Obama Announces Plan to Cut Power Plant Emissions

Posted on July 16, 2014 by CEA

At the beginning of last month, President Barack Obama announced his plans for limiting greenhouse gas emissions from the thousands of active power plants in the United States. This is part of his pledge to cut American’s carbon emissions by about 17 percent by 2020. While the details of the plan have not yet been specified, Obama says his rules will bring down the heat-trapping greenhouse gasses that are responsible for global warming. One downside to the plan that critics have pointed out would be the closing of many existing power plants, which would prompt an increase of the price of electricity. However, the White House says that action against climate change must be taken immediately or warming and erratic weather will increasingly become disruptive and will endanger the public’s well-being around the world. As power plants are the single largest source of fossil fuel emissions in the United States, putting restrictions on them will not only ensure a sustainable environment for the United States, but as an example for the whole world. Since Congress will not act on climate change, Obama has used the Clean Air Act from the 1970s, which has only recently been applied to greenhouse gases. The government will issue guidelines that each state has to meet for cutting emissions. Even after the draft rule is proposed, it has to have public feedback for a full year, plus another year for the states to submit their plans for reaching the guidelines for cutting there emissions.

NSTAR Customers: Summer Insulation Bonus…up to $100 VISA Gift Card

Posted on August 9, 2012 by AKaufman

Residents that sign their Mass Save insulation contract by August 31, 2012 and have the insulation work completed within 60 days of signing the contract, will receive a VISA Gift Card from NSTAR. The VISA Gift Card value will match their out-of-pocket cost of the insulation work, up to $100!

You must be an NSTAR Gas heating customer or an NSTAR Electric customer that heats with a primary fuel other than natural gas.

Cambridge Thermal Imaging Project

Posted on March 15, 2012 by JesseGorden

This winter photo shows brightness where the most heat is escaping this home.

Cambridge! It’s finally here: a chance to vividly see the cool or warm air leaving your drafty home, without having to pay hefty fees to a thermal photographer. Thanks to the Thermal Imaging Project on which HEET has partnered with Sagewell Inc., Cambridge homeowners can request thermal (infrared) images of the outsides of their homes.

The images are taken with car-mounted cameras similar to those used for Google Maps street view, and taken on a “first come, first served” basis – with highest priority given to locations with highest demand. With the slight air of a Groupon deal, Sagewell has asked for 400 requests from Cambridge before they will release our thermal images for free.

Because of fossil fuel prices skyrocketing and scientists projecting Cambridge’s summer temperatures will soon start looking more like Atlanta, GA temps, everyone’s heating AND cooling bills are only on their way up. High efficiency in your home is valid for every season.

Even better, the easiest time to work on your home’s energy efficiency is spring and summer, when the wait for weatherization services is short!

Request yours on Sagewell.com now.
It should take about a minute to do so; just enter your address at the bottom of the home page, hit enter, and then enter your information on the next page that shows up by clicking the green “HERE” (see following photo).

This page appears after you enter your address at the bottom of Sagewell.com's home page.

There have already been over 100 requests for thermal images, so if 300 are generated in the next month, everyone will get to have this great service free of cost. Tell your neighbors! We all want to save money and live a little lighter on the planet, don’t we?

The Extra Goods
You and other homeowners, condo owners, and landlords can access their images and an individualized report free of charge online via a password-protected account when the images are available (Sagewell will email you a link). The individualized report shows what to work on, how much it will save you, and connects you with the needed free and rebated services. Commercial building owners and owners of more than one building will be able to view their images and analysis for a small fee.

Not all buildings can be analyzed (due to blocked views from trees, etc. or private way constraints), but Sagewell has agreed to image around 22,000 buildings in Cambridge!

The Thermal Imaging Project will enable residential and commercial building owners to lower costs while supporting our city’s climate and emission reduction goals. One more great tool to wield for average citizens and environmental warriors alike. Get to http://www.Sagewell.com now!

If you have any remaining questions, please contact Sagewell at info@Sagewell.com or HEET at heet.cambridge@gmail.com.

Keystone XL Pipeline Denied

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Tara Holmes

Last week, President Obama stood firm against Republican pressure and big oil’s demands and denied TransCanada’s push for construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline. This is very good news for clean energy and environmental communities, however, TransCanada intends to swiftly propose a re-route of the massive pipeline through less “environmentally sensitive areas”, which include attempting to avoid Nebraska’s Ogallala Aquifer, an aquifer critical to Nebraska’s natural habitat, livelihood and farming community, never mind its fresh drinking water supply. This point of entry has been the main challenge for the company. It will be interesting to see where President Obama stands on the predicted newly proposed route, which is anticipated to arrive at his desk within two weeks.

The proposed $7 Billion Keystone XL pipeline would carry crude tar sands oil from Alberta, Canada, across the middle of the United States to the Gulf of Mexico for refining and will inevitably be a delivery route for oil bound for overseas markets, mainly Latin America and Europe. According to Tar Sands Action, … “Gulf Coast refiners plan to refine the cheap Canadian crude supplied by the pipeline into diesel and other products for export … Much of the fuel refined from the pipeline’s heavy crude oil will never reach U.S. drivers’ tanks.”

For all of the associated domestic jobs being touted by Washington, DC, it’s wise to realize this proposed pipeline will only create a few temporary jobs, at best. This is not the energy market we should be striving for in 2012. We should be instead be investing in clean energy technologies and energy efficiency measures. The Canadian Boreal Forest, where much of the tar sands exist, is currently being leveled for expanded tar sands production. This forest is a pristine habitat for countless wildlife in addition to the rare Spirit Bear , an albino bear that lives only in this region of the world. There are also countless native tribes that call this region home. Sending millions of gallons of crude oil and oil tankers through pristine wild land is no way to secure our energy future or combat climate change. In fact, the pipeline will only accelerate climate change. The KeystoneXL protests that took place in Washington, DC this past summer reflect the urgency to cease tar sands expansion for fear of exacerbating climate change – the tar sands are said to release 10 to 45% more greenhouse gas emissions than combustion of other related fossil fuels.

While this week’s decision by the State Department and President Obama is a wise one, the political and financial might of the fossil fuel industry and TransCanada will fight back. It’s important to realize however that despite the influence of big oil, the voice of the concerned American citizen has played a significant role in this debate, and ultimately, Obama’s decision. With this in mind, it’s time to continue the push for a cleaner energy future – a future that does not include the tar sands.

EPA report cracks down on hydraulic fracturing

Posted on December 13, 2011 by Tara Holmes

The clean energy revolution has never been more critical. In a report released December 8th, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) made a direct link between the controversial drilling practice known as hydraulic fracturing and groundwater contamination. For years, hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking” a method to extract oil and gas from underground deposits that uses a mixture of sand, water and chemicals to fracture shale rock and release the gas, has been taking place across the country, mainly unabated and unquestioned by politicians and industry professionals.

Now however, it’s official: fracking has been correlated to tainted groundwater that is often entirely undrinkable by area residents and wildlife alike. The EPA report specifically notes high concentrations of benzene, xylene, gasoline and diesel fuel in groundwater supplies linked to wastewater pits and deeper fresh water wells. This indicates the difficulty in tracking all fracking-related chemicals as the gas industry is not required to reveal all chemical elements, a product of a loophole commonly referred to as the “Halliburton Loophole.”

While this particular EPA report focuses on the town of Pavilion, WY; Dimock, a town of 1400 people in northeastern Pennsylvania, has made recent national headlines as well over the question of drinking water quality. In fact, last week residents and nonprofit groups from neighboring areas, including New York City, drove to Dimock to supply fresh drinking water to its residents as the PA DEP had decided to ignore the issue altogether. Cabot Oil and Gas, the company responsible for fracking in Dimock, had recently ended daily deliveries of clean water asserting that “Dimock’s water is safe to drink.” The PA DEP gave Cabot permission last month to stop paying for clean water and a judge, who sits on the state’s Environmental Hearing Board, “declined to issue an emergency order compelling Cabot to continue the deliveries.”

Never has the need for clean energy alternatives been more necessary. Fracking is a national energy dilemma: on one side energy companies stand to gain considerable profit on harvesting natural gas, while on the other citizens, eager to make quick money, learn only too late the harsh environmental and health-related risks related to the industry.

The EPA report comes at a critical time. As the U.S. is steamrolling hundreds of new fracking sites each month, we are still hesitant to embrace cleaner, renewable technologies. Fracking is a dangerous practice that is clouded by many political and industry interests. The EPA report is a good place to start for stronger regulation and awareness of a very questionable method of extracting this domestic energy source.

Biomass Blues

Posted on September 7, 2011 by Tara Holmes

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick’s stance on biomass has recently changed its tune from one of skepticism to one of acceptance as a state-wide “clean” energy policy. Why the sudden switch? State environmental groups, the same groups who helped lobby to get him into office, are wondering the same thing and are now turning against Patrick’s newfound position at large.

According to a recent article in the Boston Phoenix, the Patrick administration will release a document in the next few weeks that will contain the final regulations for the state’s biomass subsidies. According to environmental groups, the Administration is planning to reverse its original position as a nod towards a handful of developers who stand to make money off of biomass production.

These regulations will come at the expense of ordinary electricity-utility ratepayers who will be forced to pay extra to subsidize a practice that negatively impacts the environment and opens the way for clear-cutting of forests and increased carbon emission (carbon emissions from biomass are particularly concentrated).

Susan Reid, vice-president and director of the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) of Massachusetts stated that, “It is deeply troubling that the Patrick administration would jettison good policy and good science.” James McCaffrey, director of the Massachusetts Sierra Club stated: “We will be very disappointed and very upset” if the Administration doesn’t reverse course. “It is going to indicate that the industry had a real hand in weakening these regulations.”

In an effort to determine whether biomass was as dirty as projected, the Administration commissioned the so-called “Manomet Report.” The study cast serious doubt on whether woody biomass is clean at all. Based on the Manomet Report (pdf), the Administration issued a letter to draw up regulations allowing woody biomass to qualify for subsidies only if it met certain efficiency standards. These regulations are the very regulations environmental groups are waiting anxiously for this fall.

In addition to state-wide policy, biomass has created tension throughout municipalities and local townships. In Greenfield, for example, many homeowners have placed anti-biomass signs on their lawns as western Mass will face the brunt of production given the vast natural resources that exist in that region of the state.

While the struggle for a clean energy economy continues to envelop both Massachusetts and national politics, the debate over biomass remains clear: do state residents wish to see increased clear cutting across the state in return for dirty energy? In a world that is faced with the daunting impacts of climate change, perhaps we should instead focus our policy efforts on coupling energy efficiency efforts with renewables such as wind, solar and geothermal. Trees act as carbon sinks absorbing excess carbon out of the atmosphere; going forward, it would be wise policy to instead preserve as many carbon sinks as possible.

Western MA Tornado Relief: ReBuild Western Massachusetts

Posted on August 8, 2011 by Tara Holmes

Image by Tara Holmes

On June 1st, three tornadoes touched down in western Massachusetts during a surprise series of storms, leaving a wake of destruction and confusion. Massachusetts, not known for tornadoes, is now beginning to rethink state policies surrounding severe weather preparation and emergency response.

ReBuild Western Massachusetts, a program developed by the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) and administered in partnership with the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC), was announced on August 4th and will distribute more than $8 million to help building owners affected by the tornadoes rebuild using energy efficiency practices and renewable energy technologies. Eligible participants include those who can document damage caused by the June 1 storms, and who own buildings in communities in Hampden and Worcester Counties, including: Agawam, Westfield, West Springfield, Springfield, Wilbraham, Monson, Brimfield, Southbridge and Sturbridge.

The program will offer incentives for solar PV and solar thermal systems, as well as for renewable heating and hot water systems. Zero-interest loans and grants for building with energy efficient windows, doors, attic and wall insulation, and heating equipment will be offered to homeowner victims. Later this year, offerings will include energy efficiency and renewable energy assistance for other building owners, including businesses and municipalities. “There is now a package of incentives for these communities to rebuild cleaner, greener and more efficiently than ever before,” said DOER Commissioner Mark Sylvia. “For homeowners and businesses these programs bring significant reductions in energy costs and deep energy efficiency savings. These measures will also cut energy consumption, cut greenhouse gas emissions and reduce our dependence on imported energy sources.”

It is important to note that of the approximately $22 billion Massachusetts spends annually on energy, 80% – or nearly $18 billion – goes out of the state and the country to purchase coal, oil and natural gas from Canada, the Middle East and South America. ReBuild Western Massachusetts aims to encourage building owners to rebuild using cleaner energy alternatives thereby helping to keep energy sources local while decreasing GHG emissions.

Implementing a Deep Green Tenant Program

Posted on August 1, 2011 by Sustainable Business Leader Blog

by Peter Crawley, EBI Consulting

Cross-posted from the Sustainable Business Leader Program blog. See the original post here.

New England property owners are beginning to understand the benefits of a “green” building: higher occupancy rates, higher rental rates and lower utility costs, to name a few. But working with just the “sticks and bricks” of a building can make it only “light green.”

To go deeper, a building manager must engage the community that occupies the building: the tenants. A building and its tenants are two interconnected systems that must work in-tandem to produce eco-efficiency. Even if a building is built to green standards, it will not perform in a deep green manner if the occupants are not actively participating in green practices. Ultimately, it is the tenants who recycle, conserve water and energy, and choose green modes of transportation. The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) recognized this and introduced the LEED Operations and Management (O&M) certification. To gain LEED O&M certification, owners must work with tenants to promote a variety of green practices in the building. At the same time, LEED O&M isn’t the only strategy to harmonize landlord/tenant green operations.

Promoting Green Practices

Many progressive landlords, such as Hines Real Estate Investment Trust, are instituting “green tenant” programs of their own design. These programs provide a system to green tenant behaviors as well as better coordinate them with the overall green protocols of the building, such as recycling or transportation programs (In most cases, tenant greening programs also qualify for points under LEED O&M). Another New England landlord, Equity Office Properties, recently completed a greening program for its own office operations and is in the planning stages of engaging its tenants via a similar program.

Landlords with a desire to go “deep green” realize they can only get there via tenant involvement; and conversely, tenants that desire green operations realize they need the landlord to adopt green practices for the building as well. When the two parties acknowledge this interdependence, a fresh, collaborative relationship around green initiatives develops that produces opportunities and benefits for both parties.

The Landlord’s Role

To be successful, tenant greening programs need to be well designed and actively managed by the landlord. Programs should cover at least the following key areas: energy conservation, waste management, water conservation, modes of transportation, pollution prevention, and sustainable management practices.

Key landlord related actions include:

· Clear communication plan and instructional materials to explain program and green protocols of building;

· Program designed to be useful to tenants of various sizes and levels of green practices;

· Landlord willingness to separately track tenant usage information for energy, water and waste;

· Landlord willingness to share cost savings from conservation achievements with tenants, and include “green lease” covenants in contracts.

To prove its commitment to the greening program, the landlord should be willing to fund at least low cost green upgrades, such as occupancy sensors, water faucet aerators and wireless utility meters – which also add long-term value to the landlord’s asset. The landlord should also require third-party building vendors, whenever possible, to track product/service usage by tenant (e.g., for recycling). Additionally, the landlord should research utility company green incentive plans, as well as new greening technologies, and make them available to tenants.

The Tenant’s Role

As for the tenant, key components for successful greening programs include:

· Creating an internal “Green Team” with representation from diverse management levels and operational areas;

· Establishing baseline performance metrics prior to instituting improvements;

· Showing a commitment to tracking metrics to highlight progress;

· Holding educational and training sessions for employees;

· Displaying attractive signage regarding green behaviors (e.g., water conservation, light and computer shut-offs);

· Communicating and celebrating achievements, translated into dollar savings, career advancements and environmental benefits.

Tenants should realize that in addition to cost reductions, the benefits of a greening program include increased employee engagement and productivity, as well as public relations enhancements.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency offers an energy-focused tenant greening program called “Bring Your Green to Work” that includes training videos, tip sheets and posters (See www.EnergyStar.gov). For a program that addresses the more specific challenges and opportunities of their portfolio, landlords can work with consultants to develop customized greening programs. Landlord-sponsored green tenant programs not only reduce building operating costs and carbon emissions, but also improve landlord-tenant relationships, which in turn promote lease renewals and long-term tenancies.

Peter Crawley is the former Director of the Sustainable Business Leader Program and now serves as the Director of Sustainability Services at Burlington, Mass.-based EBI Consulting, an environmental consulting firm offering a variety of green building services.

Mt. Tom Station Cleans Up?

Posted on July 13, 2011 by Tara Holmes

Mt. Tom Station in Holyoke, MA has been a thorn in the sides of local environmentalists for many years. Sitting on one of the most pristine mountain ranges in western Massachusetts, the coal burning power plant has, according to the Conservation Law Foundation, violated clean air standards thousands of times from 2005 to 2010, despite $55 million worth of pollution-control equipment that was installed from 2007 to 2009.

Now, however, the plant plans to comply with more stringent air-quality standards, install air-monitoring equipment, and hire an outside consultant to correct air pollution problems under a settlement announced by the state Attorney General’s Office. In addition, FirstLight Power Resources, the station’s owners, and GDF Suez North America have agreed to pay a $25,000 penalty to the state of Massachusetts and $70,000 for an education program targeting owners of old wood stoves and wood-fired boilers in the greater Holyoke area. It’s important to note however that while burning wood remains a common heating and power option for those living in remote areas, it’s not a clean energy source.

The arrangement between the state and Mt. Tom Station settles allegations that Mt. Tom violated clean air standards in 2009 and 2010, yet there is still much to be done and this story is far from unique. Hundreds of other coal-fired power plants across the U.S. face identical concerns, namely outdated design and poor oversight. It’s thereby critical that the EPA along with local and state environmental agencies increase monitoring and random site checks on all coal-fired power stations to ensure safety and liability until they can be brought offline.

Unfortunately however, in today’s world of increasing energy demand, fossil fuels like coal remain a standard power producer. Growing sectors such as natural gas are advertised as a “clean” domestic alternative to coal, but that too comes at a large price with hydrolic fracturing, or fracking, leading to many questionable health and environmental concerns. Until the clean energy revolution makes a cheaper, mainstream splash in the U.S., stories like Mt. Tom will remain all too common.

The March on Blair Mountain

Posted on June 7, 2011 by Tara Holmes

On June 5th, roughly 600 activists and marchers began a five day 50 mile hike from Marmet, West Virginia to Blair Mountain in protest of mountain top removal (MTR), a destructive and highly contested form of strip mining. Blair Mountain, one of the last, originally standing mountains in that region of Appalachia to avoid MTR, is also an historical site with battle fields and artifacts dating back to the Civil War and before. It’s also, like many of the pristine mountains in that region, loaded with coal reserves. Unfortunately, for the residents of states such as West Virginia, Kentucky and Virginia, MTR is an all too common reality. Current data show that as of 2010, an area the size of Delaware has been mined using MTR techniques and there is, tragically, no end in sight given our insatiable demand for coal-fired power.

The March on Blair Mountain aims to draw attention not only to the environmental devastation plaguing Appalachia, but to the countless union jobs lost as a result of MTR. Before MTR became standard practice, union laborers mined for coal in these same mountains using traditional deep-mining methods. Today however, the mechanization of MTR has made the mining process more “efficient” thereby cutting half the workers that deep mining traditionally employs. In Boone County, WV the state’s most heavily mined county, 2,053 miners working in underground mines produce more than 10 million tons of coal a year, while 1,086 surface miners produce 12 million tons. One local miner was quoted as saying, “MTR is a job killer, it is not a job creator.”

While coal mining alone remains a contested topic for both energy policy and environmental policy, what’s currently taking place in Appalachia is complete annihilation of million-year old mountains and the associated streams and ecosystems that sustain life in that region. Tens of thousands of acres of land have already been demolished – if not irreparably – and water tables are now laden with coal runoff and other debris impacting the health of local residents and wildlife alike. At the same time, energy demand continues to rise, while the Earth’s precious resources remain finite. And mountain top removal is just one of the high-impact energy extraction industries; the Alberta tar sands, hydrolic fracturing (“fracking”) and deep-ocean drilling are all loosely regulated, dangerous and environmentally damaging businesses.

We need a cleaner, renewable revolution for our pressing energy woes and we need clean, green job alternatives and training options for those pushed out of archaic industries, such as coal mining. This revolution also comes in the form of energy efficiency behavior changes at home and renewably sourced energy options from utility providers. The Earth simply cannot sustain current energy demand without an alternative (and immediate) solution on a global scale. Please visit The Last Mountain to learn more about action points you can take and to see clips of the new documentary film coming out this month about Blair Mountain.

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