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Insulation upgrades, limited aid hold Mainers back from heat pumps
This article was originally published by Maine Monitor. Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the tax relief for heat pumps and other home energy saving projects that is available...
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Making Maine’s next generation of housing fossil-free — and affordable
Maine’s deepening housing crisis is colliding with the global climate crisis. The state’s population is growing faster than its housing supply — and that growth is driven in part by people seeking...
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Maine eyes time-of-use rates to encourage cheaper home electrification
Maine is considering new kinds of electric rates to encourage more widespread home adoption of electric vehicle chargers and heat pumps while easing the strain these technologies add to the power...
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Maine hopes IRA money will get heat pumps to more people, especially in...
Maine is drafting plans for its share of nearly $9 billion in home energy and efficiency rebate funding from the Inflation Reduction Act, with a straw proposal due out by the end of the year for input...
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A year after record heating oil price spike, heat pump demand hums along in...
A year after the war in Ukraine drove record-high fossil fuel prices for winter heating in oil-dependent Maine, demand for efficient electric heat pumps remains steady despite new challenges. Spikes...
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Maine turns its heat pump focus to ‘whole-house’ systems that can all but...
New state incentives are pushing Mainers to adopt “whole-house” heat pump systems, making efficient electricity the primary home heat source and discouraging the secondary use of oil or gas. Federal...
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Maine towns band together to offer ‘energy navigators,’ extra funding for...
Communities in southern Maine are collaborating on a pilot program that aims to help residents overcome cost and logistical barriers to accessing climate-friendly home energy upgrades. Five towns and...
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Connecticut program aims to alleviate cost barriers to utility oversight...
Connecticut’s utilities commission is the latest to begin offering payments to help environmental justice and ratepayer groups participate in regulatory proceedings. The Stakeholder Group...
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Maine environmental groups urge support for proposed offshore wind port ahead...
Some environmental advocates are striking a new tone as they urge skeptical neighbors to see the larger climate benefits of a proposed port that would help build future offshore wind farms in the Gulf...
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Nine states pledge to boost heat pumps to 90% of home equipment sales by 2040
Environmental agencies in nine states will work together to reduce planet-warming carbon emissions by making electric heat pumps the norm for most new home HVAC equipment sales by 2040. The...
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Maine replaces bill to halt natural gas expansions with plan to study...
State legislation to halt expansion of natural gas infrastructure in Maine as soon as next year has been cut back into a package of studies that contemplate the role of gas in the state’s energy...
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Months after devastating floods, Vermont renews efforts to aid...
Overnight in early July last year, Vermont solar installer Bill Chidsey got a call that a grocery store he worked with in his village of Hardwick was flooded. He arrived to find feet of water in the...
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Amid progress on electric vehicles, political setbacks frustrate advocates in...
After setbacks to adopting electric vehicle sales targets in Maine and Connecticut, New England clean transportation advocates are regrouping with a focus on charging infrastructure and consumer...
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New England utilities plan ‘transformational’ data platform to make it easier...
A group of New England utilities plans to seek federal funding for a regional energy data platform that would make it easier for consumers and contractors to estimate potential savings from efficiency...
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Portland, Maine climate trust fund would use solar credits to spur...
A climate trust fund proposed in Portland, Maine, would use money from the sale of city-owned renewable energy credits to kickstart further efforts to cut local carbon emissions. Portland is among...
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As sprawl threatens farmland, proposed Maine rules single out just one...
Solar developers will pay a premium to build projects on prime farmland under new rules in the works in Maine. The state Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry is drafting the rules...
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Study: Vermont’s warming winters ‘not the whole story’ for declining fossil...
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...
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Offshore wind port siting raises new conflicts for coastal Mainers,...
This story was co-published by Energy News Network, the Maine Monitor, and Grist. Ron Huber rifled through a thick folder full of decades of state environmental records outside a community hall in the...
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Critics, studies cast doubt on Maine’s claims of climate benefits from...
Climate and clean transportation advocates are calling into question a claim by Maine officials that a new toll road proposed outside Portland will reduce carbon emissions by alleviating gridlock....
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Can Maine meet its climate targets and keep expanding highways?
As Maine considers building a new toll highway to improve commutes in and out of Portland, a state climate working group is drafting strategies to reduce driving in the state. State officials say the...
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