Boston to launch heat pump and efficiency program

This roundup of energy news headlines comes from our Northeast Energy News newsletter. Sign up to get it in your inbox each morning.

AFFORDABILITY

• Boston Mayor Michelle Wu announces a $150 million program to lower high energy bills by promoting the adoption of heat pumps and energy efficiency measures. (Boston Globe)

• Democratic lawmakers push for passage of the New York HEAT bill, a package that would cap utility bills for low- and moderate-income households and remove some subsidies for expanding natural gas connections, while hundreds of activists rally in Albany in support of the legislation. (Times Union, CBS 6)

• Maine’s consumer advocate requests access to utilities’ billing information to investigate the ​“disproportionate impact” competitive electric suppliers’ rates – often higher than the standard utility price – have on low-income households. (Portland Press Herald)

SOLAR

• A federally funded grant program to help New Hampshire towns build solar arrays on municipal property experiences delays because it includes environmental justice elements. (NHPR)

FOSSIL FUELS

• As Democratic lawmakers in Maryland attempt to put together a package of energy legislation, they consider including bills that climate advocates say would fast-track construction of new natural gas plants and imperil the state’s transition to electric vehicles. (Inside Climate News)

OFFSHORE WIND

• Maine lawmakers vote down two bills aimed at impeding the creation of an offshore wind port on an undeveloped island. (Maine Morning Star)

NATURAL GAS

• Massachusetts environmental groups push officials to take measures to reduce the state’s dependence on natural gas and rein in high utility bills. (Boston Herald)

EFFICIENCY

• A Maryland county will use $68 million in federal funding, received before President Trump’s inauguration, to help building owners meet new requirements for reducing their energy use. (Smart Cities Dive)

TRANSPORTATION

• New numbers show that Manhattan’s congestion pricing system, which Trump has threatened to shut down, isn’t slowing foot traffic in the area or causing trucks to reroute through the Bronx or Staten Island. (Streetsblog, Streetsblog)

NEW FROM CANARY MEDIA

• Jeff St. John breaks down a new report warning that Americans will suffer higher energy bills if Inflation Reduction Act incentives are repealed.

• Michael Grunwald’s Eating the Earth column returns with an examination of how climate progress within the food system may still be possible over the next four years.