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Saturday, March 25, 2023
Register Now! The Transmission Challenge: Unleashing New England's Renewable Energy Potential featuring Sen. Markey
Thursday, March 16, 2023
Permitting Reform: The key to Unlocking Massachusetts’ Energy Revolution -Thursday, April 6
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Friday, March 10, 2023
CommonWealth Magazine: "The dirty truth of Northfield Mountain’s ‘clean’ energy"
"ON FEBRUARY 11, CommonWealth published a commentary by FirstLight Power CEO Alicia Barton bragging of the Christmas Eve grid-rescuing heroics of her company’s Northfield Mountain Pumped Storage Station. She went on to describe Northfield as a “zero-emissions” power plant that helped save New England from a natural gas energy squeeze. There were holes in her contentions, and she failed to mention all the other elephants in the room.Northfield Mountain, located on the Connecticut River in northwest Massachusetts, is actually a gas-powered plant. It’s a massive, net-power-loss electric machine, run off ISO-New England’s imported natural gas and nuclear-dominated energy grid. Its daily use halts, cripples, and reverses miles of the Connecticut River. Its turbines annually kill hundreds of millions of eggs, larvae, and juvenile and adult fish, and other assorted aquatic species in a four-state river system."
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| CommonWealth Magazine: "The dirty truth of Northfield Mountain’s ‘clean’ energy" |
Saturday, November 5, 2022
Massachusetts Home Energy Assistance (LIHEAP) 2022-23 Winter Heating Season Begins November 1, 2022
Tuesday, October 11, 2022
How to save money on utilities this winter and avoid scams
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| How to save money on utilities this winter and avoid scams |
Sunday, July 10, 2022
The Hill: "US on ‘cusp’ of falling gas prices"
Gasoline futures fell more than 10 percent Tuesday and are down more than 22 percent since June, raising hopes that the high price of gas across the country might soon fall.The national average price for a gallon of gasoline now stands at $4.78, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA), down from a recent peak above $5 per gallon. A year ago, the national average was only $3.13, representing a 50-percent annual spike in the price of gas.
- The price of U.S. crude oil fell more than 8 percent and international benchmark Brent crude fell nearly 10 percent on Tuesday.
- “We’re on the cusp of seeing more savings,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at gas price tracking site GasBuddy. “I’m trying to be a little bit optimistic here that this relief could make its entire way to the pump in the weeks ahead.”
Continue reading the Energy update from The Hill -> https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/overnights/3548202-energy-environment-why-gas-prices-may-finally-be-on-the-way-down/
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| A motorist fills up a vehicle at a Shell gas station Monday, July 4, 2022, in Commerce City, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski) |
Tuesday, May 17, 2022
“If we give nature a chance, and back off from fighting it, it comes back”
REP. PATRICIA HADDAD of Somerset, long a powerful figure in the Massachusetts House, is now also the star of a new documentary written, directed, and produced by California-based filmmaker Kiki Goshay about America’s love affair with energy.
The documentary’s strength is the long look it takes at the country’s haphazard energy evolution from one president to the next, and from one crisis to the next. The story is told using Haddad and Somerset as the laboratory where those twists and turns play out – often with devastating personal and environmental consequences.
Monday, May 16, 2022
Get ready for Saturday, May 21 - Recycling event at Beaver Pond, Earth Day Clean up at DelCarte
Saturday May 14 from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM at Chilson Beach (Beaver Pond)
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| Get ready for Saturday, May 21 - Recycling event at Beaver Pond |
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| Earth Day Clean up at DelCarte Recreation Area |
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| DelCarte Recreation Area parking lot on Pleasant St |
Saturday, May 7, 2022
If all we get is 5%, maybe it is time to ask what can we do better?
When most people toss a plastic bottle or cup into the recycling bin, they assume that means the plastic is recycled – but a new report lays bare how rarely that actually happens.
According to the Last Beach Cleanup and Beyond Plastics, the organization behind the report released on Wednesday, the recycling rate for post-consumer plastic was just 5% to 6% in 2021.
The Department of Energy also released a research paper this week, which analyzed data from 2019, and came to the same number: only 5% of plastics are being recycled. The researchers on that report wrote that landfilled plastic waste in the United States has been on the rise for many reasons, including “low recycling rates, population growth, consumer preference for single-use plastics, and low disposal fees in certain parts of the country”, according to a press release.
Dept of Energy report -> https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0921344922002087?via%3Dihub
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| If all we get is 5%, maybe it is time to ask what can we do better? |
Tuesday, February 8, 2022
Recap on Energy/Climate front: one step forward, two steps back
"Administration officials did not respond to requests for comment, but the Department of Energy Resources notified stakeholders it was releasing on Tuesday a “straw proposal” containing updates to the existing stretch code and a framework for an “opt-in specialized stretch code.”
Sources said the revisions to the state building code would deal primarily with windows, insulation, and other measures to reduce energy usage. The opt-in specialized stretch code would allow communities to voluntarily take additional measures that would accelerate energy conservation, including requiring all new construction to include rooftop solar where practicable.
The stretch code would also require new construction to be equipped for full electrification and to meet at least some passive house standards, the goal of which is to dramatically limit energy usage."
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| Baker seeking major changes in building code |
"At a time when New England should be racing to bring as much clean energy online as possible to green its electricity supply, the grid moved this past week to effectively discourage major wind and solar projects for at least another two years.Like other regional power suppliers, New England’s grid operator has been asked by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to remove or change a mechanism that makes it harder for clean energy projects to enter the competitive market. But after months of saying it supported such a measure, ISO-New England reversed its stance last week and aligned with a proposal from the natural gas industry that would slow-walk any such change.“It’s another example of not meeting the moment to usher in the clean energy transition,” said Jeremy McDiarmid, of the Northeast Clean Energy Council. “It is an example of the system not being equipped to change as fast as we need it to.”
MAPC: Resources for Low-Income Residents to lower their energy bills
25% of U.S. households have a high energy burden -- meaning they spend a a high percentage of their incomes on energy bills. @AllInEnergy helps people lower their bills through energy efficiency, renewable energy, and income-based discounts.
https://t.co/Xde1rIAt80 or https://www.mapc.org/planning101/reducing-energy-burden-resources-for-low-income-residents/
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| MAPC: Resources for Low-Income Residents to lower their energy bills |
Friday, September 24, 2021
State Representative Roy: What's happening - September 2021 Newsletter
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Friday, March 19, 2021
"Oil firms knew decades ago fossil fuels posed grave health risks, files reveal"
"The oil industry knew at least 50 years ago that air pollution from burning fossil fuels posed serious risks to human health, only to spend decades aggressively lobbying against clean air regulations, a trove of internal documents seen by the Guardian reveal.Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
The documents, which include internal memos and reports, show the industry was long aware that it created large amounts of air pollution, that pollutants could lodge deep in the lungs and be “real villains in health effects”, and even that its own workers may be experiencing birth defects among their children.
But these concerns did little to stop oil and gas companies, and their proxies, spreading doubt about the growing body of science linking the burning of fossil fuels to an array of health problems that kill millions of people around the world each year. Echoing the fossil-fuel industry’s history of undermining of climate science, oil and gas interests released a torrent of material aimed at raising uncertainty over the harm caused by air pollution and used this to deter US lawmakers from placing further limits on pollutants."
Monday, March 8, 2021
CommonWealth Magazine: "Home energy upgrades could be challenge"
"THE MASSACHUSETTS LEGISLATURE has once again sent a comprehensive climate bill to Gov. Charlie Baker, and this time Baker has sent it back with a series of amendments. While the two sides agree on the broad terms of the bill, a major sticking point is an interim goal on the road to net zero emissions by 2050. The bill would mandate that emission levels reach 50 percent of 1990 levels by 2030. The Baker administration (and current state policy) favors a 45 percent goal.
That difference of 5 points almost seems like a rounding error, but it has major implications for everyday residents, especially for homeowners. Among other measures, Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Kathleen Theoharides says that extra 5 percentage points would require the complete elimination of heating oil. EEA estimates retrofitting oil-heated homes would cost an additional $3 billion over 10 years. Meanwhile, under either interim target scenario, tens of thousands of homes need to convert from carbon-heavy fuels like oil and gas to renewables like solar and wind."
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| CommonWealth Magazine: "Home energy upgrades could be challenge" |
Thursday, February 25, 2021
FM #470 - Interview with State Rep Jeff Roy - 02/22/21 (audio)
This session of the radio show shares my conversation with Franklin’s State Representative Jeffrey Roy. We had our conversation via conference bridge to adhere to the ‘social distancing’ requirements of this pandemic period.
We talk about:
- Indoor riding to prepare for his 19th PanMass Challenge
- Thursday night continues COVID-19 modified rehearsal with Ben Gardner’s Boat
- Outlook for 2021
- Pandemic, vaccine, oversight of Gov Baker and pandemic process
- Committee assignment: Joint Committee on Telecommunication, Utilities, and Energy
- What bills did you Intro/or re-introduce for this session
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Rep Roy’s State Legislator profile page which lists the bills he filed for the 192nd Session https://malegislature.gov/Legislators/Profile/JNR1
We are now producing this in collaboration with Franklin.TV and Franklin Public Radio (wfpr.fm).
This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin but we can't do it alone. We can always use your help.
How can you help?
- If you can use the information that you find here, please tell your friends and neighbors
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Through this feedback loop we can continue to make improvements. I thank you for listening.
For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.org/
If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com
The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana" c. Michael Clark & Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission.
I hope you enjoy!
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| Rep Roy on his tour of UMass Medical in Nov 2019 as part of his visits to all 29 MA Commonwealth public colleges |