When more than 200 communities across the state take small steps to become more energy efficient, the cumulative impact can be significant. As a Green Community, Brookline is contributing to that impact.
In December, the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources accepted 25 new cities and towns into the state’s Green Communities program, an initiative that provides grants to municipalities that adopt a series of energy efficiency policies and set a goal of reducing their energy consumption by 20 percent within five years.
“Communities all across the state will use these grant funds for innovative programs to reduce energy usage and invest in renewable energy projects, and the benefits will flow to taxpayers and the environment,” Massachusetts Municipal Association Executive Director Geoff Beckwith said.
The program’s 2015 progress report, the most recent available, found Green Communities had saved enough energy to power and heat 17,100 homes over seven years. The program is projected to result in reductions in greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to taking 37,000 cars off the road for a year.
Read more here.
Although the tax bill passed by Congress today will bring the largest changes to taxes (and government revenue) seen in decades, we don’t expect the bill to have such a dramatic impact on energy efficiency.
The greatest impacts, both positive and negative, will likely come from the broad changes to tax and revenue. Some companies and families will have more money to spend on efficiency improvements (or on energy-using activities) as a result of the tax cuts; others will have less. The deduction for state and local taxes will be capped, which could make it more difficult for state and local governments to invest taxpayer dollars in efficiency upgrades and programs. Federal deficits will go up, which could increase pressures to cut agency spending, including on efficiency programs.
In addition, two specific provisions will have a relatively direct impact on energy efficiency investments, also both good and bad:
- The bill eliminates one type of support for state and local energy efficiency and clean energy projects by ending authority for new tax credit bonds, including Qualified Energy Conservation Bonds (QECBs), effective January 1. QECBs are state and local bonds subsidized by the federal government that finance energy efficiency improvements to public buildings, green community programs, mass commuting, and certain renewables projects. As of May, $1.3 billion in QECBs had been issued, but $1.9 billion in additional authority remained.
- It also expands business expensing by raising the cap on deductible business investments to $1 million, and makes HVAC equipment and roofs installed in commercial buildings eligible. Although businesses depreciate, or capitalize, most investments over a number of years, they can expense investments including computers and equipment—and now HVAC systems and roofs—up to the cap, deducting the full cost from taxable income in the first year. Unlike in the earlier House-passed bill, there is no efficiency requirement, but the new equipment and roofs will generally be more efficient.
Read more (ACEEE)
While Virginia’s state legislature hangs in the balance, one outcome is clear for 2017: this is the year Virginia jumped into the race for a cleaner energy future.
The year started badly, as the Trump Administration pushed a climate-wrecking, fossil-fuel agenda that threatened to intensify climate change and the sea level rise that imperils Virginia’s coast line. But Governor McAuliffe’s last year in office proved to be a big first year for climate action in Virginia.
For the first time, Virginia made the big move to reduce carbon emissions from its power sector, 30 percent by 2030, a strong response to the federal government’s failure to recognize reality—climate change is here and already hurting communities, and smart clean energy investments are the way to move forward.
Read more (NRDC)
For more than a third of American earners, paying monthly bills is a challenge. For some – nearly a fifth of American residents – that struggle can include choosing which essential commodity to go without during peak usage periods: Food, medications or the electricity to power and heat their homes.
According to a 2016 report put out by the nonprofit Groundswell, the bottom 20 percent of the country’s earners commit almost 10 percent of their monthly earnings to paying their power bill. That can be a substantial hit to the pocketbook for struggling families or retired couples that have other costs like school, transportation and added medical expenses to factor into the monthly take-home pay.
Rising power rates also cost poor communities more than middle- or upper-income earners, Groundswell points out, because they usually can’t afford the newer homes on the market that use less power and are better insulated.
Read more (Triple Pundit)
The momentum toward energy efficient buildings is transcending the harsh political climate in Washington in 2017, occurring primarily at the state and city levels in the U.S., at the level of nonprofit organizations, and in other countries that are the fastest-growing source of climate pollution.
Locally initiated policies for improved building efficiency have always driven the bulk of activity at the national level, both in the U.S. and in countries such as Russia. With the ratification of the Paris Agreement on climate change, which calls for the world to pursue action to limit climate change to 1.5 degrees, we see that one of the most important ways to stabilize climate is by fixing existing buildings—both their structure and their operations, and many of the activities in 2017 set up the infrastructure for doing just that.
Read more (NRDC)
It’s an interesting time for energy in Chicago: Coal plants providing power to the city have been shuttered. Massive programs are underway to retrofit old buildings. Smart streetlights and electric buses will soon transform neighborhoods.
Chris Wheat, the city’s chief sustainability officer, is at the center of it all.
Previously a member of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s innovation team, Wheat was tapped as the sustainability chief after the departure of Karen Weigert in February 2016. He’s long championed the use of data and analytics to help manage city government, and he’s now tasked with applying that to the city’s ambitious sustainability plans.
Wheat led the Retrofit Chicago Residential Partnership, a program to advance efficiency for residential properties. The initiative won the Energy Star Partner of the Year Award from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy for promoting efficiency measures in 2017.
Read more (Midwestern Energy News)
If we want a livable climate for future generations, we need to slow, stop, and reverse the rise in global temperatures. To do that, we need to stop burning fossil fuels for energy.
To do that, we need to generate lots of carbon-free electricity and get as many of our energy uses as possible (including transportation and industry) hooked up to the electricity grid. Electrify everything!
We need a greener grid. But that’s not all.
The highly digital modern world also demands a more reliable grid, capable of providing high-quality power to facilities like hospitals or data centers, where even brief brownouts can cost money or lives.
The renewable energy sources with the most potential — wind and solar — are variable, which means that they come and go on nature’s schedule, not ours. They ramp up and down with the weather, so integrating them into the grid while maintaining (and improving) reliability means finding clever ways to balance out their swings.
Read more (Vox)
Enter the search term “100% renewable energy” into Google and you will find fierce debate. Is the possibility of 100-percent-renewable energy a myth? Or is the world already close to achieving this goal?
This debate tends to underemphasize energy efficiency. But recent research makes a case that energy efficiency is important in any discussion about 100-percent-renewable energy.
In August 2017, International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) published a working paper, “Synergies between Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency.” IRENA finds that energy efficiency can enable a more rapid shift to renewable energy in all countries and sectors.
“Our Renewable Future: Laying the Path for One Hundred Percent Clean Energy,” a 2016 book by Post-Carbon Institute fellows Richard Heinberg and David Fridley, makes a similar argument for holistic energy planning that considers energy efficiency and citizen buy-in.
To approach any 100-percent-renewable energy scenario, improved energy efficiency is needed in both energy-supply sectors and energy-consumption sectors. More than 60 percent of energy produced in the United States in 2016 across all sectors was wasted, according to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, so there is plenty of room for improvement.
Read more (Clean Energy Finance Forum)
The antique-style lamps that are fast becoming a design necessity for retro bars, hip restaurants and chic homes from New York to London are helping to save the Earth—and keep people buying.
The old-fashioned bulbs, which look like the inefficient incandescent technology patented by Thomas Edison in 1878, could encourage people to change their lightbulbs more than once a decade, even as the world moves to greener lamps.
By rearranging LED chips onto a strip inside the bulb instead of in a clump, bulb makers found they can satisfy the innate human desire for warmer, natural light, which the first generation of LED bulbs failed to offer.
“People are looking for that sparkle and the cozy and warm effect that you see in incandescent bulbs,” said Kristof Vermeersch, head of global product management of LED spots at Philips Lighting NV.
Read more (Bloomberg)
For most of the United States, this is going to be a frigid winter. With temperatures on the East Coast registering, in some places, colder than Mars, and areas in the south getting snow for the first time in 28 years, this is shaping up to be a historic cold spell. Keeping your home warm and comfortable will be paramount. Of course, buying the most efficient appliances and devices – such as those with the ENERGY STAR label – is a sure-fire way to build in energy savings for the long run. But for everyone in a pinch right now, here are five easy, inexpensive tips for a warmer, more efficient home or apartment:
Heating Problems. There’s no way around it: staying warm is a priority during the winter. But did you know that heating typically makes up about 42% of your utility bill? By combining proper equipment maintenance, upgrading your insulation and changing your thermostat settings, you can save roughly 30% of your energy bill, while also reducing carbon emissions. Even if you can only do one of these things – like lowering your thermostat when you’re away or sleeping – you can see impressive monthly savings.
Read more (Alliance to Save Energy)
