Editor’s note: This commentary is by Sandra Levine, a senior attorney at the Conservation Law Foundation in Montpelier.
[T]aking action to tackle global warming is more important than ever. Flooding coastal areas, melting ice sheets and bigger storm surges leave far more people across the globe at risk. This global problem requires all of us to pitch in.
Sadly, climate change deniers and lackeys of the fossil fuel industry are now poised to set national environmental policy. When action is thwarted at the federal level, our regional, state, municipal and business efforts have room to succeed. Close to home, some especially good examples in Vermont and New England show that we have a good foundation to build on so that we can still do our share to have cleaner and healthier air to breathe and a more vibrant economy.
For electricity, Vermont is home to Burlington Electric Department and Washington Electric Cooperative – two utilities that are now 100 percent renewable. Over the past decades, they have managed their energy supply to build and invest in energy efficiency and renewable power when other utilities were turning to nuclear power, gas or coal. They have kept up with the times by upgrading and expanding their renewable supplies. Those supplies are now more lucrative assets that are in high demand in a regional renewable energy market. While selling some of their high value renewable credits out of state, they remain committed to providing their own customers with 100 percent renewable power. Their business model is like a successful farmer who sells their specialty cheeses at gourmet markets in larger cities, while buying some lower cost cheeses for their own family to eat. The added revenue helps keep power costs lower. The Burlington utility has been able to avoid a rate increase since 2009. That’s something few in their industry can claim.
Vermont’s Green Mountain Power has also expanded its renewable energy supplies. By providing its customers with innovative solutions combining heat pumps, solar panels and batteries, GMP is giving homes and businesses more stable energy bills and reducing fossil fuel use. Its Cow Power program already provides some Vermont breweries, manufacturers, ski areas and many homes with renewable power from farms. In their next phase of Cow Power, GMP will partner with smaller farms to produce electricity and remove phosphorus – a win-win-win for farms, customers and cleaning up polluted waters in Lake Champlain.
As Seventh Generation’s president told Vermont legislators last year, “You can’t have a healthy business on a sick planet.”
While Vermont has made much progress in keeping our electricity sector low carbon and low cost compared to other states in the region, a bigger challenge looms for transportation and for heating. These are the biggest sources of our greenhouse gas emissions in Vermont. These are also some of the toughest nuts to crack. Transportation and heating stand where electricity was about a decade ago. Some new innovations are developing and becoming available – like solar panels were a decade ago – but they are not widely adopted.
Many businesses and municipalities are showing a path forward to take a bigger bite out of the greenhouse gas emissions from transportation and heating. The city of Burlington recently voted on zoning changes that would help redevelopment in their downtown, bringing more jobs, housing and greater transportation options to downtown. The redevelopment is also sparking a renewed look at using the waste heat from the woodchip burning McNeil Power Plant to heat downtown buildings. The city of Montpelier already has a wood-burning heating system for many downtown buildings that is helping reduce fossil fuels and greenhouse gas emissions. The use of heat pumps, which can operate at triple the efficiency of fossil fuels, also helps homes and businesses cut carbon emissions. The increasing availability of electric vehicles and more convenient charging stations will provide Vermonters with even more opportunities to kick the fossil fuels habit.
Our businesses are also showing leadership in tackling climate change. Seventh Generation is already reducing greenhouse gas emissions for its shipments and manufacturing. As its president told Vermont legislators last year, “You can’t have a healthy business on a sick planet.” Together with Ben & Jerry’s they are supporting carbon pricing as a sensible solution and have incorporated internal carbon pricing systems for their operations. AllEarth Renewables has an incentive program that pays its employees to reduce their own greenhouse gas emissions. Other businesses are investing in transit for their employees, or moving away from suburban office parks to downtown locations where they are more accessible and convenient and allow employees and customers to cut air pollution by driving less.
These efforts show that acting now and pitching in to do our part – even in the face of inaction at the federal level – helps our own environment and economy be stronger, healthier and more stable.
