On Wednesday, June 8th 2011, at the Joint Committee hearing on Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy, many bills were presented mainly relating to the high costs of utilities state wide, their burden on large industrial companies as well as individuals, the leakage problem with natural gas and the need to replace the outdated pipe system. State …
Carbon and Climate
building energy, divestment, emissions data, personal footprint, preparing for climate change, reducing emissions in ma, science and goals
Energy Use Disclosure Legislation Summary
By Audrey Schulman You can look up your neighbor’s house value, what their mortgage was, how much they paid in taxes, what their home looks like from the street and from above. In many municipalities, you can look up how much water they use per month and if they are behind in the payments. Why …
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Becoming a green builder
This is a set of thoughts for builders seeking to become more green oriented. The thoughts may also be helpful for homeowners thinking about green projects.
Electric car incentive in MA?
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?
Stretch Code in Belmont
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.
Solar Energy
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 …