Gov.-elect Healey taps EPA’s Melissa Hoffer as state’s first climate chief
Gov.-elect Maura Healey announced Monday that she’ll appoint Melissa Hoffer to become the state’s first “climate chief.” Hoffer currently serves as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s principal deputy general.
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“Melissa Hoffer has an incredible track record as a fierce climate advocate,” said Kyle Murray, the Acadia Center’s Massachusetts senior policy advocate. “She has proven again and again that she has what it takes to both listen and lead, and she knows the urgency of the climate crisis. I am confident that she will hit the ground running immediately and help guide our Commonwealth toward our decarbonization goals.”
Read the full article in WBUR News here.
Scientific journal investigating UMass hydrogen study after revelations of gas industry influence
A peer-reviewed scientific journal has begun investigating a study it recently published on the use of hydrogen as a heating fuel in Massachusetts, citing a Globe investigation that found the authors failed to disclose gas industry funding and the role of a lobbyist aligned with the industry.
A research integrity specialist for the journal Frontiers in Energy Research, which published the study in September, said in an e-mail that the Globe’s account led the journal to open its “own internal investigation into the aforementioned manuscript to assess the situation and establish the facts of the matter.”
If the investigation finds conflicts that call into question the study’s findings, it could lead to a retraction.
The study, by scientists at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, endorsed the use of so-called green hydrogen for heating buildings in Massachusetts and recommended the state consider adopting hydrogen as a clean fuel. The American Gas Association and gas interests in Massachusetts have been promoting hydrogen as a climate-friendly alternative to carbon-emitting gas. Adopting such a plan on a large scale would allow gas utilities to continue operating and profiting much as they do now but with a different fuel.
But many scientists say using green hydrogen as a replacement for natural gas — or mixing it with natural gas or other fuels, as the gas industry has also proposed — isn’t feasible for reasons that include high cost, safety risks, and hydrogen’s potential to harm the climate. What’s more, they say, continuing to push green hydrogen as a climate-friendly option could delay progress on more realistic climate solutions.
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Beyond that, many experts say there simply isn’t enough of either gas available to feasibly heat homes.
A report by National Grid found there is ample renewable natural gas in the Eastern United States, but Ben Butterworth, the director of climate, energy and equity analysis at the clean energy advocacy organization Acadia Center, said he has not seen any independent research supporting that conclusion. Studies including a 2021 Princeton report called “Net Zero America” have found that similar supply issues face green hydrogen, because producing it at scale requires so much wind or solar power.
“It makes absolutely no sense that we would be talking about using this for residential and commercial uses,” he said.
Read the full article in The Boston Globe here.
5 takeaways from R.I.’s climate update report
PROVIDENCE — Rhode Island on Monday released a draft report outlining the progress it’s made and the progress it will need to continue to make in reducing greenhouse gas emissions to curb climate change.
The report is part of the state’s landmark Act on Climate law of 2021, which sets binding climate emission reduction targets starting in 2030. By 2050, the state must reach net zero emissions. A final version of the draft report is expected later this month, but this is pretty much what you’ll see in final form.
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As noted, based on the models in this report, Rhode Island will still miss its emission reduction targets by 2030 even if it adopts certain efforts to curb climate change. So what more can be done that the report isn’t suggesting? Well, here’s one example: Advocates have called for the state to fully fund the state’s Transit Master Plan and its Bike Mobility Plan.
The report says those contain good ideas, but that’s “not possible at this time.”
Some disagree.
“I would say that like any other policy priority, it’s not accurate for the administration to say that fully funding those plans is not possible,” said Hank Webster, Rhode Island director of the Acadia Center. “It’s a choice, a policy decision not to fully fund those well vetted and approved plans that have been collecting dust.”
Still, Webster describes himself as an optimist, and was overall sanguine about the report and the state’s ability to get to where it needs to go.
“We have the technology and policy solutions that we need to get there,” Webster said.
Read the full article in The Boston Globe here.
Massachusetts Utilities Hope Hydrogen and Biomethane Can Keep the State Cooking, and Heating, With Gas
There is great uncertainty in Massachusetts’ path to decarbonization, and two conflicting visions are emerging for the future of the state’s gas system. Central to the conflict are questions over the role of alternative gases in the transition to clean energy, as well as the future of the gas industry as a whole. And as invisible as the gas is itself, some of the industry’s influence on the energy transition has been hidden from view, as underscored by emails released this week by a watchdog group.
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As gas utilities and advocates debate the future of the gas system, state regulators have deferred to the utilities to construct the initial plans for decarbonization. In a variety of avenues throughout the state, utilities have used their influence to promote their preferred decarbonization options, often out of the public eye. Environmentalists argue this is putting the state’s climate goals in jeopardy.
“Is a gas utility going to plan against its best interests for the sake of the Commonwealth’s decarbonization goals, or for the sake of ratepayers in the Commonwealth?” asked Kyle Murray, a senior policy advocate at the Acadia Center, a nonprofit that focuses on climate and energy policy. “I’m not sure that’s even fair to them, as they have shareholders that they need to deliver a profit to. So there’s a fundamental problem with who draws up the plans.”
Read the full article in Inside Climate News here.
A wind project promised Mass. cheap power. Then came inflation
There’s more drama in the ongoing saga with Massachusetts’ largest approved offshore wind project, Commonwealth Wind.
Months after its developer, Avangrid, signed power contracts with three major utilities, the company is trying to get the state’s Department of Public Utilities to allow it to renegotiate those agreements. The company says supply constraints and rising interest rates require that they charge more for their wind power if the project has a chance of being viable.
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But, by all accounts, the country — and Massachusetts — is moving forward with offshore wind, even as some of the first projects face challenges.
“We’re not seeing offshore wind failing. We’re seeing some economic turmoil and corporations trying to address the uncertainty by finding additional value for themselves,” says Melissa Birchard, director of the Acadia Center’s Clean Energy & Grid Transition program.
“Should they be allowed to get that value from renegotiating? That’s a question that’s on the table right now, but it certainly doesn’t speak to the viability of this entire industry.”
Read the full article in WBUR News here.
Three governor’s races that really matter for climate policy
Democratic Attorney General Maura Healey is facing off against Geoff Diehl, a former Republican state lawmaker, in the race to succeed current Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, a rare Republican who has prioritized climate action from his perch in the governor’s mansion.
- Healey, who has been endorsed by the Environmental League of Massachusetts, has rolled out an aggressive climate plan that calls for reaching 100 percent clean electricity in the state by 2030 — five years ahead of Biden’s target date for eliminating carbon emissions from the nation’s power sector.
Kyle Murray, Massachusetts senior policy advocate at the Acadia Center, an environmental group, said a victory by Healey would speed the state’s shift to clean energy, helping to reduce residents’ utility bills.
“There’s an energy price spike coming this winter that’s due to our overdependence on natural gas,” Murray said. “Had we pursued more clean energy, we could’ve avoided some of these issues. And unfortunately, Diehl would enshrine the status quo.”
Read the full article in The Washington Post here.
Massachusetts OKs over $450M in grid modernization spending by Eversource, National Grid, Unitil
Brief:
- Massachusetts regulators gave final approval last month for Eversource, National Grid and Unitil to invest a total of more than $450 million over four years for grid modernization.
- The electric distribution companies will improve technologies for grid monitoring, communication and automation.
- Acadia Center, an environmental advocacy group, sees little emphasis on environmental justice in the grid modernization plans.
Acadia Center, an environmental advocacy group, said last year it’s concerned the proposed plans include “minimal or no mention of environmental justice principles” and that the timelines for putting in place time-varying rates are too slow.
Kyle Murray, senior policy advocate at Acadia Center, said in an email Wednesday the analysis for the most part “still holds.”
Read the full article at Utility Dive here.
Coalition Supports New England Offshore Wind Transmission Grid Plan
New England for Offshore Wind has filed comments in response to a request for information issued by five New England states seeking information concerning the development of a networked offshore electric grid to help unlock offshore wind power in the Northeast.
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“This collaborative initiative is very exciting,” says Melissa Birchard, director for clean energy and grid transition at Acadia Center, a co-author of the coalition’s comments. “This is an innovative step forward to help secure the clean energy we need to power a reliable, modern electric system. New England and its neighbors can lead the nation in developing a networked offshore grid that maximizes the cost savings and reliability benefits of offshore wind, reduces the impacts of transmission, and forms the backbone of a future Atlantic offshore grid.”
Read the full article in North American Windpower here.
New England’s electric grid operator opened its doors to public participation — and got a dressing down
New England’s electric grid operator has been famously closed to the public, with most decisions happening behind closed doors, with little or no public input.
On Tuesday, yielding to years of pressure, the board of ISO New England opened its doors for the first of what it says will be an annual open meeting. What followed was an hour-long dressing down, as speaker after speaker took the grid operator to task for failing to adequately respond to the climate crisis.
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In addition to the lack of transparency, Hank Webster, the Rhode Island director of the clean energy advocacy group Acadia Center, said ISO-NE needs to better align itself with the climate policies of the states it represents. Many of the states call for achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, but without coordination with the regional grid, it will be hard to reach those goals.
“State policy and consumer concerns remain without a regular home in the ISO New England process and decisions,” Webster said.
Read the full article in The Boston Globe here.
How to save money and protect New England from rolling blackouts, according to Acadia
Early in December 2021, ISO-New England, the region’s electric grid operator, issued a warning on the outlook for the coming winter, describing New England’s power system as being at “heightened risk heading into the winter season.”
For Melissa Birchard and Amy Boyd, both of the Acadia Center in Rockport, Maine, warnings like this have a straightforward solution: decrease reliance on natural gas and instead focus on renewable energy.
Birchard, director of clean energy and grid transition, and Boyd, vice president of climate and clean energy policy hosted a webinar aimed at avoiding the possibility of rolling blackouts during winter, which ISO-New England warned in 2018 could take place by the 2024-2025 winter heating season.
In the webinar, Birchard said each year New England uses at least 50% of natural gas toward electricity. On July 14, 2022, New England used 69% of natural gas for electricity.
One solution proposed by Birchard was for the state to start managing consumer demand. Although this can mean weatherization and insulation, it can also mean using large-scale commercial and industrial resources.
“It can include everything from using solar paired with batteries, to shifting the time that we do things like charge electric cars or even using electric cars and batteries to support the grid,” Birchard said. “It can also include delaying energy-intensive processes like rock-crushing processes in an industrial cement-making facility in order to help support the grid when the grid needs help.”
Birchard also suggested investing in renewable energy like off-shore energy solutions and energy storage which can reduce the need for fossil fuels in the winter.
“Pairing energy storage with offshore wind is really a sweet spot,” Birchard said. “We need a balanced portfolio of all of these things – demand management, renewable energy, energy storage – all of the clean solutions together, make a portfolio that is reliable overall and many of these solutions are already at hand or will be at hands soon.”
Solar-plus-storage is another method Birchard suggested that residential homes can use to lower their natural gas usage. Solar-plus-storage operates similarly to a power plant, Birchard said, in the sense, you can turn up or down the resource when needed.
“While solar isn’t that strong in the winter, as it is in the summer, it can still provide substantial electricity even in the winter when it’s cold. And we need to stop thinking of solar-plus-storage, but also other types of residential demand resources as only summer resources and start valuing reliability benefits,” she stated.
Lastly, Birchard suggested switching to the use of heat pumps and renewable energy resources in residential homes to lower fossil fuel usage.
This winter energy bills are expected to increase as the state’s largest energy suppliers Eversource and National Grid have increased their rates. Boyd suggests that consumers sign up for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. LIHEAP is, “a federally funded program administered by the states that can provide assistance to low-income households that are seeking help with their energy bills,” Boyd said.
Boyd also suggested homeowners work with their utility provider to help lower their energy bills.
“They often will offer payment plans to help residents who are struggling with their bills,” Boyd said. “But it’s important to note that that protection is temporary, will eventually go the full amount of the bill, unfortunately.”
Read the article at Mass Live here.
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