Pandemic lockdown temporarily drove down R.I. carbon emissions

There’s nothing like a deadly virus to slash greenhouse gas emissions.

Fewer gas guzzlers on the road and planes in the sky during the COVID-19 pandemic proved instrumental to helping Rhode Island meet its 2020 greenhouse gas emissions benchmark, according to a new report by the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM).

The state’s Act on Climate law, passed in 2021, calls for incrementally decreasing Rhode Island’s greenhouse gas emissions over the next 27 years, with the goal of hitting net zero by 2050, as measured against a baseline emissions amount from 1990. A prior version of the law, called the Resilient Rhode Island Act, required the state to cut emissions by 10% compared with its 1990 baseline by 2020.

The 2020 Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory, published Friday, shows Rhode Island surpassed its 2020 goal, with the 9.24 million metric tons of carbon dioxide marking a 20.1% decline over its 1990 baseline.

Driving the rapid decrease: fewer cars and trucks on the road during COVID-19 era restrictions. While transportation remains the largest culprit of greenhouse gas emissions at 38%, total metric tons of carbon dioxide from gas-powered cars and trucks fell 11.6% over the prior year due to pandemic-related lockdowns, according to the report.

It also proved just how effective fewer cars and trucks on the road could be to reaching the state’s emissions mandates, said Emily Koo, senior policy director and Rhode Island program director for Acadia Center, a nonprofit based in Rockport, Maine. Koo also sits on the appointed panel known as the Executive Climate Change Coordinating Committee (EC4) Advisory Board.

“What I take away from the deep decline in transportation emissions is it’s really a demonstration of the kind of transformational societal change that’s required to reduce transportation emissions,” Koo said.

The big question: how to spur that societal change permanently, and, ideally, without a pandemic. It’s a monumental task that state agencies and environmental experts are still trying to answer.

Poccia was optimistic that there was time for improvement over the next 27 years, ahead of the 2050 deadline when state law mandates zero net emissions. Already, state data experts have honed their process, updating the accuracy and specificity with which they calculate emissions from various sources, such as methane leaks.

Koo was less worried about the three-year delay in reporting than the pace at which the state must push new emissions-friendly policies to meet its upcoming benchmarks.

“We had 20 years to cut 10% from our 1990 baseline, and now we have 30 years to do the remaining 90%,” she said. “That kind of imbalance worries me.”

To read the full article from the Rhode Island Current, click here.

Latine Legislators, Gov. Leaders, Academics, and Community Leaders Speak Up for Climate Justice in Forum Hosted by CWCSEO and Save the Sound

Hartford, CT – Following the conclusion of Hispanic Heritage Month/Latine Heritage Month, the Commission on Women, Children, Seniors, Equity, and Opportunity (CWCSEO) partnered with Save the Sound in convening a “Latino and Puerto Rican Voices for Climate Action Roundtable” featuring community leaders and academics, in addition to government and legislative officials. The event, held October 18 in Hartford, was convened to raise awareness about the remarkable contributions of leaders of Latin American ancestry to the environmental movement in Connecticut and sparked meaningful dialogue regarding how climate change impacts Latine communities and what should be done to combat the issue.

“Latine leaders in Connecticut’s environmental organizations are incorporating environmental justice principles in their approach to advocacy,” said Jayson Velazquez, climate and energy justice policy associate at Acadia Center, who delivered the keynote address. There is a balance between operating within systems to deescalate existing environmental, energy, and housing injustices while envisioning and building a just transition that repairs harm and prevents future injustices from occurring. Environmental organizations in Connecticut are responsible for playing a role in that process, and Latine leaders in these organizations must stay rooted in community.”

To read the full press release from Save the Sound, click here.

State finally unveils carbon reduction plan draft. Clock is ticking to ask questions and comment

The Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) is now taking public comment on its long-awaited carbon reduction plan.

RIDOT published the 51-page draft online Wednesday and will accept input through Nov. 3 — 12 days before a final plan must be submitted to the Federal Highway Administration (FHA).

Under the federal government’s Bipartisan Infrastructure law passed in 2021, states are required to create a plan and submit it to the FHA  by November 2023 in order to receive funding for implementation — of which Rhode Island is slated to get more than $35.7 million over five years. Overall, Rhode Island is set to receive $576 million of federal funds between 2022 and 2026 to improve its transportation infrastructure.

Transit and climate activists say they’re glad Rhode Islanders can now have a say in the process. But they are concerned about the short timeframe RIDOT has to consider public comments with one month to go.

“I don’t expect to really get direct responses on what is and isn’t incorporated,” said Emily Koo, program director of the Acadia Center’s Rhode Island Chapter.

Koo was one of more than 20 advocates who sent a letter to RIDOT last month demanding that it release the plan for comment as soon as possible, much like Maine and Vermont did earlier in the year.

Though she lambasted the department’s stealth process in her letter, Koo said in a phone interview Friday that she did meet with DOT officials at an internal workshop in mid-September that “had a lot of forward-looking strategies.”

Still, Koo had several critiques of the draft plan, which includes strategies ranging from adding to RIDOT’s fleet of electric vehicles, sidewalk installations, bike path preservation, and greenway enhancements.

The carbon plan does acknowledge the need to do more beyond car infrastructure, but Koo said there are no clear commitments from the state.

“They say a lot, yet there isn’t any action,” Koo said.

Koo said there was plenty of discussion on the need for more multimodal transit  options at the internal meeting in September and hopes this will be considered in the final draft plan sent to the federal government.

“It would be incredible if DOT took any of them and funded them,” she said.

To read the full article from the Rhode Island Current, click here.

Así impulsan las organizaciones sociales la energía solar en Estados Unidos

Según el último informe de la Agencia Internacional de la Energía sobre el desarrollo de la energía fotovoltaica en el mundo, España es el séptimo país del mundo en potencia fotovoltaica instalada (26,6 GW). Si nos fijamos en América Latina, Brasil es el mercado más dinámico, con 9,9 GW instalados en 2022, seguido de Chile, que instaló alrededor de 1,8 GW, y México, con 680 MW.

Las organizaciones analizadas (Carolina Land and Lakes, Acadia Center y Energy Trust of Oregon) fomentan las energías renovables desde un enfoque especializado, tecnológico, educativo y orientado a objetivos concretos.

Todo este trabajo preliminar ha sido importante tanto para la causa de las organizaciones sociales como para la expansión de un sector emergente como el solar. Con esas actividades han contribuido a legitimarlo y hacerlo viable. Además de clarificar la oferta de las empresas, ejercen presión sobre los entes públicos para establecer los marcos jurídicos que les permitan operar y dirigirse a clientes potenciales.

Acadia Center, por ejemplo, publica datos sobre el impacto positivo de las renovables en la creación de empleo y el crecimiento económico. También diseña estrategias de mercado para las renovables y propone políticas para implementarlas.

Translation

Title: This is how social organizations promote solar energy in the United States

According to the latest report from the International Energy Agency on the development of photovoltaic energy in the world, Spain is the seventh country in the world in installed photovoltaic power (26.6 GW). If we look at Latin America, Brazil is the most dynamic market, with 9.9 GW installed in 2022, followed by Chile, which installed around 1.8 GW, and Mexico, with 680 MW.

The organizations analyzed (Carolina Land and Lakes, Acadia Center and Energy Trust of Oregon) promote renewable energy from a specialized, technological, educational and goal-oriented approach.

All this preliminary work has been important both for the cause of social organizations and for the expansion of an emerging sector such as solar. With these activities they have contributed to legitimizing it and making it viable. In addition to clarifying the companies’ offerings, they put pressure on public entities to establish the legal frameworks that allow them to operate and target potential clients.

Acadia Center, for example, publishes data on the positive impact of renewables on job creation and economic growth. It also designs market strategies for renewables and proposes policies to implement them.

To read the full article from The Conversation, click here.

R.I.’s carbon reduction plan is due in two months. Will there be time for public input?

Where’s the plan?

That’s the question climate and transit advocates are posing to the Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) as it nears a Nov. 15 deadline to submit its carbon reduction plan (CRP) to the federal government.

In a five-page letter dated Sept. 19 to RIDOT Director Peter Alviti, the group of 23 organizations spearheaded by Acadia Center Program Director Emily Koo ask that the public have a chance to provide their input on the best ways to lower emissions from vehicles.

“With less than two months remaining, we as climate advocates are concerned by the absence of [a] public process surrounding a document with such significant implications for how transportation projects will be analyzed and funded in the years and decades to come,” they wrote.

To read the full article from the Rhode Island Current, click here.

Fossil fuel company wants to expand gas pipeline in Northeast

At a time when many states in the Northeast are actively trying to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels to help fight climate change, the company that owns a major natural gas pipeline in the region wants to expand the system and bring in more fracked gas.

Dubbed “Project Maple,” the proposal from Enbridge — a large Canadian energy company with fossil fuel infrastructure throughout the U.S. — would involve substantial upgrades on the Algonquin Gas Transmission line. This pipeline runs from northern New Jersey through parts of New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and into Massachusetts, where feeds into the Weymouth Natural Gas Compressor Station and then connects to another pipeline north of Boston.

“I’m skeptical of Enbridge’s claims that this project would be beneficial to the region,” said Kyle Murray, the Massachusetts program director at Acadia Center. “As we saw this past winter, with dramatic energy price spikes occurring in the natural gas market, our region is already over reliant upon natural gas for its heating and electric needs. Expanding this pipeline as the region is quickly moving to electrify its heating sources and develop more renewable generation makes little sense.”

To read the full article from wbur, click here.

Enbridge Announces Project to Increase Northeast Pipeline Capacity

Enbridge is soliciting requests for service as part of a natural gas pipeline expansion project that would significantly increase capacity to the Northeast, the company said in an open season notice issued this month.

The company said the project would expand capacity on the Algonquin gas system by up to 500,000 Dth/d at the Ramapo, N.Y., receipt point at the western end of the pipeline and 250,000 Dth/d at the Salem, Mass., receipt point at the eastern end. The total current capacity of the Algonquin system is just over 3 million Dth/d.

Joe LaRusso, a senior advocate at Acadia Center, told RTO Insider the Maple Project likely will need to rely on firm contracts with the region’s local distribution companies to demonstrate demand for the project. Enbridge’s announcement noted that New England gas generators make up only about 6% of the contracted firm gas transportation on Algonquin, a dynamic the company called an “untenable disconnect.”

“Will the Project Maple AGTP expansion project succeed? Impossible to say,” LaRusso wrote on social media site Mastodon. “One thing IS certain: When it comes to fossil gas pipelines in New England, everything that’s old is new again.”

To read the full article from RTO Insider, click here.

Where is RIDOT’s Carbon Reduction Plan? Climate Advocates Would Like to Know

A recent letter signed by a range of local climate and community advocates wants to know where the Rhode Island Department of Transportation’s Carbon Reduction Plan is hiding. They noted the development of the plan represents a critical step in tackling greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector.

That sector, the state’s largest source of carbon emissions, is responsible for nearly 40% of the climate-changing pollution spewed locally. In fact, between 2016 and 2019, transportation emissions increased by nearly 9%. Rhode Island is trending in the wrong direction when it comes to mitigating the climate crisis.

The 23 organizations, including Acadia Center and Grow Smart Rhode Island, that signed the 5-page letter sent to RIDOT director Peter Alviti noted transportation is at the center of strategic actions the state needs to advance to meet Act on Climate mandates.

To read the full article from ecoRI, click here.

Mass. Utilities Submit Grid Modernization Drafts

Eversource and National Grid expect their annual peak electricity load in Massachusetts to more than double by 2050, the utilities told the state’s Department of Energy Resources (DOER) last week.

The projections are part of the draft electric sector modernization plans (ESMPs) submitted to DOER by Massachusetts’ investor-owned electric utilities, which detail the electric distribution companies’ plans to meet the massive increase in electricity demand associated with the electrification transportation and heating in the state.

The Grid Modernization Advisory Council (GMAC), a stakeholder committee created by the state’s 2022 Act Driving Clean Energy and Offshore Wind and convened by DOER, will review the filings, solicit public feedback and provide comments on the utilities’ drafts.

“It’s really taking a forward-looking approach for the first time in Massachusetts’ history,” said Kyle Murray, Massachusetts program director for the Acadia Center and GMAC voting member. Murray said grid planning in the state historically has happened in an “ad hoc manner.”

Murray added that one of the council’s goals is to engage the public in the grid modernization process and include voices that historically have been absent from these proceedings.

Murray said one of his main hopes for the process is to help clear out the interconnection backlog of renewable energy projects.

“We know we need as many renewables on the market as possible, and yet they’re coming on at a pace that’s kind of like a trickle,” Murray said.

To read the full article from RTO Insider, click here.

Too hot to handle: As schools reopen in a heat wave, a warning of the climate future

By the end of the day on Wednesday, students in Ralph Saint-Louis’s class at Lowell High School had had it. One put her head down, complaining of a migraine. Another asked for water, grateful for the mini-fridge that Saint-Louis, a science and ESL teacher, keeps stocked for moments like this.

As the temperature outside rose into the low 90s, classroom temperatures soared nearly as high. In Saint-Louis’s room, a standalone air conditioner he had raised money to buy himself was set to 61 degrees and still managed only to keep the temperature in the high 70s.

Window units may take the edge off the heat, but they don’t come close to solving the problem, climate advocates say.

Kyle Murray, Massachusetts program director at the clean energy advocacy group Acadia Center, called them “a piecemeal approach” that “is bad for the environment and incredibly wasteful, both from a climate perspective and an energy burden perspective.”

“Schools are in an incredibly difficult position as they have very limited budgets and have to make remarkably tough calls on priorities,” said Murray, of Acadia Center.

To read the full article from the Boston Globe, click here.