GUEST COLUMN Getting closer to a fossil fuel free future

BY PETER STERLING

One of the proven ways to tackle the climate change crisis is to electrify everything. From the cars we drive to how we heat our homes, we are moving away from polluting fossil fuels to electricity. And it’s crucial that this electricity comes from clean, stably priced renewable sources.

After all, it makes little climate sense to buy an electric car and power it with electricity generated by burning dirty oil or natural gas, as is often the case now in Vermont.

Fortunately, House Speaker Jill Krowinski recognized this. Despite a legislative session dominated for months by the fossil fuel industry’s campaign opposing progress on climate solutions, she championed passage of legislation to update Vermont’s Renewable Energy Standard, setting us on a path toward a cleaner 100 percent renewable energy future.

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MEMBER: zations committed to a 100 percent renewable energy future — VPIRG, 350Vermont, Rights & Democracy, the Vermont Chapter of the Sierra Club, Vermont Natural Resources Council, Renewable Energy Vermont, Vermont Conservation Voters and the Conservation Law Foundation — supported the bill.

There are many reasons why Vermont needs to update its law governing renewable energy.

Vermonters make the transition off of fossil fuels and to renewables — an amount of money that was unthinkable back in 2015. We cannot afford to leave this federal money unspent.

Due to the interconnected nature of New England’s electric grid, every time we in Vermont bring new wind or solar power online, at some point it will displace dirtier electricity generated elsewhere in New England.

Vermont has no baseload natural gas plants. Instead we rely on 81 such plants located in largely lower income communities in Massachusetts and Connecticut. In addition, when we need more power during energy “peaks” from heat waves or cold snaps, we rely on dozens of the most costly and dirty fossil fuel “peaker plants” spread throughout New England.

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This legislation brings together a broad working group of stakeholders and legislators to figure out how to get Vermont to a 100 percent renewable energy future and how these changes might impact our electric grid’s reliability and resiliency, the impact on electric rates and, importantly, how any decisions might impact both positively and negatively those in low- and moderate-income households.

A broad coalition of organi-

The current law is outdated. Written in 2015, it calls for just 75 percent of Vermont’s power to come from renewables by 2032 with just 10 percent of that generated from new sources, the lowest new renewable energy requirement in New England. It’s way past time to bring Vermont in line with the rest of our region’s commitment to renewable generation — the only way to truly decrease the amount of carbon pollution emitted by New England’s electric generation.

The Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law by President Biden last year, has given Vermont a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to bring in upwards of half a billion dollars in federal money to help

It’s way past time for Vermont to end its environmentally unjust reliance on these power plants in marginalized communities for so much of our energy needs. Bringing more new renewables online here in Vermont and throughout New England will help curtail the need for these and future heavily polluting facilities and begin the process of alleviating the environmental and health burdens placed on these communities.

Peter Sterling is the executive director of Renewable Energy Vermont, a trade association.

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Letters To The Editor

Taking heat on the Affordable Heat Act

In response to Angela Arsenault’s column in the April 27 issue of the Observer (“Why I voted ‘yes’ on the Affordable Heat Act”), punitive taxes do not make heat cleaner or more affordable. To the contrary, they rob citizens of their ability to freely choose the most cost-effective heating sources themselves and adds onerous financial burdens.

I dispute that we need to make changes in this vital area. Why is my family responsible for deciding which heating sources are more efficient or price stable for other households? Isn’t that what the market now provides?

The only way to provide heat in the winter with more expensive means such as electrically powered heat pumps and/or weatherization (there is a point of diminishing returns with weatherization; think of standing in a bucket and trying to pick yourself up), is to seek taxpayer funding to render cheaper means more finan- cially attractive by subsidizing.

Using an administrative agency (the Public Utilities Commission) to enforce a clean heat standard removes lawmakers from taking the full responsibility for the decisions they have made. They can cast the blame for Vermont becoming even less affordable on the agency enforcing the “rules” that were mandated by our elected representatives. A clever tactic.

Details on this “Affordable Heat Act” are almost non-existent. Are things going to become more affordable for some to purchase heating by making it less affordable to purchase heating by others? Robbing Peter to pay Paul does always require robbing.

How will a spike in electric demand from both heating and transportation be fulfilled? Will the additional power needed be generated locally or will we pay market rates (really not price-stable)?

Shelley Palmer Williston