE, grants, and loans
• $14 billion in other energy and climate spending

The total cost of the bill, including the healthcare components, comes out to $485 billion spent over the next ten years. However, the investment is predicted to bring in roughly $790 billion in that same period, meaning this bill is projected to have a net profit of $305 billion over the next decade. That profit will go towards reducing the deficit and controlling inflation.

The IRA represents the most significant federal action to fight climate change in our nation’s history, taking specific steps to address greenhouse gas emissions from buildings, transportation, and power generation. Here are how the investments align with Acadia Center’s longstanding mission to “Advance the Clean Energy Future” throughout the Northeast.

Buildings
First and foremost, the IRA offers significant federal resources to advance a package of actions Acadia Center calls “Next Generation Energy Efficiency.” Acadia Center has been working throughout the northeast to urge utility companies and regulators to prioritize making our region’s homes and businesses more thermally comfortable and energy efficient through simple actions like better insulation and air sealing of building envelopes as well as replacing inefficient fossil fuel appliances like furnaces, boilers, water heaters, and cooktops with superior all-electric appliances. The combination of these steps significantly reduces the overall amount of fossil fuels used in these buildings, reduces energy bills, and improves overall quality of life by making our living and working spaces healthier, safer, and more versatile.

By focusing these coordinated activities on especially high emitting buildings in our region, we can amplify these multi-faceted benefits even further. For instance, in the residential sector, the leakiest 25% of housing units in New England produce more than half of greenhouse gas emissions attributable to housing. Statistically, these households are far more likely to be low-income and occupied by renters. Nearly all (96%) of high emitting housing units are heated by fossil fuels, which are several times less energy efficient than all-electric heat pumps. Tens of billions for investments in building retrofits and energy efficiency will yield a significant reduction in local air pollution and global greenhouse gas emissions.

What it means for you:

The IRA introduces a slew of new tax credits and upfront discounts for clean building technologies for both homeowners and renters alike. All homeowners, regardless of income, will have access to tax credits to support the purchase and installation technologies including geothermal heat pumps, air source heat pumps, heat pump water heaters, and electrical panel upgrades that are sometimes necessary to support the installation of these technologies. As an example, tax credits for heat pumps will be as high as $2,000.

Low-income (defined as less than 80% of median area income) and moderate-income (80%-150% of median area income) homeowners will have access to several upfront discounts for technologies including heat pumps, heat pump water heaters, electric induction stoves, heat pump clothes dryers, electric panel upgrades, and electric wiring upgrades. As an example, upfront discounts for heat pumps will be as high as $8,000. Upfront discounts for moderate-income households will cover up to 50% of the project cost, while discounts for low-income households will cover up to 100% of the project cost. Low-income and moderate-income renters have access to upfront discounts for clean building technologies that could be relocated in the event of a move, including heat pump window units, electric stoves, and heat pump clothes dryers. A combination of tax credits, upfront discounts and performance rebates will also be available to improve the efficiency of homes – ranging from basic weatherization to more comprehensive retrofits.

Additional measures in the IRA will work to address rampant levels of methane leakage occurring throughout the country related to the production of “fossil gas” also known as “natural gas.” This gas is primarily methane, which has a global warming potential of over 80 times that of carbon dioxide in its first 20 years in the atmosphere. Leaking methane is also a significant safety hazard as leaks in the distribution pipes and inside of households are responsible for fires and sudden catastrophic explosions. Specifically, the IRA calls for the implementation of a “methane emissions charge” for oil and natural gas production facilities that are not in compliance with EPA methane emissions regulations.

Acadia Center’s Beyond Gas initiative works to reduce the combustion and leaking of methane by transitioning both power generation and buildings away from today’s overreliance on fossil gas and by prioritizing the strategic repair of leaking pipe sections that are not immediately ready for decommissioning.

Transportation
Acadia Center has long worked on a multi-pronged Clean Transportation strategy to reduce tailpipe emissions through electrification of vehicles, expanding transit access and improving networks, and connecting communities through investments in safe, dedicated pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure. The IRA falls short of taking significant actions to modernize transit and personal mobility infrastructure networks[1], but does prioritize historic measures to accelerate vehicle electrification, ranging from personal vehicles to heavy-duty vehicles like buses and garbage trucks.

What it means for you:

The IRA includes a first-ever $4,000 consumer tax credit for lower/middle income individuals to buy used electric vehicles and up to $7,500 in tax credits to buy new electric vehicles—these programs will effectively extend and expand the current federal electric vehicle incentives that have started to expire under existing law. The tax credits for new vehicles are available to those with an adjusted gross income (AGI) below $150,000 (filing taxes as single) or $300,000 (filing taxes jointly), while the tax credits for used vehicles are available to those with an AGI below $75,000 (filing taxes as single) or $150,000 (filing taxes jointly). Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), which use both electricity and gas, will still qualify for the tax credit if they have a battery of at least 7 kWh in size, a threshold that nearly all models meet.

However, the EV tax credits will not necessarily be easy to navigate for consumers in the short term. To be eligible for the full tax credit, vehicles must both be 1) Assembled in North America and 2) Source the critical minerals need to make the batteries from a U.S. free trade partner. This policy has created some near-term uncertainty for which specific makes and models will qualify. For example, Hyundai and Kia do not currently produce any EVs in North America despite having several EVs available to U.S. consumers. For those seeking more information, electrek is maintaining a detailed list of which vehicles do and do not qualify for the tax incentive under these new requirements.

The law also includes tax credits and grants for clean fuels and clean commercial vehicles to reduce emissions and $3 billion for the U.S. Postal Service to purchase zero-emission vehicles to replace its aging fleet of vehicles that travel throughout our communities every day.

Additionally, the IRA provides $3 billion in Neighborhood Access and Equity Grants that can support neighborhood equity, safety, and affordable transportation access via competitive grants to reconnect communities long divided by redlining practices that developed transportation infrastructure in a manner that intentionally split apart neighborhoods, many of which were primarily inhabited by people of color. These grants can also be used to mitigate the negative impacts of transportation facilities on disadvantaged or underserved communities, as well as to support equitable transportation planning and community engagement activities that should be at the heart of all community-led decision-making processes.

The IRA also provides $3 billion in grants to reduce air pollution at ports, including for the purchase and installation of zero-emission equipment and technology. This will reduce the amount of fossil fuels burned by idling ships and local port machinery and trucking operations. These strategic investments to reduce the amount of heavy-duty vehicle and machinery emissions directly aligns with work Acadia Center has led in the past to address particulate matter emissions generated by diesel engines in overburdened and underserved communities, particularly school buses which expose communities and school children directly to health impacts from poor air quality.

Power Generation
To sustainably power today’s economy and support the transition from fossil fuel burning appliances and vehicles, the IRA makes critical investments to accelerate the expansion of responsibly sited renewable energy resources, including in rural communities. About two thirds of the estimated greenhouse gas emission reductions resulting from the IRA in 2030 are expected to come from the electricity sector. Two of the key provisions driving this reduction are the 10-year extension of the Production Tax Credit (PTC) and Investment Tax Credit (ITC) which have been critical financial carrots driving the rapid deployment of wind and solar. Solar projects will be able to access the PTC for the first time and battery storage, which is critical for accessing the full benefits of renewable electricity, will have access to the ITC for the first time. Combined, the extension and expansion of these tax credits, along with other clean energy provisions in the IRA, will be critical in continuing to drive down the costs of renewable electricity and accelerating the shift away from fossil fuel electricity generation in favor of renewable electricity generation in the northeast.

What it means for you:

The IRA provides a 30% tax credit to all homeowners, regardless of income, to support the purchase and installation of residential rooftop solar and/or battery storage. Both tax credits are in effect for the next 10 years. The battery storage tax credit is brand new, and the solar tax credit represents a long-term extension of the existing solar tax credit that was previously set to decrease and fade away over the next couple of years.

However, these projected declines in electricity sector emissions will not be realized without addressing existing policy barriers hampering the deployment of cheap renewable energy. The challenges currently facing the construction of transmission lines and the interconnection of renewable electricity to the grid continue to persist. That is why Acadia Center remains focused on tackling these complex and technical issues that arise in the transition to a clean energy future.

Acadia Center’s Clean Power and Utility Innovation programs have tirelessly worked to push regulators and the incumbent fossil fuel-utility industrial complex to update business models to prioritize investments in clean energy and dynamic energy systems that provide greater economic and societal benefits to end users. The IRA buttresses that work by incentivizing investments to develop and deploy historic levels of clean energy and to provide support for more robust local participation in permitting and regulatory processes that are key to developing those resources responsibly and with community input.

The IRA also includes more than $20 billion to support climate-smart agriculture practices. Acadia Center partnered with the American Farmland Trust and other organizations to develop the Smart Solar Siting Project for New England that seeks to co-locate renewable energy resources on parcels that also host agricultural activities—a winning strategy that keeps the Northeast’s precious farmland in agricultural use and provides farmers a source of clean, renewable energy and diversified revenue stream to maintain their farm operations for generations to come.

Overall, the IRA represents a great step forward in U.S. climate policy but there is still much work to be done – much of which will need to occur at the state and local levels – to actualize the full potential of the IRA. Acadia Center’s work across its core initiatives will be crucial in ensuring that the IRA delivers the maximum amount of emissions, economic, health and equity benefits to northeastern states.

[1] While the IRA itself may fall short on transit and personal mobility network investments, other large federal legislation of the past few years, such as the American Rescue Plan Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, have provided some direction to those priorities.

Woe is T

An Orange Line that shut down after a train caught fire in July. 

Power problems on the Green and Blue Lines. 

Delays and derailments on the Red Line, with rumors of a shut down as well. 

A driver shortage on the bus lines causing headaches. 

And a commuter rail system subject to occasional shutdowns in both directions. 

Residents of Massachusetts have become frustrated with a public transit system plagued by disruptions and uncertainty. Transportation that many rely upon for daily life has become one that cannot be trusted to safely get you where you need to go when you need to. While the MBTA has struggled with issues for quite some time, a question remains: how did it get this bad so quickly? Harder yet, how do we fix it? And, in the meantime, what does it mean for our air quality as more and more commuters abandon transit and pile into individual vehicles? Our fight against climate does not work unless our transit system does as well. Our political leaders in Massachusetts cannot claim to be fighting for climate as our public transit system struggles. 

In April, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announced a safety inspection of the MBTA, and in June they ordered several immediate safety fixes. Unfortunately, as a result of the frequent safety problems and disruptions, the Federal Transit Administration announced an “immediate safety standdown” in July, requiring workers to attend a special safety briefing. This announcement led to the complete shutdown of the Orange Line for immediate emergency repairs, with rumors of a complete takeover of the system circulating. 

In August, the FTA issued its Safety Management Inspection report, a scathing report that highlighted chronic deficiencies. While the MBTA managed to avoid a complete takeover by the FTA, the FTA identified several crucial areas in which the agency has been mismanaged over the years. Some of these 24-identified findings included: 

• Chronic understaffing at the agency 
• Underprioritized safety management information
• Prioritization of the capital budget at the expense of the operations and maintenance budget 
• Deficient oversight from the Department of Public Utilities 

The FTA then ordered fixes to these problems immediately. The issuance of this report also led to the announcement of an oversight hearing by the legislature, to conduct their own investigation. 

The report from the FTA highlights what transit advocates have long known: public transit in Massachusetts has been given the short shrift over the years, resulting in a system that is underinvested in, unreliable, and unsafe. However, the system does not have to remain that way. Unfortunately, while many may look to federal grants for a solution, the Federal Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act did not meaningfully address public transit, making our state leaders’ action even more important. The state legislature, incoming and current executive branch, advocates, and the general public need to come together to find a sustainable funding mechanism that does not heavily rely upon fares and promotes long-term growth, safety, and reliability. Parallel to this funding work, decisionmakers should work to advance other policies, such as fare-free ridership for low-income individuals, and other ways to grow ridership and restore trust in the system. Additionally, beyond public transit, decisionmakers need to embrace mobility shifting and enhance better opportunities for biking and walkable communities. The answers to these ongoing issues are not magic, but they do require dedication, vision, and ingenuity from our elected officials. 

For more information:
Kyle Murray, Senior Policy Advocate-Massachusetts, kmurray@acadiacenter.org, 617-742-0054, ext. 106