City councilor Michelle Wu delivered a bravura speech Monday night at the Green Energy Consumers Alliance’s fall meeting in Boston. She deftly connected the extreme urgency of ending fossil fuel use, the central role of state and local governments, and the need to restore trust in institutions and each other.
The nonprofit and Wu played central roles in the Community Choice Energy (CCE) campaign, which led Boston to adopt municipal aggregation for electricity purchasing. The city will soon purchase electricity for residents and small businesses rather than leaving Eversource to do the buying (though Eversource will continue to deliver it). This allows the city to choose a mix that includes more renewable sources without increasing costs. CCE is an important step in boosting the amount of renewable electricity generation in Massachusetts and New England.
Larry Chretien, Green Energy Consumers Alliance’s Executive Director, highlighted an important shift in the organization’s focus. With renewable energy generation successfully chipping away at the Massachusetts grid’s carbon emissions, transportation has emerged as the key sector needing our attention. Green Energy Consumers Alliance’s blog post Electrifying Cars, Buses, and Trains explains the need to focus on transportation.
The fall meeting also marked two years of the organization’s Drive Green program, which provides discounts beyond the federal and state incentives for people buying electric vehicles.
