Massachusetts leads in Energy Conservation

Last night, John Stewart lamented the apparent failure of President Obama's 5 billion dollar weatherization stimulus program.  Opponents claim the program has been wasteful and ineffective. An AP story gave the initiative a more balanced but still poor review last March, noting better performance in states with existing conservation programs. Stewart urged President Obama to call upon Sealant Team 6 to get the job done right.

In Massachusetts, we seem to be winning with energy conservation. Last thursday, October 20th, the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy issued its fifth State Energy Efficiency Scorecard, naming Massachusetts the most energy efficient state in the nation.   Massachusetts stole the title from California, which had dominated the scorecard since its inception in 2007.

Tim Roughan, Director of Energy and Environmental Policy for National Grid, hinted at the upcoming honors during a lecture at UMass Amherst, last wednesday. Roughan told the New England Climate Colloquium that Massachusetts now rivals California in energy efficiency. National Grid primarily delivers energy in New England, though it does own some power production facilities.

Roughan said the company had "worked for many, many years with our customers on energy efficiency programs." Roughan added: "In fact, this year we expect to be rated number one in the nation in terms of efficiency dollars available to our customers."

The ACEEE measures each state according to both leadership and implementation of energy conservation policy.  The organization ranks each state, highlighting the strongest and the weakest performers, with an effort toward identifying and promoting  "best practices".  North Dakota received the worst ranking on the 2011 scorecard.

Massachusetts, under Governor Patrick, has been promoting energy conservation and green economic policies through programs such as the Green Communities Act of 2008, and the state's Renewable Energy Portfolio Standards (RPS).  The Green Communities Act offers additional funding for towns that adopt stricter building codes, renewable energy production, and improved waste management. Massachusetts RPS requires that a percentage of the state's energy supply come from renewable energy sources.

Governor Patrick said: "We set aggressive goals and laid the foundation for greater investment in energy efficiency," adding Massachusetts was "proud to be a model for the nation and the world."

Roughan's presentation projected National Grid's support for the state's Renewable Energy Portfolio Standards.  He described many company strategies to address their own greenhouse gas emissions, and claimed the company is planning for the possibility of Carbon pricing or Carbon taxes in the future.

Roughan described the New England electrical grid as evolving from a radial, or one way, delivery system into a bi-directional system. The grid currently accepts power from distributed sources, such as homes with solar panels, or towns with a wind turbine or two. Referencing the 4.5 megawatt solar array planned for the Amherst landfill, Roughan said that a recent surge in larger scale renewable energy projects is "driving" system upgrades, but warned the larger producers: "are really causing system integration issues for distribution utilities."

Roughan illustrated his point by describing a risk at power substations. Each substation may have four or five circuits, servicing 2000 to 4000 homes each, with a peak load of of six or seven thousand watts per. He stated that trying to compensate for potential sudden drops in large electricity flows from wind or solar producers, due to clouds or fluctuating winds, could easily cause a voltage surge, damaging an individual circuit. "But again, they're coming into place", Roughan added.  "It takes time".

While promoting the work of National Grid, Roughan also credited the state's progressive energy policies for Massachusetts a high level of energy conservation.

Michael Sciortino, ACEEE senior policy analyst and lead author of the ACEEE scorecard sounded a similar note.

"We expect leading states to continue pushing the envelope next year and inspire those at the bottom of the rankings to embrace energy efficiency as a core strategy to gain a competitive advantage by generating cost-savings, promoting technological innovation, and stimulating growth,” Sciortino said.

The combined, long term efforts of state policy, environmental groups, and utility planning in Massachusetts is a winning strategy.  At least, that is what this scorecard indicates.