Staying the course.

• Author: Inglehart, Caitlin

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In response to the growing climate crisis, exciting new legislation to curb emissions and promote renewable energy is progressing at a feverish pace in statehouses throughout New England. Informed by our energy legacy, CLF continues to work with legislators, businesses and communities to steer new policies toward increased investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy.

In 1987, CLF co-published a groundbreaking report titled Power to Spare, which touted energy efficiency as the region's best way to avoid the high power costs and pollution from increasing electricity demands. Around the same time, CLF forged an unprecedented partnership with the largest electric utility in the region, the New England Electric System--a partnership that shaped energy efficiency efforts across the nation. With these two events, CLF spurred regional initiatives that helped make New England a national leader for fostering energy efficiency. Since then, for virtually every significant decision concerning energy policy in the region over the past 20 years, CLF has led the way in forging alliances and advocating for innovations that shifted the policy paradigm.

On July 2, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick signed into law the most far-reaching energy bill in the region. The new law will boost investment in energy efficiency measures that reduce energy demand and deliver savings to customers. Specifically, the law requires utilities to put energy efficiency first, before they purchase more expensive gas or electricity supplies. It also provides new funding resources to promote energy efficiency--including significant revenues from the sale of pollution permits under the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI)--and updates Massachusetts building codes to reduce energy consumption from new or renovated buildings. The new law will create stronger incentives for the development of renewable energy by requiring 15 percent of electricity to be supplied by new, green power facilities by 2020. It also establishes a pilot program for utilities to enter into long-term contracts with renewable energy developers to provide much needed financial backing for green power projects.

CLF partnered with the SAVE Energy Coalition--a broad coalition of utilities, low-income advocates and green businesses- to help craft this groundbreaking new law. The Coalition created a unified vision of an energy policy that would expand support and incentives for clean...