CLIMATE LEADERSHIP NEWSLETTER
NOTES FROM MASSACHUSETTS CITIES AND TOWNS
Dear Supporter,
The Climate Leadership newsletter features stories of environmental and climate action in Massachusetts. It provides a platform to highlight work being done by municipalities, climate leaders, and local groups in communities across the Commonwealth. To share local climate actions in your community, email Veena Dharmaraj.
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Municipal Leaders Discuss Local Solutions at Sierra Club’s Climate Leadership Summit
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Over 50 municipal officials gathered at Framingham State University for the culminating event of our year-long series of Climate Leadership Summits . Massachusetts Senate President Karen Spilka and Massachusetts House Representatives Maria Robinson, Jack Patrick Lewis, and Carmine Gentile opened the summit that included discussion on transportation electrification, path to 100% renewable energy, municipal energy aggregation and building energy efficiency. Attending city and town officials learnt more about the Massachusetts renewable energy landscape and heard from experts about local solutions that are already being implemented across the state. To learn more about the Climate Leadership Project, contact Jacob Stern, Clean Energy Organizer. |
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Massachusetts Releases New Regulations to Fix Gas Leaks
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| The Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities has released a new gas leaks regulation aimed to help address the need for urgent reporting, repair, and maintenance of our state's aging gas infrastructure. The regulation includes new methods of identifying Grade 3 Significant Environmental Impact leaks, sets solid timelines for repairs, increases leak |
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| tracking, and accelerates reporting requirements to quarterly rather than annually. The nonprofit HEET estimates that this first-in-the-nation regulation will cut the equivalent of 4% of Massachusetts' greenhouse gas emissions in as little as 4 years. |
Belmont Approves Solar Farm and Storage Project and Winchendon Community Solar Project Goes Online
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Belmont recently approved a project to install a solar farm combined with battery storage at a former incinerator site. Managed by Belmont Light, the solar project is expected to generate two megawatts of electricity and help the community make progress towards its climate action goals. The battery storage units will store electricity from both the solar panels and the electric grid when energy costs are low and distribute during peak hours.
In Winchendon, construction on the 7.1 MW Happy Hollow community solar and 3.3 MW energy storage system is complete. Subscribers to Massachusetts largest community solar farm can see up to a 10% savings on their utility bills while reducing their climate impacts. The project is expected to generate 9,000,000 kWh of electricity each year, which is enough to power 1,200 homes for a year. |
| Eversource Plans Battery Storage on Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard to Increase Resiliency |
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Eversource has proposed two battery storage projects in Provincetown and Oaks Bluff to supplement electric infrastructure and help increase system reliability on the Cape.
The new 25 MW storage facility in Provincetown would help build redundancy in the Outer Cape’s electric system and reduce power outages by 50%. At Oak’s Bluff, the 14.7 MW energy storage system will replace aging diesel generators operating on Marth’s Vineyard during periods of high demand. The storage project will reduce carbon emissions and promote the construction of distributed solar generation on the Vineyard. Eversource has been authorized to recover $55 million to pay for these projects through rates in the future.
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UMass Boston Seeks Information on Key Climate Change Parameters to be used for Planning in the Greater Boston Area
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A team led by UMass Boston, supported by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) with Barr Foundation funding, is updating the 2016 Boston Research Advisory Group (BRAG) report , which presented the first scientific consensus on climate changes specifically for the City of Boston. This new project will expand the analysis to investigate climate changes and threats to the 101 cities and towns of the MAPC region and produce Special Reports on topics of interest to the region. The study team is known as the Greater Boston Research Advisory Group (GBRAG).
GBRAG is looking for feedback from planners, researchers, community organizers/representatives, private companies, volunteers, government officials, and others on what climate change information is needed for their work and what concerns they have for the Greater Boston Area. For more information on upcoming meetings on April 4th and April 18th, click here. Please contact Kim Starbuck with any questions.
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| Youth Documentary ‘Under Pressure’ Shines a Spotlight on Our Dependence on Fracked Gas |
| Report identifies goals to realize net zero carbon on the Cape & Islands |
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At the Cape and Islands Net Zero roundtable last fall, the Cape Cod Climate Change Collaborative (5C’s) convened organizations, institutions and businesses from across the Cape & Islands to coalesce around a set of “Net Zero Goals.” Participants discussed and evaluated proposed net zero goals designed to move the Cape and Islands regions to net zero energy as quickly as possible. Following the roundtable, 5C’s released a report that puts the adopted goals in the context of climate change mitigation efforts underway on the Cape and identifies priority action steps to create a Cape & Islands Climate Action Plan. For more information on the net zero goals, click here to read the report.
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Transit Agencies in Massachusetts Can Use $85 Million in Funding to Procure No Emission Transit Buses
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The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announced the opportunity to apply for up to $85 million in competitive grant funds through FTA’s Low or No Emission (Low-No) Bus Program. The Low-No Program helps project sponsors purchase or lease low or no emission vehicles that use advanced technologies for transit revenue operations, including related equipment or facilities. Complete proposals must be submitted electronically by May 14, 2019. Click here for information on the grant and instructions to apply. And sign up here for the Proterra webinar on April 2, 2019 for information on financing and leasing options that can be combined with No-Lo funds.
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| State Building Code Adopts New Provisions for Electric Vehicle Ready Space for New Commercial Development |
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| The Massachusetts Board of Building Regulations & Standards (BBRS) voted to adopt provisions in the state building code that requires new commercial developments to ensure that electric wiring is set up to accommodate electric vehicle (EV) charging equipment. While this is a modest requirement of only a single “EV-Ready space” for developments with over fifteen parking |
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spaces, communities can work with developers to encourage additional EV ready infrastructure.
Several reports have indicated that designing and constructing a new building to accommodate EV-charging equipment is significantly less expensive than retrofitting an existing building. We need much more bold action investing in electric vehicle charging infrastructure in order to promote widespread EV adoption and address climate change. See Sierra Club's full statement here.
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| Investing in Electric Vehicles for Your City Fleet Can Provide Dramatic Cost Savings, Join Drive Electric Earth Day Events to Learn More |
In a recently released newsletter New York highlighted that the electric vehicles in its city fleet—compared to vehicles fueled by oil and gas—are providing dramatic cost savings for the City due to lower maintenance costs. The City currently owns and operates over 1,200 EVs, making New York City’s fleet the most environmentally progressive in the nation. Here in MA, several communities including New Bedford, Braintree , Newton and Concord are investing in electric vehicles. Public entities interested in acquiring electric vehicles can receive up to $7,500 for the purchase and $5,000 for leasing a battery electric vehicle through MassDEP’s Fleet Program.
If you want to invest in electric vehicles for your city fleet or encourage the adoption of electric vehicles in your community, join Drive Electric Earth Day celebrations near you. Here is your chance to see electric vehicles, talk to owners, get your questions answered, and maybe even take one for a spin! Celebrate the environmental and cost-saving benefits of electric vehicles through April and May during the first ever Drive Electric Earth Day series.
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