DAN RAFFERTY

The recently published Town Energy Committee’s report for 2024 shows that town operations are heading in the wrong direction, with a 16% increase in greenhouse gas emissions compared to 2023.

In January 2021, the Middlebury selectboard set a goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions caused by town operations by 80% from its 2018 value, by fiscal year 2030. The Town Energy Committee produces an annual report.

The first few progress reports for 2020 and 2021 were quite positive, as the town made significant progress towards achieving this goal. This progress, however, was entirely the result of being a customer of Green Mountain Power, which during this period made a significant shift toward renewable hydro energy.

Some of this increased energy use was a result of climate change, as flooding required the town to rely on diesel-powered backup systems when responding to this “natural” disaster.

TOWN ENERGY USES

The wastewater treatment department is the biggest single user of energy in the town’s operations, but is not the biggest producer of greenhouse gases. Mostly, the wastewater treatment plant uses electricity, which in our community is very low in CO2e (carbon dioxide-equivalent) content.

Fossil fuel for vehicles and for heating buildings is the major source of CO2e emissions. That includes gasoline, diesel fuel, natural gas, propane and fuel oil. The town operates numerous trucks, pickups and cars, for police work, fire response, road repair, snow removal and other tasks. It heats buildings, including the town offices, the Ilsley Library, two fire stations, a police station, the offices and workshops of the wastewater treatment plant, the public works department, the recreation center, the teen center, and the pool house at the municipal pool.

LOOKING AHEAD

Three important developments are currently reducing our fossil fuel consumption, and their effects will be much more visible in the FY 2025 and later data: purchase of two small electric vehicles for use by the Public Works Department; installation of an electric heat pump heating system (with gas backup) in the Recreation Center; and replacement of the Ilsley library building with a new facility that will be entirely heated (and cooled) with ground-source electric heat pumps.

The FY 2025 data will also reflect increased vehicle and generator fuel use in the summer of 2024 in the course of repairs occasioned by floods and water main breaks.

The pace of reduction in fossil fuel use needs to increase if we are to reach our target of an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas releases by 2030. Five years have gone by and we have only reduced our releases by one-third — with no beneficial change in the most recent three years.

RICHARD HOPKINS

There are four main strategies available to the town:

• Electrify as much building heating as possible (as with the Rec. Center)
• Electrify as many vehicle uses as possible (as with recent EV purchases for Department of Public Works)
• Decarbonize the electricity (as GMP is doing, aided by the town’s investment in several solar arrays)
• Reduce energy use (as done by weatherizing the Teen Center).

Replacing fossil fuel burning equipment with electric equivalents when they wear out will significantly reduce the associated emissions. The technology to heat and cool our buildings with electricity (i.e., air- or ground-source heat pumps) exists now and has been widely adopted throughout Vermont. Electric cars and light trucks are readily available. Electric versions of specialized transportation and heavy equipment vehicles are mostly not yet readily available or affordable. That situation is fluid.

Every time we buy new fossil-fuel-burning equipment, we make it harder to reach our 2029-2030 goal. Since electric equivalents do not yet exist for all our gas- and diesel-powered vehicles, we replace regular diesel with a biodiesel mix (B20, or 20% biodiesel) where possible until we can transition. Similarly, buildings can have electric heat pumps added to their heating systems even before their current fossil fuel boiler needs to be replaced.

Reducing fossil fuel use will reduce expense as well as greenhouse gas production. This can be done by a combination of weatherization and use of smart thermostats, to make sure buildings are kept warm only when we need to be in them, and by buying fuel-efficient vehicles. Conservation and efficiency by themselves will not be enough to get us to an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

Investing in conserving electricity does not reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by very much. But it does save money, and the savings could be reinvested in other GHG-reducing measures.

The major reductions in greenhouse gas production will come from replacing fossil fuel equipment with electric equipment.

As plans move forward to upgrade the existing wastewater treatment plant, there is an opportunity to become more energy-efficient overall and to rely on electricity rather than fossil fuels for energy-intensive plant operations.

The full report is available online at tinyurl.com/GHGreport2024.

Richard Hopkins and Dan Rafferty are members of the Middlebury Town Energy Committee.