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Everett's Mystic Generating Station. Courtesy photo / Peter H. Dreyer / CC BY 2.0
A first-ever energy plan released Wednesday by the administration of Gov. Charlie Baker found that Massachusetts must step up its efforts around energy efficiency in the transportation sector and building, heating and cooling if the state is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, lower costs for ratepayers and ensure energy reliability. Among the tools the plan proposes is an efficiency scorecard homebuyers can use to evaluate how efficient a home is.
The Massachusetts Comprehensive Energy Plan released Wednesday by the Department of Energy Resources analyzes the state’s energy supply and demand, and outlines priorities and strategies state policymakers could pursue to get to a future where energy is cleaner, cheaper and more reliable. The plan was required by an executive order Baker signed in 2016.
The plan estimates that Massachusetts will achieve a 35 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by 2030 – a reduction of 61.3 million metric tons of carbon dioxide – if it just successfully implements its current energy policies, including offshore wind and hydroelectric procurements that are still in their early stages. Boosting clean energy production by 50 percent on top of these energy policies will net reductions of just 1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, the report said. To get greater reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, the state needs to electrify more of the transportation sector and retrofitting homes and workplaces with electrically-driven heating and cooling equipment, like heat pumps. These changes would glean an additional 3.8 million metric tons of carbon dioxide on top of the 61.3 million metric ton reduction already anticipated.
DOER Commissioner Judith Judson said the state can push market and consumer demand for energy efficiency measures by educating consumers about the benefits of efficiency. The plan suggests the state establish a “Home Energy Score Card” program as a market incentive for consumers to invest in energy efficiency home improvements.
“Enabling homeowners and prospective homebuyers to have access to information about the anticipated energy efficiency characteristics of residences and recommended cost effective energy efficiency improvements will help families be better informed about their homes’ energy performance and how they can reduce costs through incentivized energy efficiency upgrades,” the plan states.
The transportation sector accounted for 44 percent of the state’s energy demand in 2016, the plan states, and the built environment accounted for 39 percent and electric generation was responsible for the remaining 17 percent. Judson said the state is projected to have sufficient electric generation capacity to meet the needs of the proposed increased electrification.
Judson said energy efficiency, conservation and peak demand reduction will become even more essential if the use of electricity for heating and transportation grows. Efficiency will be particularly important in heating and cooling buildings, she said, because even under a model in which the state adopts “aggressive electrification,” 93 percent of the state’s heating and cooling needs are forecast to be met through fossil fuels in 2030.
