This week in Land, Buildings and Industry decarbonization news, James Downing wrote about a study from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy arguing for rate reforms to spur heat pump adoption. Seasonal winter discounts for heating customers are among the best practices for utilities to adopt to encourage switching to heat pumps. The discounts reflect that maintaining the grid is easier in the winter and help ensure that customers save money when they switch from natural gas or
other heating options.
NetZero Insider’s Vincent Gabrielle has a story on some of the basic drivers for electric demand growth in New York state. Moody’s Analytics released a report finding that state is poised to see its population drop below 18 million by 2055, compared to about 20 million today. Less people mean less demand, but they will be using more energy per household because of electrification.
The NBC affiliate for Portland, Maine, ran an in-depth story looking at the tensions between efficiency and affordability as the state works on an upgrade for its building codes. Homes in the state need to be insulated against cold winters and increasingly common heat waves in the summer. But on the other side, the cost of homes has been shooting up in recent years, the average jumping 50% between 2020 and 2024.
The Trump administration has changed the calculus for the domestic dairy industry, which is no longer focused on limiting methane emissions from its herds, as Greenwire reported. While the European Union is still focused on cutting climate pollution, the piece reports that has changed on this side of the pond since President Trump won a second term.
The impact of Trump is being felt in Colorado as CPR News reports that the state is holding back on stove and heat pump discounts because of the administration’s funding freeze. The state had gotten $140 million in funding to help customers cut their energy bills and had planned on launching the rebate program in the first half of the year.
Read other stories from this week’s Intelligence Report:
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