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clean energy
We Don’t Need Fossil Fuel Peaker Plants
New Englanders are fighting for a just transition to a better electric system.
Sep 12, 2024
Our electric system is intentionally complicated. We are expected to receive our bills from the electric companies every month, pay without question, and have little say in what that money is used for.
In the New England, New York, and PJM regions, a portion of our electric bills every month goes to a mysterious “auction” in the “capacity markets” that promise power plants funding into the future even if they never operate. We are told this is the system we have to work within to ensure reliable energy. But that is not true.
Just because a system is in place does not mean it is the best way to operate. When I was in elementary school I learned how to use the lattice method for multiplication. My Mom taught me long multiplication. Both methods got me to the solution to the equation. So why can’t our electric grid think like this?
The time is now—for energy efficiency, community conservation, and clean energy in New England and beyond.
Our regional electric grid operators here in New England, ISO New England (ISO-NE), oversee a process called the “Forward Capacity Auction,” which enables fossil fuel power plants across the region to stay in operation. They claim that this market approach will ensure certain energy sources can stay on our grid for backup energy. Instead of being a mechanism for reliable energy supplies though, this auction has become a huge waste of money and an enabler of climate chaos. Right now this system keeps fossil fuel peaker plants online. Peaker plants are those oil, methane gas, and coal burning plants that are only called on during peak energy usage—like during a cold snap or heatwave—and thus only get turned on a handful of days a year. These plants currently get hundreds of thousands of dollars to mostly sit idle.
This doesn’t have to be the way we handle our electric grid. We can do better—we just have to imagine better.
The No Coal No Gas campaign showed up at the fossil fuel peaker plants in New Hampshire this August to demand a transition to clean energy, community conservation, and a better grid system. There are three peaker plants in New Hampshire without closing dates that are really harming our communities: Newington Station on the Piscataqua River, Lost Nation in Groveton, and White Lake in Tamworth. Our electric bills gave each of these plants hundreds of thousands of dollars last year despite the fact that they ran just a handful of times (10-15% of our bills fund the system this money came from). These three plants burn oil, methane gas, or jet fuel on the occasion that they do get turned on, resulting in all sorts of pollution impacting the communities they inhabit.
The thing is, if we changed the way we managed our energy grid, we wouldn’t need these peaker plants. They could easily be replaced with solar and battery storage. The regional electric grid operators could prioritize more immediate energy conservation resources both from the public and from large energy users to reduce the peaker energy load so that we don’t need as much backup on the grid. We could improve energy efficiency across the board to reduce the amount of energy we need as a region, even with an increase in electric vehicles. We could decrease electricity bills for people across the region if we didn’t need to promise all this money to peaker plants.
We can have clean energy and reliable energy—this isn’t a compromising situation. Transitioning off of fossil fuels does not make our energy less reliable—especially when those fossil fuels cause the devastating storms we’ve seen lately that cost a whole lot of money to recover from. On top of that, most of the failures on our grid, including huge price spikes like what the grid saw on December 24, 2022, were caused by fossil fuel plants. This situation is reflective of the problems other regional grids across the country are facing as climate change gets worse.
So what’s the hold up? ISO-NE board and staff members who say, “This is the way it’s been.” Elected officials and Granite Shore Power (who owns the New Hampshire peaker plants) who want to protect the profits of fossil fuel corporations. Grid operators who claim that electric grid management needs to be “fuel neutral” in their policies. The fact is, we need to stop thinking inside these tiny boxes we’ve given ourselves. If new ideas are not working in the system we have, it means it’s time to change the system.
When I watched friends drop a massive banner down the side of Newington’s smokestack just a few weeks ago, I thought about how they were not stuck in what doesn’t seem possible. Instead, they acted. They didn’t think a 175-foot banner would be impossible to make. They just made it. They showed the owners of that peaker plant that we can do difficult things, including transitioning off of oil and gas. They showed all of us that we can imagine a better future together.
I walk into energy regulatory meetings with experts even though the people there made those spaces inaccessible to the general public and community organizers. I have been working to understand the complexities of the energy system even though the people I’m challenging to think outside the system don’t want me there. I know a transition to clean energy and justice-focused solutions to the climate crisis won’t happen overnight, but I also know that people in positions of power are dragging their feet in the fossil-fueled past.
We don’t need fossil fuel peaker plants when much simpler solutions to energy reliability exist. The time is now—for energy efficiency, community conservation, and clean energy in New England and beyond. I know we can build an energy system that works for the everyday people who this grid is meant to serve.
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Most People on Earth, Even in Petrostates, Want Quick Fossil Fuel Phaseout: Poll
"There can be no doubt that citizens across the world are saying to their leaders, you have to act and, above all, have to act faster," a U.N. official said. "This is an issue that almost everyone, everywhere, can agree on."
Jun 20, 2024
A large majority of the global population, including people who live in oil, gas, and coal producing countries, supports a fast transition to clean energy and a phaseout of fossil fuels, a poll released Thursday showed.
Across 77 countries, 72% of those surveyed supported a quick fossil fuel phaseout, while an even higher percentage, 80%, supported stronger climate action in general, according to the poll, called Peoples' Climate Vote and conducted for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) with the University of Oxford and GeoPoll.
"There can be no doubt that citizens across the world are saying to their leaders, you have to act and, above all, have to act faster," UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner toldThe Guardian. "This is an issue that almost everyone, everywhere, can agree on."
📣 Our #PeoplesClimateVote 2024 results are live! The world’s largest standalone public opinion survey on #ClimateChange.
The results are clear. People want more #ClimateAction, and they want it now.
Explore a world of views on the climate crisis: https://t.co/mJsEzN3NGy pic.twitter.com/2kwA4KcPnn
— UN Development (@UNDP) June 20, 2024
People in most major fossil fuel producing nations support a quick energy transition in their own countries, the poll showed. In the United States, the world's largest oil and gas producer, 53% supported either a "very" or "somewhat" quick phaseout; in Saudi Arabia, the second largest, 75% did so; and in China and India, the leading coal producers, the figures were 80% and 76%, respectively.
The poll also showed overwhelming support for transnational cooperation, even if it requires setting aside other differences: 86% of those surveyed said want countries to tackle climate change together. Steiner called this a "stunning" level of consensus.
Steiner noted that fossil fuel subsidies distort the market and subvert the public will for change.
"There are very narrow, self-interested agendas that maintain artificially inflated [profits] for fossil fuel-based industries that ultimately are coming at the cost of everyone," he said.
The poll—the largest standalone public opinion survey on climate change to date, building on a first edition that was run in 2021—clarifies the will of the global public and strengthens the moral case for climate action, commentators said.
"Brilliant to see clear, credible evidence that the overwhelming majority of people across the world—oil rentier economy or not—want to see transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy 'quickly,'" X user Dave Drabble wrote. "Let's not let oil and gas interests determine our fate."
Similarly rejecting the influence of fossil fuel interests, Steiner said, "It is so important we let the people speak for themselves."
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We Can’t Escape the Climate Crisis for the Summer; We Must Face It Head-On All Year
We have to prepare not only for the inevitable climate-related disruptions, but to demand that our elected officials implement climate funding from the Inflation Reduction Act to ensure that we move as quickly as possible to a more livable future.
Jun 20, 2024
Whether you’re breathing smoke from the wildfires that recently broke out across California and in New Mexico or sweltering in the early heatwave enveloping most of the rest of the country, you may be thinking about where you can go this summer to get away. Unfortunately, recent history and current projections show that wildfires, excessive heat, and other effects of climate change aren’t something we can escape.
It’s easy to forget, but last summer was the hottest in history, filled with headlines about extreme weather events around the world, from the deadly fire in Maui, to unprecedented Canadian wildfires, to simultaneous heatwaves across three continents. And this summer is again shaping up to be one of the hottest on record. With that comes increased risk of wildfires, deadly heatwaves, hurricanes, and more. The fires in California represent an unusually early start to fire season, with far more acres having already burned than is typical at this time of year.
Last summer’s experience and this summer’s scorching start show that no one can simply beat the heat with a getaway to somewhere cooler because now, more than ever, climate change is following us no matter where we go. This summer, we have to prepare not only for the inevitable climate-related disruptions, but to demand that our elected officials implement climate funding from the Inflation Reduction Act to ensure that we move as quickly as possible to a more livable future.
In addition to the speedy implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act, we must also ensure that climate-focused politicians are elected or reelected in November, so that we can realize the full benefits of this landmark legislation.
Where I live in Northern California, we’ve had more than our share of climate change impacts in the form of drought, heat, and resulting wildfires. So last year I figured that by vacationing in the Northeast, where it rains off and on throughout the summer, we would get away from the effects of climate change for a while. But rather than a carefree getaway to enjoy the pristine outdoors, our trip ended up being bookended by two extreme weather events.
When I arrived with my family in New York’s Adirondack Mountains last June, smoke from massive wildfires—part of the worst fire season in Canadian history—blurred the usually clear view. Although we had come to play outdoors, we were told to stay inside. We could no longer pretend that the climate crisis was a problem for the future—or for somewhere else.
Later we drove to New York City through torrential rains as emergency alerts blaring on our phones warned of flash flooding and the risk of drowning. That evening, I learned that, tragically, these major floods had led to dozens needing to be rescued from cars and homes, and one death. Rising temperatures will only mean more deluges like this. It was a harrowing reminder of what will happen if elected officials fail to entrench and expand upon the Inflation Reduction Act’s climate justice promise.
Returning home, I exchanged stories of summer travels with congregants in the synagogue I serve as a rabbi. I found that what happened to us wasn’t unusual. From the Northeast to the Southwest, climate change is limiting, changing, and canceling vacation plans. No one could get away from it—there are few places tourists tread that were spared. I realized then that there will be no more getaways for me, or anyone.
The climate crisis’ impact on vacations is far from the most important consequence. Many people are already impacted right where they live. But the fact that there’s no longer even an option to get away from climate change by traveling somewhere we thought would be safe from it is a sobering reality check.
As a rabbi, I know that there are things we can change and things we cannot. Climate change is one thing we can do something about. And I have found that taking action is the best antidote to despair. So rather than throwing up our hands in the face of our inability to get away, we can choose to act.
But what can we do? Of course flying and driving for travel are part of the problem. But limiting our personal carbon footprints is not enough. Instead, we need policies that confront the crisis head-on. Fortunately, because of the Inflation Reduction Act passed by Congress two summers ago, there are billions of dollars waiting to be used for climate solutions including clean energy. We need to keep this good momentum going. Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, Americans can access $9 billion for energy efficient appliances and retrofits in their homes. The act will also facilitate the creation of 9 million jobs and programs that direct funds toward the frontline communities that are hardest hit by climate change.
State officials must take full advantage of these opportunities. Without them, wildfires, heat, and hurricanes will continue to menace us with ever greater frequency at home, and extreme weather events will follow us wherever we might travel. In addition to the speedy implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act, we must also ensure that climate-focused politicians are elected or reelected in November, so that we can realize the full benefits of this landmark legislation.
It’s almost certain that climate change will reach each of us again this summer. But we don’t have to be helpless about it. Vacations probably won’t give us relief from the climate crisis. But we can use them as reminders of the need to take action, and ensure that we’re investing in the clean energy future we desperately need.
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