STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE MASSACHUSETTS NEEDS to shift from an era of statewide planning for climate policy to the key details of implementing it, according to a new report from the state’s top climate official, which includes sweeping recommendations to accelerate the state’s progress toward its emissions reduction goals. Climate Chief Melissa Hoffer recommends some […]
Climate change
Posted inEnvironment
Advocates press Healey to scrap Hanscom expansion
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE IN A NEW SURGE of opposition, advocates are calling directly on Gov. Maura Healey to stop the expansion of the publicly owned airfield in Bedford that holds the most private jets in New England. The Massachusetts Port Authority, a quasi-public agency, has proposed adding 27 hangars at Lawrence G. Hanscom Field […]
Posted inOpinion
Why is the US locking down for climate change?
AMERICANS REALLY hated locking down for COVID-19, so why does the US keep locking down for climate change? Sometimes we are locked in, due to wildfire smoke and heat; and sometimes we are locked out, with homes leveled due to flooding and fire; but the bottom line is–we keep locking down. Our children aren’t playing […]
Posted inOpinion
Unjamming the heating oil industry’s road to carbon neutrality
AT A RENEWABLE fuels conference in January, Kevin Beckett, CEO and president of oil burner manufacturer R.W. Beckett Corp., announced that after years of research and development, the company’s much-anticipated B100 residential burner was finally entering production. About the size of a home office printer, this 100-percent biofuel compatible burner is poised to unjam […]
Posted inOpinion
Nobody should be facing the climate crisis alone
THOUGH THE FINAL death toll from the wildfire in Maui, which was worsened if not caused by the changing climate, is still uncertain, it is already apparent that many victims were over 65. Climate activists, myself included, often say that we are motivated to act by the desire to protect our children and (eventual) grandchildren from future […]
Posted inOpinion
Building resilience into built environment no easy task
AS AN ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER, climate resilience enthusiast, and local agriculture advocate, the recent flooding in Western Massachusetts touched on the things I care about most in the world. Within my local region, the ancestral Nonotuck Homelands now known as Pioneer Valley, the impacts to roads, rivers, and farms have been nerve-racking, but the community responses […]
Posted inOpinion
What you need to know about heat pumps
TECHNOLOGY IMPROVEMENTS likely to reach the market within two years will improve conventional air-to-air heat pump efficiency by perhaps 10 percent or more while reducing the climate risks of refrigerant leaks. The improvements will involve a shift in the refrigerant chemicals used within the pumps. From an environmental perspective, it may make sense for some […]
Posted inEnergy, Environment, State Government
Green bank to target building decarbonization
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE WITH AN EYE on the state’s mid-century greenhouse gas emission reduction commitments, Gov. Maura Healey announced Tuesday the launch of a “green bank” that she hopes will attract private investment and federal money to pay for building retrofits and new construction of decarbonized buildings in Massachusetts. The Massachusetts Community Climate Bank […]
Posted inOpinion
Wildlands, the natural answer to climate change
NEW ENGLAND is not immune to the global ecological crises of climate change and biodiversity loss, which both threaten human health and safety. With little time to act, we are racing to make up for decades of inaction and are leaning heavily on technology and intervention, from industrial-scale wind generation on mountain ridgelines and off […]
Posted inEnvironment
Cities, towns are frontline in addressing climate change
OUR HEALTH as a community is tied to the health of our environment and our planet. The stark reality however is that our future is not guaranteed. Climate change is no longer some far-off crisis we’re buckling up for – it’s here. And it’s an emergency. We don’t have time to be timid. A large […]