BAKER ADMINISTRATION officials unveiled a slide deck on Tuesday that outlines in broad strokes how they intend to use updates to two existing state building codes and the development of a third more restrictive code to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions coming from newly constructed commercial and residential buildings. The new building codes are scheduled […]
Plugging In
Posted inUncategorized
Salem, once dismissed, now getting top billing on offshore wind
SALEM, ONCE CONSIDERED a port with little potential for offshore wind development, is suddenly being called the centerpiece of the state’s efforts to become the Saudi Arabia of wind. At a State House press conference on Monday, House Speaker Ron Mariano said he was still tinkering with legislation to promote offshore wind in Massachusetts and […]
Posted inOpinion
Grid operator should stop crying wolf
NEW ENGLAND’S fossil fuel interests and electric grid operator are at it again. Every winter, they issue dire warnings that our region’s power grid won’t be able to handle the stress of another season of extreme weather. As this week’s CommonWealth story highlights, 2022 is no different. It’s time to call out ISO-New England (our […]
Posted inEnvironment
Fault lines in New England’s climate plan
ELECTRICITY IN MANY WAYS is the key to the region’s climate change plans – bulk up and decarbonize the New England power grid and then use the green electricity to move cars, trucks, and heating systems off of fossil fuels. It sounds like a solid plan, but this winter Massachusetts and the rest of New […]
Posted inOpinion
Natural gas bottleneck hurting New England
FOR ALMOST THREE decades, natural gas use has continued to grow in New England, while the number of pipelines feeding the region has remained stagnant. Demand has increased while supply has not. Unfortunately, policies in the region and in neighboring states (namely New York) have restricted the development of needed infrastructure to deliver energy to […]
Posted inEnvironment
Electricity costs skyrocket along with oil usage
THE NEW ENGLAND power grid kept the lights on across the region in January, but at a very high cost financially and in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. The cost of the electricity on the regional wholesale market was $1.4 billion, double what it was in December ($721 million) and almost triple what it was […]
Posted inEnvironment
Close calls as region’s power grid walks a tightrope
This story has been updated. THE OVERSEER of the New England power grid warned on Monday that the region is walking a tightrope this winter, flirting with emergency situations that could result in rolling blackouts. Gordon van Welie, the president and chief executive officer of ISO-New England, said the power grid’s resource mix and fuel […]
Posted inEnvironment
Lawsuit challenges Vineyard Wind approval
A LAWSUIT CHALLENGING the federal approval of the nation’s first industrial-scale offshore wind farm off the coast of Massachusetts raises questions about the haste with which the project was approved and the fallout it will have on endangered right whales and the fishing industry. The lawsuit, filed on Monday in federal court in Washington, DC, […]
Posted inEnvironment
Oil powering a big chunk of power grid
NEW ENGLAND POWER plants are burning a lot more oil to generate electricity, apparently because the cost of natural gas is so high. In January last year, oil accounted for just 0.2 percent of the fuel mix used to generate power across the region. This month, starting around January 7, oil began accounting for 20 […]
Posted inEnvironment, State House News Service
Markey says FERC rethinking Weymouth Compressor
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE FEDERAL ENERGY regulators will reconsider their approval for the controversial natural gas compressor station in Weymouth less than a year and a half after they gave it the OK to go into service, US Sen. Ed Markey said Friday. Other than saying that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission “announced it will […]