Will Brownsberger — State Senator, Democrat, 2d Suffolk and Middlesex District

The Senate passed a bill that generally forces greater accountability on utilities for keeping costs down. At the same time, it extends our commitment to transition to more use of renewables in electric power generation.

In 2010, we did a deep energy retrofit on our home in Belmont. We tracked energy use in 2011 and found that we were 85% below the New England per person average. In so doing, we helped meet the “Thousand Home Challenge.” Check out the Thousand Home Challenge website and read about the challenge and [...]

Is Governor Patrick reversing his progressive position on “trees to energy?”   An August 31 Boston Phoenix article (http://thephoenix.com/Boston/news/126080-devals-green-blues) says he is.   The independent Manomet Report (www.manomet.org/node/322) was unequivocal in its conclusion that large scale forest biomass energy production is not a “carbon neutral energy source.”  The only woody biomass, aka trees that should be burned [...]

The all-electric Nissan Leaf will be available in MA by end of 2011.  The federal incentive is $7500.  Some regions and states, including California, offer additional incentives up to $5,000.  What is MA planning to do in order to encourage electric vehicles?

A meeting tonight in Belmont will consider adoption of the stretch code. The local option to adopt the stretch code comes out of the Green Communities Act that we passed in 2008. In communities adopting the stretch code, new homes and major renovations will have to meet lower energy use targets.

Hi Will, I have been researching SRECs for MassAudubon’s.  To date we have 250 kW of installed capacity around the state of which  44 kW qualify for the MA solar carveout.  I learned thatoin January 1, 2011 the DOER reduced, by over 8%, the penalty that producers pay for each MW below the state’s mandated solar quota (ACP).  Their stated [...]

What is the net environmental impact of a deep energy retrofit (DER)? We know that adding insulation, a more efficient furnace, modern windows and leak sealing foam to an older house will reduce the energy required to maintain a given temperature. We can calculate the cost savings and GHG reductions. But what of the environmental [...]

After two days of debate, the house passed a bill facilitating the siting of land based wind facilities. The vote was 101 to 52 and I voted in the majority.

The Global Warming and Climate Change Committee held a hearing on the climate impact of the transportation sector this week. The presentations were useful and read well as standalone documents.

The price of bottle deposits hasn’t changed in decades. I would hope that we would increase each deposit to at least 10 cents, to more accurately reflect price increases, and furthermore that there be some sort of provision for a periodic update (say every 5 years, or every 3, or something like that) that reflects [...]

If the carbon issue were being approached with cold rationality; evaluating the data, risks, costs, and so on, the result would be a truely massive effort by all humanity to change what we are doing.  As things are, the problem is characterized by piddling measures completely underscale.  Read the history of the first world war [...]