This commentary is by Jared Duval of Montpelier, a member of the Vermont Climate Council, appointed to provide expertise in energy and data analysis.
When my family moved to Montpelier in late 2014, we found ourselves in a situation many other Vermonters can relate to: living in an old house that was cold and inefficient.
That first winter in our new home, we had to use over 1,000 gallons of fuel oil to keep warm, at a cost of about $2,400 — and that was with the thermostat set to only 65 degrees.
Concerned about the impact of fossil fuels on our budget and the climate, the next spring we took out a home energy loan and had our 1890 home comprehensively weatherized. That cut our heat loss in half and enabled us to switch to heating our whole home with an efficient wood pellet stove made by Hearthstone in Morrisville, using Vermont Wood Pellets made in Clarendon. The next year, our total heating bill dropped to about $1,400, saving us about $1,000 — savings that have continued each year since.
Now we are actually comfortable in the winter, able to keep the home at about 68 degrees, and can get warmed up to our bones in front of the stove when we want.
We still have our old furnace as a backup, but we run it on B100 biodiesel instead of fuel oil. We also switched out the old oil-fired water heater to a more efficient heat pump water heater, which has not only saved money but has also helped dehumidify our basement.
After all of this work, I am relieved to say that, for the sake of both our budget and the climate, our home is now 100% free of polluting, high-cost and price-volatile fossil fuel. And rather than most of our energy dollars leaving Vermont (75 cents of every dollar spent on fossil fuel drains out of the Vermont economy), the majority of our energy spending now stays local, supporting jobs for our neighbors and reinvesting in the Vermont economy.
As a result of my work as an independent energy analyst, I was one of 23 Vermonters appointed to serve on the Vermont Climate Council, charged with crafting Vermont’s Climate Action Plan to meet the legal requirements of the Global Warming Solutions Act. As a member of the council, I have relied not just on my professional expertise, but also on my personal experience, which includes being a ninth-generation Vermonter who grew up in a low-income family.
From each viewpoint, I believe that more and more Vermonters need to be able to experience the same cost savings and comfort improvements that my family has benefited from by getting off fossil heating fuel.
As a member of the Vermont Climate Council, my decisions are primarily focused on two goals:
- To ensure Vermont does its part to reduce climate pollution, for both moral and legal reasons.
- To ensure that we reduce energy costs for Vermonters, especially for those already unable to afford the high cost of fossil fuels and basic necessities amidst a difficult and vastly inequitable economy.
While most Vermonters agree that we have a moral responsibility to do our part to reduce the pollution creating the climate crisis, many don’t yet know about the economic savings and consumer protection benefits that can come from reduced fossil fuel dependence. Both are vitally important, and there are policies that can help us achieve these two goals together.
First and foremost among them is for Vermont to adopt a Clean Heat Standard. This policy, currently being considered by the Vermont Legislature, is a pillar of the Climate Action Plan passed by the Vermont Climate Council. It is designed both to reduce pollution and to help make clean heat services — including weatherization, heat pumps, advanced wood heat and sustainable biofuels — more accessible and affordable, especially for low- and moderate-income Vermonters.
If enacted and implemented as designed, the Clean Heat Standard will deliver over a third of Vermont’s needed greenhouse gas reductions by 2030 and beyond. In 2030, the Clean Heat Standard would reduce the equivalent emissions of burning over 100 million gallons of fuel oil.
Quite simply, if enacted, the Clean Heat Standard will likely be the most important and effective policy to reduce climate pollution in Vermont’s history. It is the centerpiece of the emissions reduction strategy in Vermont’s recently adopted Climate Action Plan — and without the Clean Heat Standard, that plan would fail to meet the emissions reduction requirements of the Global Warming Solutions Act by 2030.
As important as the emissions reductions, a Clean Heat Standard will also lead to more affordable clean heating options, requiring fossil fuel corporations to help their customers reduce fossil fuel use, including with money-saving strategies like weatherization and switching to clean heating options. Crucially, a significant share of emissions reduction that fossil fuel corporations will be responsible for achieving will have to come from supporting low- and moderate-income Vermonters in switching to clean heat options.
To those who know we need to reduce emissions, I ask: If not from fossil fuel use — which accounts for over three-quarters of Vermont’s climate pollution — then from where?
To those who know we need to invest in an equitable energy transition, I ask: iI not paid for by fossil fuel corporations, then by who?
To those who know we need to act, I ask: If not now, then when?
And for those families — like mine when I was younger — who struggle to pay their energy bills, I ask: Are you ready to get off the fossil fuel roller coaster and have more clean and affordable energy?
To all these questions, I say: A well-implemented Clean Heat Standard is the clear answer for Vermont and Vermonters.
