By Paul Shorb
On behalf of the Green Energy Committee, I encourage Lincoln voters to attend Town Meeting on March 26 and support the motion that will be offered under warrant article 31. The full text is here.
The warrant article and motion would authorize (but not require) Lincoln to restrict the use of fossil fuels in new buildings and major modifications. If approved at Town Meeting, the next step would be submitting a “home rule petition” to the state legislature, as is currently required for a town to exercise such authority. If approved by the state legislature, Lincoln could adopt a new bylaw at a subsequent Town Meeting. That would happen only after an appropriate town-wide deliberative process to determine the most appropriate details for such a bylaw.
The idea is to begin the process of shifting our building stock from burning fossil fuels to operating entirely on electricity while we also move to increasingly generate our electricity from clean renewable energy. These are two of the important changes needed to avoid the worst effects of climate change. Fossil fuels used for buildings cause about one-third of Lincoln’s emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs). The good news is that with current technology, all-electric heating, cooling, and cooking is economical, comfortable, reliable, and safe. In fact, when building new, going all-electric can save money on both up-front installation costs and operating costs compared to relying on gas or other fossil fuels. Related good news is that Lincoln residents can already get “100% green” electricity, which increases the amount of renewable energy on our electric grid (sign up here.)
Eventually, existing buildings will also need to convert to all-electric, for the same reasons. This motion would not generally require retrofitting existing buildings — that’s a problem we need to address separately. One exception is that the new bylaw could be applied to “major modifications,” which some other towns have defined to mean “gut” renovations that redo at least 75% of the building floor area.
As noted above, the details of the new bylaw would remain to be developed though additional public processes in Lincoln. For example, Lincoln could choose to still allow installing an emergency generator powered by fossil fuels such as propane or natural gas, and could authorize other exceptions from the general prohibition on new fossil fuel hookups.
More information on the above is available at the links collected here.
The Green Energy Committee took the lead on drafting the motion, with input from the Select Board, town staff, and town counsel. We are grateful for the endorsements received to date from the Planning Board, the Lincoln Land Conservation Trust board, Lincoln Mothers Out Front, St. Anne’s in-the-Field Climate Justice Ministry, and FPL Green at First Parish in Lincoln. Please join us in supporting Article 31 at Town Meeting to start moving us towards a safer climate future.
Shorb is chair of the Lincoln Green Energy Committee.
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