My answers to climate questions
On Tuesday evening, most candidates for Quincy City Council attended a forum hosted by the local climate group, QCAN.
QCAN organized a wonderful event and put a lot of time and thought into the list of questions and resources it sent to candidates the previous week. Each of us was told we would be asked four to five questions from the list and would have a minute and a half for each answer.
Watch my takes on questions about low-carbon transportation, food waste, rising seas, and reducing my own carbon footprint.
Or watch the whole forum (or most of it — sadly the section with candidates from wards 3 and 4 was not recorded):
One question that I didn’t get asked was about whether or not I would support Quincy adopting what’s called the specialized opt-in stretch code, a building code that would require all new construction to be wired to be able to support electric versions of the four appliances that today often run on fossil fuels: a heater, clothes dryer, stove, and hot water heater.
Why are those four wires important? For one thing, buildings – and the energy required to keep them at livable temperatures – are responsible for 54% of the greenhouse gases produced in Quincy.
For another, about half of the state’s electricity currently comes from green, renewable energy sources like wind and solar, and that percentage is set to rise by about 3% a year.
So ensuring that future construction is pre-wired to go all-electric is a no-brainer if we want to meet our climate goals. (Also, the cost of natural gas keeps rising – it’s very expensive to replace aging underground gas pipes, and as more people go electric, the cost of all that natural gas infrastructure will be borne by fewer and fewer people, pushing costs up.)
So here, in case they’re useful, are my notes on the specialized opt-in stretch code. I hope whoever is on the city council next will push to adopt it! (If you care about the planet, watch candidates’ answers above to help you decide who to vote for!)
Specialized Energy Code
This is a consumer-protection measure that simply requires pre-wiring for four appliances - a heating system, stove, clothes dryer, and hot water heater. It protects consumers and building owners from having to go through expensive future retrofits.
New construction only
Build “electric ready”
Options:
Zero-energy
All-electric (cheaper bc heat pumps heat AND cool; also, builders will likely have to pay an average of $9,000 per unit for new gas hookup fees per Dept. of Public Utilities)
Mixed-fuel (can use gas for heating/hot water but must be built electric ready and must use some solar panels unless too shady)
DOES NOT ADD TO EXPENSE OF MOST BUILDINGS! Exception: big multi-unit (12,000+ square-foot) buildings, which need to be built to a “passive house” standard. But even then, the additional cost to build those is minor, thanks to Mass Save rebates.
Cheaper to run over time.
NOT doing the specialized code means buildings would have to be retrofitted if they later wanted to do all-electric. All-electric is really the only way to meet the state’s legally mandated climate goal to become climate-neutral by 2050.
55 Mass communities – representing about a third of the state’s population – have signed onto the specialized energy code, including Boston, Milton, Dedham, and Hingham.
The specialized code is actually a simple add-on to the stretch code, which Quincy adopted way back in 2011. So not too complicated to implement. Mass Save also offers trainings to building departments, the state Department of Energy Resources offers public outreach support, and the Built Environment Plus advocacy group offers trainings as well.
Economic incentives! Because Quincy has adopted the stretch code, it is eligible for Green Community grants, which have brought more than a million dollars into the city already. Communities that adopt the Opt-in Specialized Code are eligible to become "Climate Leader" communities, which unlocks even more state funding.
