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Author: Adam Hasz Publisher: ISBN: Category : Languages : en Pages : 87
Book Description
Massachusetts is widely recognized as a climate leader and a state that prioritizes social equity. However, existing Massachusetts climate policy does not effectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions and has limited support for marginalized communities. The state's annual $730 million of investment in energy efficiency is governed by the Green Communities Act, which emphasizes cost-savings for consumers rather than environmental benefits or social equity. The state's Global Warming Solutions Act does impose a legal obligation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 25% by 2020 and 80% by 2050 based on 1990 levels. Yet these emission reductions will not be achieved without new policies that effectively regulate carbon emissions. Finally, the state's existing environmental justice policy of Executive Order 552 is not enforced and does not govern the distribution of the $730 million of annual investment in energy efficiency. This thesis explores these challenges and suggests a new climate policy framework of "equitable electrification." To achieve this framework, Massachusetts should impose new regulations on the use of petroleum products in building heating systems. The state should also reform the Mass Save energy efficiency investment criteria to prioritize electric heat pumps. To increase support for environmental justice households, municipalities should consider administering their energy efficiency investments directly instead of using existing utility programs. Finally, policymakers should consider new legislation that imposes a progressive carbon price and prioritizes investments for marginalized communities. By pursuing these recommendations, Massachusetts can develop more effective climate policy that reduces greenhouse gas emissions while increasing social equity.
Author: Adam Hasz Publisher: ISBN: Category : Languages : en Pages : 87
Book Description
Massachusetts is widely recognized as a climate leader and a state that prioritizes social equity. However, existing Massachusetts climate policy does not effectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions and has limited support for marginalized communities. The state's annual $730 million of investment in energy efficiency is governed by the Green Communities Act, which emphasizes cost-savings for consumers rather than environmental benefits or social equity. The state's Global Warming Solutions Act does impose a legal obligation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 25% by 2020 and 80% by 2050 based on 1990 levels. Yet these emission reductions will not be achieved without new policies that effectively regulate carbon emissions. Finally, the state's existing environmental justice policy of Executive Order 552 is not enforced and does not govern the distribution of the $730 million of annual investment in energy efficiency. This thesis explores these challenges and suggests a new climate policy framework of "equitable electrification." To achieve this framework, Massachusetts should impose new regulations on the use of petroleum products in building heating systems. The state should also reform the Mass Save energy efficiency investment criteria to prioritize electric heat pumps. To increase support for environmental justice households, municipalities should consider administering their energy efficiency investments directly instead of using existing utility programs. Finally, policymakers should consider new legislation that imposes a progressive carbon price and prioritizes investments for marginalized communities. By pursuing these recommendations, Massachusetts can develop more effective climate policy that reduces greenhouse gas emissions while increasing social equity.
Author: Denise Fairchild Publisher: Island Press ISBN: 1610918517 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 290
Book Description
The near-unanimous consensus among climate scientists is that the massive burning of gas, oil, and coal is having cataclysmic impacts on our atmosphere and climate. These climate and environmental impacts are particularly magnified and debilitating for low-income communities and communities of color. Energy democracy tenders a response and joins the environmental and climate movement with broader movements for social and economic change in this country and around the world. Energy Democracy brings together racial, cultural, and generational perspectives to show what an alternative, democratized energy future can look like. The book will inspire others to take up the struggle to build the energy democracy movement.
Author: Publisher: ISBN: Category : Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
For decades, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has been a leader in applied clean energy research. We put proven, reliable solutions into practice in partnership with thousands of communities and organizations throughout the United States and around the world. Uninterrupted access to energy is, for many people, an issue of life or death. For most, it is an essential contributor to quality of life. NREL's vision is a clean energy future for the world. As such, we focus on developing and delivering solutions that enable all people to participate in and benefit from the transition to sustainable energy. We seek to achieve equity in both the social and economic participation in the energy system, while also remediating social, economic, and health burdens caused by the energy system.
Author: Amit Sarin Publisher: ISBN: Category : Languages : en Pages : 100
Book Description
(cont.) This thesis attempts to bridge this gap by documenting how the need for thousands of weatherization workers might be handled in a way that not only stimulates the national economy-the primary goal of the current national economic stimulus effort--but also provides Auditor and Installer jobs for marginalized workers in a way that leads to fruitful long-term employment. Based on my review of ramp-up and weatherization efforts in Massachusetts, I find that collaborative efforts involving existing Community Action Programs, labor unions, Utility companies, neighborhood organizations and educational institutions that prioritize training for long-term skill development may well be possible to promote energy efficiency in a way that addresses both our long-term need to reduce the burning of fossil fuel and our urgent need to stimulate the US economy and improve the economic lot of the most marginalized in US society.
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Publisher: ISBN: 9780309682923 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 210
Book Description
The world is transforming its energy system from one dominated by fossil fuel combustion to one with net-zero emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), the primary anthropogenic greenhouse gas. This energy transition is critical to mitigating climate change, protecting human health, and revitalizing the U.S. economy. To help policymakers, businesses, communities, and the public better understand what a net-zero transition would mean for the United States, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine convened a committee of experts to investigate how the U.S. could best decarbonize its transportation, electricity, buildings, and industrial sectors. This report, Accelerating Decarbonization of the United States Energy System, identifies key technological and socio-economic goals that must be achieved to put the United States on the path to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. The report presents a policy blueprint outlining critical near-term actions for the first decade (2021-2030) of this 30-year effort, including ways to support communities that will be most impacted by the transition.
Author: Jennifer L. Rice Publisher: University of Georgia Press ISBN: 0820363790 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 284
Book Description
Arguing that climate injustice is one of our most pressing urban problems, this volume explores the possibilities and challenges for more just urban futures under climate change. Whether the situation be displacement within cities through carbon gentrification or the increasing securitization of elite spaces for climate protection, climate justice and urban justice are intimately connected. Contributors to the volume build theoretical tools for interrogating the root causes of climate change, as well as policy failures. They also highlight knowledge produced within communities already seeking transformative change and demonstrate meaningful learning from activist groups working to address the socionatural injustices caused by the impact of climate change. The editors' introduction situates our current climate emergency within historical processes of colonization, racial capitalism, and heteropatriarchy, while the editors' conclusion offers pathways forward through abolition, care, and reparations. Where other books focus on the project of critique, this collection advances real-world politics to help academics, practitioners, and social justice groups imagine, create, and enact more just urban futures under climate change.
Author: University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Technical Guidance Center for Environmental Quality Publisher: ISBN: Category : Economics Languages : en Pages : 68
Author: Adam Hasz
Author: Adam Hasz
Author: Denise Fairchild
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Author: Amit Sarin
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Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Author: Jennifer L. Rice
Author: University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Technical Guidance Center for Environmental Quality