Massachusetts cities embrace new emission-slashing building code

BUILDINGS: Massachusetts climate activists are pleased by how quickly a few dozen cities and towns have adopted an optional building code that helps to lower building emissions. (Energy News Network)

ALSO: New Jersey is pushing forward to install more air conditioning units in its classrooms to mitigate student learning losses, but it can take over a year after receiving funds to install. (NJ Spotlight)

WIND: Maine officials, business owners and other environmentally minded stakeholders are looking to increase the number of small-scale distributed wind turbines in the state. (Portland Press Herald)

FUNDING:

• New York City voters overwhelmingly backed a 2022 act to borrow $4.2 billion for climate resilience and decarbonization efforts, but less than 2% of those bonds have been directed toward city projects. (The City)
• Massachusetts has expected to get a large piece of the hundreds of billions of federal dollars soon to be available for renewable energy projects, but another Trump administration could derail that plan. (Boston Globe)

GRID:

• A top Maryland legislative official says the state will need to double the size of its electric grid to accommodate its clean energy goals. (Fox Baltimore)
• Massachusetts utility officials authorize the grid modernization measures put forward by the state’s power distribution utilities, which are required to file long-term plans every five years. (RTO Insider, subscription)

COURTS: Pennsylvania’s top court still hasn’t scheduled oral arguments for two cases that will cement the fate of the state’s participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. (Spotlight PA)

RENEWABLE POWER:

• Renewable energy projects across Maryland, from a 70-mile transmission line to a slate of solar projects in an agricultural county, face residential pushback. (Capital Gazette)
• New Hampshire’s climate mitigation and renewable power strategy could soon change as the state’s governor prepares to leave office and numerous potential successors outline more expansive plans. (NHPR)

CLIMATE:

• Vermont’s reputation as a climate-safe haven is put into question by the number and intensity of major floods over the past few years. (NHPR)
• In New York City, environmental justice advocates say they want to provide more input into climate projects being developed by the city and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to help increase their effectiveness. (Inside Climate News)

TRANSIT:

• New York City’s transit agency ends a year-long fare holiday piloted on one bus route in each of the city’s boroughs, seeing increased ridership but finding almost half of bus riders didn’t pay their fare on any line. (Gothamist)
• Tens of thousands of Massachusetts low-income residents will become eligible this week for reduced Boston transit system fares. (WBUR)

COMMENTARY: A former Maine lawmaker writes that legislation to help coastal communities mitigate the impact of climate change ought to be passed, despite the cost of doing so. (Bangor Daily News)