ISSUE 53 • January - March 2019 – WINTER SUSTAINABILITY – COP 24 SOLUTIONS – FREE! SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS FOR VT, NH, MA, NY, ME and Beyond R S! EA Y 10 Energy Independence, Energy Efficiency, Sustainable Living and MORE! www.greenenergytimes.org | 802.439.6675 HAPPY NEW YEAR: Sustainable Practices at Local Ski Areas By Lillian Eden While ski areas may PLANET EARTH have a reputation as high – Getting Green Done – Jessie Haas energy users, employing Are you feeling resolute? The Intergov- more sustainable options ernmental Panel on Climate Change and make both financial and the National Climate Assessment have social sense. That was the laid out one view of our future on the blue message at the inaugu- planet, a deeply unattractive one. Now we ral Northeast Weather have a choice: curl up in a fetal position, Summit in a session sucking our thumbs, or resolve to go down on efforts to promote another path: the one where we reverse sustainability at ski areas. global warming while enriching our soil, The summit was put our culture, and our health. Also, while hav- on by North American ing fun and creating beauty, feasting and Snowsports Journalists festivating—because let’s aim high, if we’re Association (NASJA) and going to aim at all. Stratton Mountain with These new reports land a few weeks other sponsors at Stratton before Resolution season. So, if you’re feel- Mountain, VT, in Decem- ing resolute, or just wish you were, if you’re ber. inspired by the 15-year-old girl who’s been More ski areas are de- picketing the Swedish parliament every ploying sustainable tech- Friday, or the thousands of Australian kids nology based on financial who walked out of school to pressure their concerns or environ- government to take action on climate, one mental ones, and there is thing’s certain. Action feels better than evidence of established despair and has a better chance of getting successes in ski resorts us what we want. throughout New England. During the session for Fan gun undergoing performance testing by Efficiency Vermont during NSAA’s 2015 annual Winter Conference at Killington. “Ski Area Sustainable Practices” sponsored by the National Ski Areas Association (NSAA), first to generate power from its own wind by appointing a sustainability officer to there were five presenters who reviewed turbine. It followed with the building of a oversee its efforts. measures they were taking to reduce their solar facility, owned and operated by NEX- Other initiatives include “cow power,” carbon footprint. AMP, on 12 acres of its property. using methane from cow excrement. The Jiminy Peak in Massachusetts switched Killington/Pico Ski Resort Partners, LLC Cow Power program is a unique form of to sustainable power (wind, solar, cogen- in VT is also making great strides toward producing energy from “farm to peak” actionenvironmentalgroup.com eration) both from a monetary and social sustainability. Killington’s 50% decrease in whereby about a dozen Vermont farms What to do? Where to start? Luckily standpoint. In 2007, the ski area was the its carbon footprint was enabled in part use cow manure at their Cont’d on p.39 there’s a list, laid out in Paul Hawken’s 2017 book, Drawdown: The Most Comprehen- sive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming. His team offers eighty ranked We wish you all a solutions for reducing emissions and se- 2018: A SUSTAINABLE YEAR IN REVIEW George Harvey questering carbon, all current, happening, to an article at happy, hopeful scalable, and urgent, with an additional 20 Last year, some OilPrice.com, it New Year! promising coming attractions. G.E.T. also impressive devel- showed that the published a book review on this in the June opments started LCOE of onshore 2017 issue. to become clear. wind and solar What’s on the list? Reduce food waste In some ways the power had fallen IN THIS ISSUE: (#3). Electric vehicles (#26). Managed graz- most impres- well below the Yellow Vests/Green New Deal p.3 ing (#19). Wind turbines onshore (#2) and sive of these cost of electricity offshore (#22). Heat pumps (#42). LED light- has been the from any form Drive Electric - VT & NH pp.4 & 7 ing (#33 household, #44 commercial). Solar: continued de- of fossil fuels in Farms, (#8); Rooftop, (#10); Hot Water (#41); cline in the costs all major world Solar for Low-Income families p.8 Concentrated (#25). Likely, you already of electricity economies Solar -2018 Year in Review p.12 participate in several solutions. Going from renewable except Japan (bit. through the list, I found that my husband resources. Two ly/GET-2018-1). Climate Change in a Nutshell p.24 and I engage with sixteen. reports on the The second of Still, I feel far more enthusiastic and “levelized” cost Moonrise over the Cranston Fire. CAL FIRE photo. the reports was Carpeting & Indoor Air Quality p.29 determined knowing that reducing food of energy (LCOE) Lazard’s LCOE Grazing For Change p.32 waste is the third-most powerful solution. that came out in November both indicate Analysis, Version 12.0 (bit.ly/GET-2018-2). With that in mind, I made it my mission that electricity from renewables is becom- Lazard’s analysis might be the most refer- DIY Re-usable Bags pp.37,38 to eat everything in my garden that the ing less expensive than the least expensive enced publication on the subject. This year woodchucks and chipmunks missed. That fossil fuel competition, nearly everywhere it had the exciting news that the unsubsi- Climate Effects on Skiing p.38 intersected with solution #4, plant-rich on Earth. The LCOE has the cost of subsidies dized cost of electricity from onshore wind diet, and turned me into a squash fanatic. I included, so the different sources of energy and solar had fallen below the marginal cost now have a bushel (not grown by me, but can be compared directly. of coal-burning power plants. This means they traveled only six miles by Prius), and I The first of these reports came from that for a company that plan to eat every single one of them before Bloomberg New Energy Finance. According owns a coal-burning plant, Cont’d on p.3 A SOLAR they spoil. At thirty cents a pound on the POWERED G.E.T. IT! day Pete’s stand closed, this is also a frugal COMPANY choice. The list is like that. Some solutions Bringing G.E.T. Please recycle or cost money, but many save money, and to New York State share this publication there’s a way for everyone www.nyses.org REEN ENERGY T MES to contribute. Cont’d on p.19 when finished G ... be energy independent! ™ As Vermont’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions Continue to Rise, ACTION ON CLIMATE IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER GREEN ENERGY TIMES (G.E.T.) Green Energy Times Regional Year in Review 1749 Wright’s Mountain Road • Bradford, VT 05033 By George Harvey TABLE OF CONTENTS t/f: 802.439.6675 • [email protected] While individual states G.E.T.’s COMMUNICATIONS TEAM: have done a lot of work NEWS, CLUES, VIEWS ............................. 3 on reducing carbon Publisher/Editor/Production ...................Nancy Rae Mallery emissions, one multi- YELLOW VESTS & GREEN NEW DEAL ............. 3 General Factotum ............................................ George Harvey state effort is very much Coordinating Director ..................................Michelle Harrison worth mentioning. After TRANSPORTATION ............................... 4-7 Copy Editor ...........................................................Ray Brewster a year of assessing the SAVE MONEY: DRIVE ELECTRIC ..................... 4 Recreational Editor ............................................... Roger Lohr scientific evidence and data, nine of the twelve RAIL COMMUTING IN VT .............................. 5 A huge special thank you to all of our contributing writers! states in the Transporta- Dr. Alan K. Betts, Randy Bryan, EarthTalk®(Roddy Scheer and tion and Climate Initia- NH DRIVE EV: 2018 RECAP ........................... 7 Doug Moss), Lillian Eden, David Fried, Arash Ghalehgolab- tive (TCI), along with ENERGY NEWS .................................. 7 behbahani, Jessie Haas, Dr. James Hansen, Laura Hildebrand, the District of Columbia, Karl Kemnitzer, Roger Lohr, Nancy Rae Mallery, Grace Olsen, formed a group to de- Bruce Parker, Larry Plesent, Carl Pope, Joe Rankin, Grace Relf, KEENE, NH: 100% RENEWABLE? ................... 7 David Roberts, Deb Sachs, Margaret Skinner, Kate Tanabe. sign a regional approach to transportation. The RENEWABLE ENERGY ........................ 8-19 Ad Design/Layout .........................Nancy Rae Mallery, PJ Fischer nine states are Connecti- LOW INCOME SOLAR - IN VT ........................ 8 Printing.......Valley News Lebanon, NH Using 100% Recycled News- cut, Delaware, Maryland, Offshore wind farm. Image: Kallerna, Wikimedia Commons. print & Smudge-Free Environmentally Safe Inks* Massachusetts, New THREE CHURCHES IN NORWICH, VT ............. 9 Advertising Team: Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Ver- with the goal for 2030 being double that WORLD’S LARGEST BATTERY SYSTEM ......... 10 .................... Nancy Rae Mallery, Bradford, VT 802.439.6675 mont, and Virginia. The TCI operates along amount. [email protected] the same lines as the Regional Greenhouse In December, Governor Cuomo called for BACKING UP THE WHOLE GRID .................. 11 ...................Michelle Harrison, Londonderry, NH 603.437.0167 Gas Initiative but with a special focus on 100% carbon-neutral electricity through [email protected] transportation emissions. The next step in the Green New Deal. This may be the most THE 2018 SOLAR INDUSTRY ....................... 12 ..................... Don Smallwood, So. Hero, VT 802.373.3309 the initiative is to take public comment for ambitious goal for any eastern state. Some EAST-WEST FACING SOLAR ....................... 13 [email protected] a year. analysts reviewing the call observed that Distribution: Sally Bellew, Larry Chase, Johnny Hinrichs, Hippo MASSACHUSETTS he seemed to want to put the state of New SUPPORT VT’S RENEWABLES PLAN ............ 14 Distribution, Manchester, NH, Daniel Hoviss, George Lawton, York firmly into the lead on renewable Rosalyn Moore, our New York Team: Joanne Coons, Steve Ells- Massachusetts has seen a lot of work PAIRING SOLAR WITH HEAT PUMPS ..........