energy – Belmont Citizens Forum

How to Make Decisions About Heat Pumps

Air Quality, Climate Change, Construction and Housing, Newsletter, November/December 2023 Comments Off

Nov 012023

By Will Brownsberger Edited and reprinted with permission from Brownsberger’s blog, willbrownsberger.com/heat-pumps. Many people are seeking to shrink their personal carbon footprint. Many also seek to participate constructively in the energy systems transitions necessary to achieve net zero carbon emissions. There is a broad consensus among climate planners in Massachusetts that we need to electrify heating in buildings. However, each building raises unique challenges. This article attempts to summarize the environmental and consumer considerations for people seeking to electrify home heating. Many of these issues are explored in more depth in this heat pump outline. Several good heat pump applications [READ MORE]

Could the Community Path Host a Solar Array?

Bicycles and bike paths, Bike Paths, July-August 2022, Newsletter, Parking, Solar Power Comments Off

Jun 202022

Could the Community Path Host a Solar Array?

By Vincent Stanton, Jr. Additional material—including calculations of how much energy could be generated—is available in the full version . Below is the version which appeared in the print newsletter. – Ed. The imminent arrival of the Belmont Community Path prompts the question: what other productive uses might be devised for the Fitchburg Line corridor? One possibility is siting a south-facing solar photovoltaic (PV) array along the tracks. Conditions for a PV array Aspects of path layout relevant to design of a PV array include length, orientation to the sun, and the presence of a substrate to which PV panels can [READ MORE]

Belmont Path Solar Array – Full Version

July-August 2022, Newsletter, Solar Power Comments Off

Jun 202022

Electrifying Belmont: Could the Community Path Anchor a PV Solar Array? By Vincent Stanton, Jr. A condensed version of this article appeared in the July//August 2022 BCF Newsletter – Ed. The settlement of Belmont was shaped by the opening of the Fitchburg Railroad in 1843. Today, 179 years later, the Fitchburg Commuter Rail Line, now owned by the MBTA, would be recognizable to a Belmont resident of 1843. Though the 19th-century stations are gone, and at-grade crossings in Belmont Center and Waverley Square were replaced in 1907 and 1952 by a bridge and a trench, respectively, the basic infrastructure (steel [READ MORE]

Clean Energy Policy Needs to be Equitable

Climate Change, Construction and Housing, Newsletter, November-December 2021, Solar Power Comments Off

Oct 292021

Clean Energy Policy Needs to be Equitable

By Aditya Jain As a high school intern with State Representative David Rogers’ office in the summer of 2020, I learned about the legislative process through Massachusetts Bill S9, the Climate Roadmap bill, which was signed into law in March 2021. During the summer of 2021, I researched equity in Massachusetts clean energy policies, interviewing experts in Massachusetts policies on clean energy access, technology, and workforce trends. What is Environmental Justice? The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines environmental justice as the “fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income, [READ MORE]

It’s Time to Switch from Gas to Clean Energy

Environment, Newsletter, September 2021 Comments Off

Aug 232021

It’s Time to Switch from Gas to Clean Energy

By Debora Hoffman Think natural gas is a clean fuel? Think again. The fossil fuel, touted as a bridge fuel in the fight against CO2 emissions, is far deadlier to the planet—and our health—than is publicized. The issue? Leaks. Leaked gas is methane, a far more potent greenhouse gas than CO2 (see “Is it Time to Get Natural Gas Out of Belmont?” BCF Newsletter, November 2020). During its first 20 years in the atmosphere, methane is 86% more potent as a greenhouse gas than CO2. So how much gas is leaking? A lot. Statewide, gas utilities reported that 5,753 metric [READ MORE]

Natural Gas is Making Us Sick

Newsletter, September 2021 Comments Off

Aug 232021

By Adrienne Allen Your Sunday night supper may be making you sick. Most of us heat our homes and cook our food with natural gas. Natural gas has long been promoted as the “clean” bridge from coal and oil to green energy. This year, a Harvard study on climate and air quality found that fossil fuel-related air pollution, including pollution from natural gas, kills one in five people worldwide. In the United States, natural gas use has increased 400% since the 1950s, with unfortunate health and environmental outcomes. We often think about air pollution as an outdoor threat—like the wildfire [READ MORE]

The Roadmap Climate and Clean Energy Law

Air Quality, Climate Change, Environment, May-June 2021, Newsletter, Open Space, Solar Power Comments Off

May 042021

The Roadmap Climate and Clean Energy Law

By Representative Dave M. Rogers While policy makers are confronted by a wide variety of pressing policy issues, few if any compare to the complexity and scale presented by our changing climate. Most of us are long since familiar with the worrisome data, but two recent comprehensive reports thoroughly define the challenge. The most recent National Climate Assessment, a quadrennial publication of the US Global Change Research Program, and the October 2018 report of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) presents a wide array of troubling findings. The IPCC report concluded that limiting global temperature rise to [READ MORE]

Energy Retrofit Keeps Saving after 10 Years

Construction and Housing, Newsletter, November 2020, Solar Power Comments Off

Nov 062020

Energy Retrofit Keeps Saving after 10 Years

By Will Browsberger A little over 10 years ago, my wife and I proposed to my parents that we downsize into a two-family house together and make it as energy efficient as possible. (See “Deep Energy Retrofit Shrinks Utility Bills,” Belmont Citizens Forum Newsletter, September 2010.) This is a story of four experiments. First, the living arrangement has worked out very well for all of us—we can be helpful in little ways to my parents and we feel very fortunate to see them more. Our only wish is that we had made the decision when the kids were younger. Second, [READ MORE]

Is it Time to Get Natural Gas Out of Belmont?

Environment, Newsletter, November 2020 Comments Off

Nov 062020

Is it Time to Get Natural Gas Out of Belmont?

By Roger Wrubel In 2009, Town Meeting adopted a Belmont Climate Action resolution committing to an 80% reduction in our town’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050. An inventory in 2015 found that Belmont had reduced its GHG emissions by 5% compared with 2007. The inventory showed that the most of Belmont’s emissions came from home heating and vehicles. Most of the reduction in emissions in the last nine years is attributable to a shift from using oil for home heating to natural gas, and a similar shift to natural gas from coal and oil to generate electricity for the [READ MORE]

Paper Bag Fee Would Reduce Emissions

March/April 2020, Newsletter, Recycling Comments Off

Mar 022020

By Rahul Ramakrishnan As a lifelong Belmont resident and Belmont High School alum, I take pride in Belmont’s forward-thinking mind-set and commitment to the environment. As a senior at MIT studying materials science, I have had the opportunity to learn about the diversity in production and policy surrounding the materials that make up our world. Recently, I thought about how I could use what I have learned to keep Belmont on an environmentally conscious trajectory, and an idea popped up. Problems with Plastic—and Paper For the last many years, we have repeatedly been told that paper bags are better for [READ MORE]

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