The Massachusetts legislature is considering a bill that would set up what would essentially be test geothermal projects to determine if what are being called "GeoMicroDistrict"s could be used going forward for heating & cooling of buildings and neighborhoods. The goal of this is that if it works, utilities would able to buy/source geothermal for energy supply in addition to (or instead of) natural gas.
Topics: Massachusetts Clean Cities, Climate Change, Carbon Emissions, renewable energy, geothermal
This September, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts awarded competitive grants to 91 municipalities across the state to the tune of 14.9 million dollars, at up to 250,000 per municipality. The grants allow cities to fund renewable energy projects for the community that help MA move towards its clean energy goals.
Topics: Oil & Energy Magazine, Mass DOER, Massachusetts Clean Cities, Energy Efficiency
University of Maine students experimenting with salt and high temperatures appear to have stumbled upon a way to create a sulfur free crude oil from wood pulp.
Topics: Waste Feedstock Biodiesel, Cellulosic Ethanol, RFS, renewable energy
The ongoing quest to lower carbon emissions has shown some promising progress with the processes of capture & store, direct air capture of carbon, and the development of SynFuels that use captured CO2 to create fuel**
Topics: Climate Change, Carbon Emissions
May 31st 2019, the Pilgrim Nuclear Power station in Plymouth, MA shut down for the last time. Now the lengthy process to fully decommission the plant and return the site to its former condition begins.
Topics: Massachusetts, power plant emissions, Clean Energy
Holyoke MA, the site of the last coal fired plant in MA, this year will see the smokestacks of the now closed plant taken down. The site is now home to the largest solar farm in the state, and the first large scale renewables battery storage system. By 2017, the Mount Tom site housed over 17,000 solar panels, and in 2018 Engie (formerly GDF Suez) installed 3 megawatts of battery storage on site to keep supply to the grid consistent.
Topics: Holyoke, Solar, Clean Energy
Sales of electric vehicles (EV) in the US grew 80% over 2017 sales (2018 saw 361,000 sold), and the global sales number was over 1.7 billion, with China accounting for approximately half of that volume.
Topics: electric vehicles, china, renewable energy
