Global Warming In the News

From tax credits for solar panels to a study on whether doing away with no-turn-on-red signs could cut air pollution, clean energy and the environment are popular topics on the table for the state's 186th legislative session.

"I think the energy crisis really did spur people into action," said Winston Vaughan, field organizer for Environment Massachusetts, a nonprofit advocacy and research organization. "I think politicians see a need now to show their constituents that they're doing the right thing for the environment."

Area legislators have filed approximately 20 of the 125-plus bills tackling environmental issues on the Legislature's docket.

And while the proposals run the gamut from recycling to land and water conservation, many of them expand on two state laws passed last year: the Global Warming Solutions Act, which requires greenhouse gases to be reduced by 80 percent from 1990 levels by 2050; and the Green Communities Act, which requires the promotion of energy efficiency and renewable energy by utility companies, empowers consumers to use, generate, and sell renewable energy themselves, and rewards cities and towns for creating efficient energy policies.

"I think those two pieces of legislation fundamentally changed the dynamics of these issues," Vaughan said. "We're kind of at this moment where we're going from 'yes we can' to 'now we will.' "

Among the environmental bills filed by state Senator Cynthia Stone Creem, a Newton Democrat, one calls for a 20 percent reduction in energy use by the state government in the next decade, and another requires that alternative and renewable energy be added to the options available to electricity buyers.

A fellow Democrat, state Senator Karen Spilka of Ashland, is proposing a $1,000 tax credit for single-family homeowners, or $1,500 for owners of multiunit properties, who install energy-efficient heating systems, or alternatives such as solar panels.

State Representative Carolyn Dykema, a Democrat from Holliston, wants to expand the tax credit to include geothermal energy, which is produced by tapping the earth's internal heat.

"Just one more tool in the toolbox," she said. "My in-laws have had a geothermal pump system for years out in the Midwest. It has a great long-term payoff."

Payoff is another incentive for embracing clean energy, according to state Representative Karyn E. Polito, a Republican from Shrewsbury, who notes that a school in her district made so much electricity with its wind turbine that it was able to sell the excess. So Polito filed a bill to keep construction of wind turbines on private property free from "unreasonable" zoning restrictions.

"Consumers shouldn't have that barrier," Polito said. "If the conditions are right for wind energy, they should be able to erect an appropriate structure."

Dovetailing green energy with the marketplace is the model on which success hinges, said Nick d'Arbeloff, president of the New England Clean Energy Council, which promotes policies that expand the region's economy based on renewable energy sources.

"Ultimately the government, the Legislature . . . can't solve the problem," d'Arbeloff said of increasing the proportion of energy from nonpolluting sources. "It's got to be solved through free-market mechanisms that enable innovative products to find demand within the marketplace."

But not every bill proposed this session is directly tied to implementing last year's laws.

State Senator Steven A. Tolman, a Boston Democrat whose district includes Watertown, filed a bill that would require laundromat owners, when replacing old machines, to install washers and dryers with Energy Star ratings.

"It is a practical everyday change that we as Americans can make to reduce our carbon footprint," said Tolman, "a simple change that has the potential to limit the negative effects of humanity on the planet."