A plan to make Burlington a net zero energy city by 2030 was released by Burlington officials and stakeholders Monday afternoon.
Burlington was the first city in the nation to source all energy from renewable sources in 2014. The net-zero step-up means the city will have a carbon-neutral footprint in heating and ground transportation.
Mayor Miro Weinberger was joined by other city officials, Burlington Electric Department representatives and a group of fourth grade students from Edmunds Elementary School in the City Hall auditorium, while a small group of F-35 protesters stood opposite the podium.
Energy efficiency has been a priority for Weinberger, who began the announcement by touting recent developments in Burlington such as a decrease in total energy consumption, an increase in solar panel installations, and the installation of electric vehicle charging stations across the city.
“Reaching the goal will require us to completely restructure our transportation and thermal sectors in less than 12 years,” Weinberger said. “Reaching that ambitious goal puts us in direct conflict with the United States president, who shows every day that he is fighting not just to preserve the status quo, but actually to take us backward with respect to energy.”
Weinberger emphasized the incentives “are not hand-outs,” rather, the financial incentives are designed in part to benefit all ratepayers so BED can sell more renewable energy, “whether or not they are taking advantage of these incentives.”
To meet the goal, BED and city officials announced a series of incentives to help Burlingtonians transition their energy consumption habits while upgrading their homes and businesses.
The vast majority of that energy will come from the 100% renewable sources BED owns, like the McNeil biomass generating plant, solar projects and the Winooski One hydroelectric generating plant.
The “roadmap” to net zero energy has four main goals:
- 40% of commercial and 95% of household floor space to be heated by electric heat pumps and water heating systems
- 40% of commercial floor space heated by the district energy system
- 80% of vehicles on Burlington roads to be electric
- decrease annual vehicle travel miles by 15%
“Now our challenge is how do we reduce and eventually eliminate fossil fuel use for heating and ground transportation?” BED General Manager Darren Springer said.
To lessen building emissions, a program with Vermont Gas Systems will offer incentives to homeowners to install cold climate heat pumps and establish stronger energy efficiency and weatherization standards for rental units. BED is offering a rebate to customers who buy or lease an electric vehicle. BED also plans to install 20 more charging stations around the city.
BED is offering customers a special WiFi enabled home charging cable. The cable can plug into a regular outlet but allows BED to monitor how much electricity is going to charging cars. Furthermore, if residents charge their car at non-peak hours, they can charge their car for the equivalent of 60 cents per gallon of gas.
Springer said more incentives will be announced in the coming months.
“With political will and with strong technical expertise within the Burlington Electric Department, within the city, very ambitious climate goals are possible,” Weinberger told VTDigger following the event. “We have shown that again and again in our history.”
The plan was created over the last year, when BED partnered with Massachusetts based Synapse Energy Economics and Burlington based Resource Systems Group.
