Vermont’s warm winters — and some efficiency measures — cut fossil fuels

EMISSIONS: A new analysis says Vermont is not on track to meet its 2025 target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, with declines in thermal fossil fuel use driven mostly — though not entirely — by warming winters. (Energy News Network)

ALSO: Rhode Island’s latest greenhouse gas inventory suggests the state’s emissions are rising — with 2021 emissions equal to an 8.9% increase over 2020 — but still fall within a range for one state climate goal. (ecoRI)

RENEWABLE POWER: Vermont’s legislature overrides the governor’s veto to establish a 100% renewable energy by 2035 mandate for utilities, although some will have to meet that by 2030. (Associated Press)

SOLAR: Maine communities continue to adopt solar project moratoria, giving municipalities time to instate rules but slowing down the pace of new projects. (News Center Maine)

WIND: New York finalizes a power offtake agreement with Equinor for the electricity created by the offshore Empire Wind 1 project. (news release)

CARBON CAPTURE: The Portland ocean carbon sequestration startup that shuttered its doors on Friday is the subject of an emerging scandal in Iceland over the integrity of its projects and a lack of government oversight. (Portland Press Herald)

UTILITIES: Eversource’s New Hampshire utility asks state regulators to approve a $182 million distribution rate hike that incorporates performance-based ratemaking measures but would raise the average residential bill 17% in the next two years. (Utility Dive)

TRANSPORTATION: Five top environmental groups want to sit with New York’s governor to discuss the ​“significant consequences” of her delay of the Manhattan congestion pricing plan both locally and nationally, as other cities consider their own policies. (The Hill, Los Angeles Times)

HYDROGEN: Clean energy advocates tell a Pennsylvania legislative committee that fossil fuels shouldn’t be used to create hydrogen in the two regional hubs being funded in the state. (Tribune-Democrat)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:

• Portland adds an 11th all-electric vehicle to its fleet: the state’s first electric garbage truck. (Bangor Daily News)
• Annapolis, Maryland, unveils its first federally funded rapid charger, owned by Baltimore Gas & Electric. (news release)
• A western Pennsylvania town slated to receive federally funded electric school buses says there are still use cases for its diesel vehicles. (Trib Live)
• Observers and workers say New York City’s slow governing is one reason delivery people are mostly using gas-powered mopeds over electric bikes. (Gothamist)

GRID:

• Federal energy regulators want four grid operators — including ISO New England and PJM Interconnection — to prove their rules for transmission owners to pay for and profit from network upgrade rules are fair. (Utility Dive)
• In Maryland, a Toyota subsidiary partners with utility Pepco to further bidirectional vehicle-to-grid research. (Daily Record)
• A South Korean cable company will construct a $32.6 million, 345 kV power grid for a new semiconductor plant being built in New York. (Korea Economic Daily)

BATTERIES: A Princeton spinoff company snags $30 million in investments through a Series A funding round, money that will help it build its first standalone, full-scale direct battery recycling advanced manufacturing facility . (PV Magazine)

FOSSIL FUELS: A suburban Philadelphia municipality in line to become the first in the state to ban gas-powered lawn equipment faces delay from those concerned with costs and disposal. (Philadelphia Inquirer)

BUILDINGS: Philadelphia city councilors add $5 million to next year’s budget to help fund future-proofing projects for low-income homeowners, including heat pumps and rooftop solar. (WHYY)

COMMENTARY: A newspaper columnist writes of the potentially transformative power of a connecting tunnel between Boston’s North and South stations for the broader region in terms of emissions reductions and transportation efficiency. (Boston Globe)