Vermont wants clean heat!

What is the Clean Heat Standard? The Clean Heat Standard is a state regulation designed to reduce climate emissions that come from heating homes and businesses that is currently being worked on by the VT State Legislature. It works by setting a clean heat credit quota for fossil fuel dealers where they can either gain credits for reducing emissions through the decided upon clean heat measures, or buy the credits that another entity has produced. The clean heat credits have a specified value that is determined by the emissions lifecycle analysis of the clean heat measure that generated them. 

Click to watch a video on the Clean Heat Standard

What’s happening with the Clean Heat Standard right now? The credit values of each clean heat measure are being decided now, and lifecycle analyses of these measures are being calculated. They are determined initially by an environmental consulting agency called Opinion Dynamics, and are influenced by the Technical Advisory Group, a group of 15 individuals who were appointed by the Public Utility Commission. 

What are our concerns with the Clean Heat Standard? 

→ Biofuels (biomass, biomethane, and biodiesel) are included as clean heat measure. There is plenty of research to show that biofuels are not a viable alternative to fossil fuels. They are carbon intensive, emit high levels of greenhouse gasses, and will continue our reliance on gas infrastructure. Burning biofuels impacts our air quality, leading to respiratory illness and increased cancer risk. Additionally, many aspects of the procurement of biofuels have major environmental justice implications. 

→ Hydrogen is included as a clean heat measure. Countless studies have indicated that heating with Hydrogen is not a viable option for our buildings. It can contribute heavily to global warming through multiplying the effect of other greenhouse gasses. This effect has been historically undervalued, and new research shows its warming effect to be disastrous. This is an issue as hydrogen is a very small and light molecule, making it difficult to contain and prone to leaking. 

→ Biogenic emissions for biofuels aren’t being counted. Currently CO2 emissions from the burning of biofuels (biomethane, biodiesel, and biomass), are not being fully counted in the emissions life cycle analysis. The model used to make these calculations consider these emissions to be “biogenic”, or part of the natural carbon cycle. This is a false assumption and doesn’t take into account the extreme human influence on these cycles. Biogenic carbon emissions from biofuels MUST be counted in our Clean Heat Standard to ensure that we have accurate scoring for our clean heat measures. 

→ It is unclear the role that health and environmental justice analyses have in these calculations. Burning things to heat our buildings, whether it be fossil fuels or biofuels, is harmful to our health and augments social disparities. Given that clean heat measures like heat pumps and weatherization can vastly improve our health, they should be valued above combustion. 

→ Corporate interests have been very present throughout the process of creating the Clean Heat Standard. Former and current executives from Vermont Gas System, as well as individuals from Green Mountain Power and Burlington Electric Department were a part of the working group that wrote the initial framework of the Clean Heat Standard. The fuel and biofuels industry is heavily represented in the Technical Advisory Group, with three individuals on the fifteen person team working directly in biofuels. Our Clean Heat Standard needs to be driven by science and justice, not by the voices of corporate interests. 

What do we want instead? We want Vermont’s Clean Heat Standard to incentivize real solutions like weatherization, heat pumps, thermal energy networks, and solar. These are all listed as clean heat measures under the standard, but the clean heat credit values assigned to them have to reflect the positive impacts that they can have on emissions reductions and health outcomes. 

What can you do about it? We have a lot of ways that you can get involved with this process! You can sign our petition, write a public comment to the PUC, write a Letter to the Editor, or join our Clean Heat Standard campaign group. We have to act soon to get our voices heard! Email eva@350vt.org to get involved.