Editor’s note: This commentary is by Sandra Levine, who is a senior attorney with the Conservation Law Foundation in Montpelier.
[T]aking action to tackle climate change comes naturally to Vermonters. We spend a lot of time outdoors and we see firsthand that our climate is changing. Many Vermonters have been heating their homes with wood for generations. It just makes sense. Wood is a local fuel that is available and low cost. Many of us also grow vegetables that feed us and our neighbors. Local food tastes better, isn’t trucked from far away, and it always delights us to see the bounty of our humble backyards. It all seems part of our natural frugality and common sense.
On broader matters of energy, the same ethic holds. Vermont was the first to develop a statewide energy efficiency utility. While other utilities are busy selling more electricity and producing more pollution, Vermont is selling our energy savings. We’ve reduced polluting greenhouse gas emissions and soot while avoiding expensive and massive new transmission projects. The result is lower electricity costs and less pollution for everyone.
In the realm of renewable energy, Vermonters’ efforts deserve praise and support. Going back to the 1970s oil embargo, Vermonters redeveloped local hydroelectric sites and Burlington replaced coal with woodchips.
A solar panel that produces electricity in Vermont replaces or avoids the need to produce power from more polluting power sources, in the gas, oil, nuclear and coal dependent New England grid — no matter who owns the RECs.
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In the past decade, the demands of climate change bolstered Vermonters efforts. In 2014, 27 percent of Vermont’s electricity generation was produced by renewable energy. Vermont’s policies support renewable energy. At a time when sunny states like Florida, or nearby states like Maine are seeing limited growth in generation from residential solar, many Vermont utilities are already meeting 15 percent of the peak demand with solar. And that is in a state with fewer sunny days than Seattle. Like our backyard gardens and woodstoves, our roofs and fields now use a local resource to harness energy from the sun.
The sale of renewable energy credits or (RECs) by some solar companies means that the renewable aspects from some local solar panels are not claimed in Vermont. To be sure, all companies need to be upfront and honest with consumers about what they are buying. And customers maintain the choice to own the renewable power their panels generate. But that does not diminish the overall good from all solar panels operating in Vermont.
Climate change is a global problem. A solar panel that produces electricity in Vermont replaces or avoids the need to produce power from more polluting power sources, in the gas, oil, nuclear and coal dependent New England grid — no matter who owns the RECs. Each solar panel in use increases the overall supply of renewable energy to our region. And with rapidly encroaching climate disasters, we can’t get to more renewable energy — everywhere — fast enough.
Solving global climate problems demands that we each do our part. For decades, Vermonters have stepped up and used their common sense to solve energy and pollution problems. We are still at it. Going forward, putting a price on carbon pollution will create even more incentives and opportunities to grow local renewable energy and move away from polluting fossil fuels. Instead of sending billions of dollars out of state to support polluting oil and gas companies, Vermonters will build on our past successes, keep more money in Vermont and do our part to further cut greenhouse gas emissions.
Vermonters’ local action cutting pollution reaps global rewards. We need to keep at it.