Climate Forward Ambassadors Share Their Projects and Applications Open for 2020 Ambassadors Cohort
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On Thursday, December 12, the newly graduated cohort of Somerville Climate Forward Ambassadors shared projects they developed with the public. Projects ranged from creating a household-level climate plan to bringing families together to become more comfortable biking in the city with kids. Some ambassadors chose more creative approaches, sharing poetry, crocheting visualizations of Boston's temperature over time, and even hosting a design thinking workshop on active transportation.
The Somerville Climate Forward Ambassador program started in the spring of 2019 and is designed to educate a diverse group of Somerville residents about climate change. The goal is to increase the Somerville community’s capacity to engage in climate action.
A second cohort of the program will begin in February 2020 and run through May. All interested Somerville residents are encouraged to apply. To apply, please complete the brief application form by January 13th. No prior knowledge of climate change is required. More information about the 2020 program can be found at www.somervillema.gov/cfa.
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Somerville Community Choice Electricty - New Rates in effect January 1st
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New rates for the Somerville Community Choice Electricity (CCE) Program go into effect on January 1st. The new program will have slightly lower rates and will double the additional amount of renewable electricity provided in the default option from 5 to 10 percent. The default option, Somerville Local Green, will cost 15% less than Eversource’s Basic Service supply for residential customers. The Eversource rate is fixed from January-June 2020, while the Somerville CCE rate is fixed until November 2022. Somerville CCE is also changing electricity suppliers from Dynegy to Direct Energy. You will see a notice of this in your December Eversource bill. You do not need to take any action to remain in the program.
There will continue to be an option to opt-up to receive 100% renewable electricity through the program. You can sign up for the 100% Local Green option here. You do not need to re-enroll if you are already signed up for that option. Visit cce.somervillema.gov for more information and answers to FAQs.
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Somerville passes new citywide zoning ordinance
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Last week the City Council voted to approve the administration's proposed citywide zoning ordinance. The new zoning, which is now in effect, features many sustainability and climate components, including:
- Environmental sustainability performance standard for urban landscapes
- Parking maximums in all areas within walking distance to transit and establishes robust minimum bicycle parking requirements.
- Density bonuses for net zero ready buildings and 100% affordable housing buildings.
- Ambitious green building standards in redevelopment areas.
- Requires the majority of new development to provide 20% of new units as affordable dwelling units.
More information is available at www.somervillezoning.com.
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Did you know that household waste increases 25% between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day?
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You can cut down on waste by giving gifts with limited packaging, gifting experiences, reusing gift wrapping and decorations, and meal planning for your holiday meals to keep food waste to a minimum.
Even with good intentions, many of us see our trash and recycling bins fill up more than usual this season, making it even more important to only put recyclables in the recycling bin. These common holiday items should be put in the trash bin because they CANNOT be recycled:
- Gift wrap and shiny, metallic, or glittery gift bags
- Bows and ribbon
- Styrofoam and packing pillows
- Plastic shipping bags and bubble mailers (some retailers might take these back)
- String lights
- Plastic cups, plates and cutlery
- Plastic bags
Natural Christmas trees can be put on the curb on your regular trash and recycling pickup day during December and January for pickup and mulching. Remember to remove all tinsel, lights, decorations, tree stands and plastic bags from Christmas trees prior to collection.
Visit the Somerville Waste Wizard to find out how to dispose of any item.
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- Monitor Nor'easters this winter through the Museum of Science's Wicked High Tides Program. The Museum of Science is looking for volunteers to take photos and log flooding from high tides and nor'easters this winter using MyCoast. This citizen science initiative will support an event about coastal resilience at the Museum of Science in March. Find out more here.
- Wednesday, January 8 - Commission on Energy Use and Climate Change. 7:00-9:00 P.M. City Hall Annex, 50 Evergreen Ave.
- Monday, January 13 - Deadline to apply for 2020 Climate Forward Ambassadors Cohort. Application can be found here.
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SOMERVILLE CLIMATE FORWARD SPOTLIGHT
Somerville Climate Forward, Somerville's climate action plan, prioritizes 13 action areas to address climate change. Each month I will highlight one priority and share some ways you can get involved.
Priority 9 - Pathway to 100% Renewable Electricity
Electricity consumption contributes to approximately 20% of total emissions in Somerville. Full de-carbonization of electricity by 2050 will be crucial, not just to reduce emissions from baseline electricity consumption in Somerville, but also because moving heating systems and vehicles to electricity—or “electrification”—is a key component of the Somerville’s pathway to carbon neutrality. Until the New England power grid is fossil fuel free, Somerville can continue the Somerville Community Choice Electricity program and use it as a tool to expand the amount of renewable electricity available to Somerville electricity customers.
In 1997, the State of Massachusetts became the first state to pass municipal electric aggregation legislation, a type of program designed to save consumers money on their electricity bills. By aggregating, or grouping, a large number of electric accounts together, economies of scale are created, enabling participating municipalities to achieve greater savings for consumers than could normally have been achieved by the individual customer.
In October 2015, the Somerville Board of Aldermen authorized the creation of a community choice electricity aggregation program in Somerville. The City developed a draft aggregation plan and solicited public comment. As required by law, the plan was reviewed with the MA Department of Energy Resources and then sent to the Department of Public Utilities (DPU) for review. DPU approved the plan in spring of 2017 and Somerville's first Community Choice Electricity program began in June 2017 and runs through the end of December 2019. The second round of the program will run from January 2020 through October 2022, providing Somerville customers with low, fixed rates and 10% more renewable electricity than utilities are already required to provide, bringing the total to 25% in the first year for the default Somerville Local Green customers.
Somerville can continue to use CCE as a tool to increase the amount of renewable electricity while also advocating for more aggressive targets at the state level for carbon-free electricity.
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Happy Holidays!
Hannah Payne
Sustainability Coordinator, Office of Sustainability and Environment
www.somervillema.gov/sustainaville
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