Massachusetts has a new climate bill. Here's how it will impact your community.

Date: April 25, 2021

Published in: Wicked Local

Author: Julia Taliesin and William J. Dowd

Tags: Climate change

Massachusetts is doing something about climate change, and the new law means changes at every level.

The state law is long: Pages and pages of language write diverse climate change mitigation strategies into law, but also establish specific goals. It calls for reaching net-zero emissions by 2050 with benchmark limits along the way: No less than 50% for 2030 and no less than 75% for 2040.

The law defines environmental justice, requires the state to include 4,000 mega-watts of offshore wind power in the grid by 2027 and establishes energy-efficiency standards for many appliances. It also represents Massachusetts’ first major climate legislation in 13 years.

Communities will see – or may already be seeing – these strategies trickle down into their neighborhoods. For example, the bill calls for the state to write a net-zero stretch code which can help municipalities build greener structures. The law also calls for more renewable energy in the grid and sets targets for electric vehicle charging stations.

Many communities are already acting on these strategies and are excited to see how the state legislation will expedite the work.

“Somerville is one of the more mature cities in terms of taking action on climate in Massachusetts,” he said. “We had really started to feel in the last two years as we got to implementing our climate plan that we were bumping up against a lot of state barriers.”

Medford Director of Energy and Environment Alicia Hunt said a statewide approach is necessary to achieve real change.

“Medford has committed to being net zero by 2050...but we know we can’t do that alone,” she said. “Cambridge had a study done on what it would take for them to be net zero...and it has to be done at a statewide and regional level. Medford has to do our part, but we can’t just cover our land with solar panels. We don’t have space and we’re in a dense area where we can't produce what we need.”

Choosing renewable energy

Somerville and Medford participate in energy-aggregation programs, giving residents the ability to choose zero, some or all renewable energy to power their homes. Sellers-Garcia said he’s always considered those programs a bridge to the point where municipalities have access to a better grid.

“A renewable energy grid is absolutely critical, but the scale has to be the state, the Northeast and the country,” he said. “It doesn’t make sense for Somerville to have clean energy if no one else does.”

Somerville contracts with Good Energy and Green Energy Consumers Alliance (GECA) for the renewable energy in its grid. GECA Executive Director Larry Chretien said its renewable energy is mostly provided through wind and solar, but also includes some hydro-power and anaerobic digestion.

"We were big advocates for the bill, and at the same time, the state put together a clean energy and climate plan, so those two things came up sometimes in the same discussions,” he said. “Both will ramp up the amount of wind and solar in our mix, as well as some Canadian hydro in a few years... Right now, we’re on track to get to 40% clean energy by 2030, and the governor’s plan would have us go to 60% by 2030. What we’re trying to do is encourage them to go higher and we’re doing this with aggregation. For example, Somerville is going to get to 100% before the state does.”

Encouraging electric cars

Cretien pointed out things like electric vehicles (EVs) get greener every time the grid gets more renewable energy, as that energy is then powering the cars.

Many communities are installing EV chargers on public land. Sellers-Garcia said it’s a balance of wanting to incentivize EV use for those who have cars but not encourage non-car owners to get one.

“It’s going to be interesting to see how industry shakes this out, but right now let’s get everything out there, and reduce range anxiety for consumers,” said Sellers-Garcia. “We’re a very compact city, so there are many valid competing uses for the public realm. You’ll see Somerville being much more thoughtful about how we introduce massive scale EV charging into the public realm.”

Medford has two public charging stations, with a third being added, and staff has been scoping out other locations.

“Unlike Somerville, parts of Medford are isolated and bus service is minimal - you kind of have to have a car to live in my neighborhood,” said Hunt. “We’re trying to reach people who have to have a car and who would like it to be an electric car. ...We educate about the benefits of electric cars and having charging stations in town help people who are on the fence actually purchase a car. Having chargers at workplaces can also help people make that decision.”

Building a greener city

Sen. Mike Barrett, D-Lexington, a lead sponsor behind the climate-change legislation, said the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources needs to put forward in 2022 the following to meet the state law’s goals:

A new municipal opt-in specialized stretch energy code
Net-zero building performance standards
A definition of “net-zero building”

Somerville has been trying to build green for years, but Sellers-Garcia said the city would often bump into the state building code. The city has tried to incentivize the construction of energy-efficient buildings but can’t mandate it. Written the right way, he said, the stretch code will help change that.

“With the creation of the net-zero stretch code...the game changes: We will be able to opt into that stretch code,” said Sellers-Garcia. “Then, the requirement is not Somerville-specific, it’s statewide, so the industry will understand, and it will level the playing field.”

Hunt pointed to Medford’s library (which is under construction) and police station as two examples of green building. Medford is also the second municipality to pass an ordinance requiring solar panels on buildings over 10,000 square feet or that include more than 10 housing units.

“When we meet with developers, they ask what we want, and we want more commercial space, but we also want energy-efficient buildings,” said Hunt. "Larger projects have to go in front of a community development board for site plan review and we ask, ‘Where are the bike racks? Where is the open space? What about native plantings? How are you able to save all the trees on the site?’"

Just last month, Lexington Town Meeting passed a home-rule petition that seeks state lawmakers’ approval to regulate fuel infrastructure in the town. The passage comes after the Lexington Select Board and Town Meeting committed to reaching net zero between 2030 to 2043.

Enactment via special legislation would permit Lexington to put in place a town-wide bylaw restricting fossil-fuel infrastructure in new construction and major renovations.

“The bylaw would limit the installation of new fossil fuel (natural gas, propane, fuel oil) infrastructure,” reads the warrant article, “so as to require new or significantly renovated buildings to use clean energy sources (electricity) with exemptions for certain appliances and building types and with a waiver process.”

Lexington joined Brookline and Arlington, communities whose town meetings overwhelmingly sent comparable home-rule petitions to Beacon Hill in 2020. Boston, Cambridge and Newton are pursuing similar fossil-fuel regulation paths for new construction, according to the organization Clean Heat Lexington.

Massachusetts has a new climate bill. Here's how it will impact your community.

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