By Theodora Filis
The State of Massachusetts has set the highest possible reduction requirement for greenhouse gas emissions allowed under state environmental legislation.
Massachusetts will seek to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to 25 percent below 1990 levels over the next 10 years, giving the state one of the strictest emissions codes in the country under new regulations.
Energy Secretary, Ian Bowles, announced the legally binding targets last week after a two-year review process, choosing the most stringent emissions control level available under the 2008 Global Warming Solutions Act, which set the parameters for reductions by 2020 of between 10 percent and 25 percent.
The plan incorporates electricity production, transportation, and other non-energy emissions policies, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions from plastics, developing a market for solar thermal water and space heating, and using trees around buildings for better cooling.
Secretary Bowles suggested that even though the target has been set at the upper limit of the available range it is feasible for the state to reach a 35 percent reduction over 1990 levels by 2020.
“Establishing this statewide GHG emissions limit and outlining the specific and practical policy measures that can achieve that limit is a milestone in the Commonwealth’s ongoing efforts to create a vibrant clean energy economy, reduce energy costs for consumers, increase energy independence, and contribute toward stabilizing our climate,” Bowles wrote in his letter of determination. He called the target “responsible and achievable” and said it “will not have an undue economic impact.”
Massachusetts accounts for roughly 1.3 percent of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions, but state energy officials believe the state is in a position to “show the way to a clean energy economy.”
“Our motivation is primarily around how you continue to transform the Massachusetts economy to be a disproportionate beneficiary in the transition to clean energy,” Bowles said.
The state plans to reach that goal by continuing with a number of policies and programs already in place and prescribed by the state Green Communities Act and other federal laws as well as implementing a series of new pilot programs and legislative initiatives.
“What’s most interesting about this plan is that on a completely cost-effective basis, you can reduce emissions by 30 percent and I think that is significant news for the national debate which is sort of stale and partisan and not exactly fact-based,” Bowles told the News Service.
“RGGI demonstrated you can run a 10-state cap-and-trade program and at the basic level no consumers have noticed,” Bowles said.
The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) is the first mandatory, market-based effort in the United States to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Ten Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states have capped and will reduce CO2 emissions from the power sector by 10% by 2018.
States sell nearly all emission allowances through auctions and invest proceeds in consumer benefits: energy efficiency, renewable energy, and other clean energy technologies. RGGI is spurring innovation in the clean energy economy and creating green jobs in each state.
The 10 Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states participating in RGGI (Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont) have designed the first market-based, mandatory cap-and-trade program in the U.S. to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Participating States have regulations in place to cap and then reduce the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) that power plants in their region are allowed to emit, limiting the region’s total contribution to atmospheric greenhouse gas levels. Power sector CO2 emissions are capped at current levels through 2014. The cap will then be reduced by 2.5 percent in each of the four years 2015 through 2018, for a total reduction of 10 percent.
According to the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center survey of 471 local companies, the green energy sector employed more than 11,000 people in Massachusetts at the end of 2010, up 65 percent over the past three years.
Bowles estimates that the policies being put in place to achieve the state’s greenhouse gas reduction goals will create 42,000 to 48,000 jobs by 2020 with growth in the clean energy sector enough to offset losses in other areas.
New regulations put forth by the Environmental Protection Agency forced the Somerset Power Station to cease operation in January, and energy officials expect the Salem Harbor Station to close within five years costing at least 100 jobs.
“To the degree that it’s replaced by wind and solar, those are much more labor intensive to install and maintain. Things like that will be an economic gain,” Bowles said.
Massachusetts will seek to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to 25 percent below 1990 levels over the next 10 years, giving the state one of the strictest emissions codes in the country under new regulations.
Energy Secretary, Ian Bowles, announced the legally binding targets last week after a two-year review process, choosing the most stringent emissions control level available under the 2008 Global Warming Solutions Act, which set the parameters for reductions by 2020 of between 10 percent and 25 percent.
The plan incorporates electricity production, transportation, and other non-energy emissions policies, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions from plastics, developing a market for solar thermal water and space heating, and using trees around buildings for better cooling.
Secretary Bowles suggested that even though the target has been set at the upper limit of the available range it is feasible for the state to reach a 35 percent reduction over 1990 levels by 2020.
“Establishing this statewide GHG emissions limit and outlining the specific and practical policy measures that can achieve that limit is a milestone in the Commonwealth’s ongoing efforts to create a vibrant clean energy economy, reduce energy costs for consumers, increase energy independence, and contribute toward stabilizing our climate,” Bowles wrote in his letter of determination. He called the target “responsible and achievable” and said it “will not have an undue economic impact.”
Massachusetts accounts for roughly 1.3 percent of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions, but state energy officials believe the state is in a position to “show the way to a clean energy economy.”
“Our motivation is primarily around how you continue to transform the Massachusetts economy to be a disproportionate beneficiary in the transition to clean energy,” Bowles said.
The state plans to reach that goal by continuing with a number of policies and programs already in place and prescribed by the state Green Communities Act and other federal laws as well as implementing a series of new pilot programs and legislative initiatives.
“What’s most interesting about this plan is that on a completely cost-effective basis, you can reduce emissions by 30 percent and I think that is significant news for the national debate which is sort of stale and partisan and not exactly fact-based,” Bowles told the News Service.
“RGGI demonstrated you can run a 10-state cap-and-trade program and at the basic level no consumers have noticed,” Bowles said.
The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) is the first mandatory, market-based effort in the United States to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Ten Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states have capped and will reduce CO2 emissions from the power sector by 10% by 2018.
States sell nearly all emission allowances through auctions and invest proceeds in consumer benefits: energy efficiency, renewable energy, and other clean energy technologies. RGGI is spurring innovation in the clean energy economy and creating green jobs in each state.
The 10 Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states participating in RGGI (Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont) have designed the first market-based, mandatory cap-and-trade program in the U.S. to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Participating States have regulations in place to cap and then reduce the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) that power plants in their region are allowed to emit, limiting the region’s total contribution to atmospheric greenhouse gas levels. Power sector CO2 emissions are capped at current levels through 2014. The cap will then be reduced by 2.5 percent in each of the four years 2015 through 2018, for a total reduction of 10 percent.
According to the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center survey of 471 local companies, the green energy sector employed more than 11,000 people in Massachusetts at the end of 2010, up 65 percent over the past three years.
Bowles estimates that the policies being put in place to achieve the state’s greenhouse gas reduction goals will create 42,000 to 48,000 jobs by 2020 with growth in the clean energy sector enough to offset losses in other areas.
New regulations put forth by the Environmental Protection Agency forced the Somerset Power Station to cease operation in January, and energy officials expect the Salem Harbor Station to close within five years costing at least 100 jobs.
“To the degree that it’s replaced by wind and solar, those are much more labor intensive to install and maintain. Things like that will be an economic gain,” Bowles said.
Comments
Post a Comment