"Broadly speaking, passage of the climate act was the coup of the year. More specifically, the act has already given an entirely new look — and new marching orders — to Mass Save, the state’s principal tool for greening our buildings."Read more... ...
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Thoughts on the Glasgow Climate Summit – The Barrett Report, December 2021
For delegates like me, there was a good deal of work to get down to. Big breakthroughs on the nation-to-nation level weren't going to be easy, so government officials at other levels had to meet and move forward on their own. At a panel discussion I attended in Glasgow, a ...
In the void of national climate legislation, locals lead the way – The Boston Globe
“Our current situation is different, and yet in some respects it’s the same,” said Barrett. “What we’re doing in Massachusetts becomes all the more important as the odds go longer around significant national action.” While in Glasgow, Barrett said that in addition to speaking ...
UN climate conference could have distinctly Mass. flair this weekend – WBUR News
U.S. Sen. Ed Markey is headed to the next week of the conference, as is state Sen. Michael Barrett, who has butted heads and negotiated climate compromises with the secretary.
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In Glasgow, hope and hot air mix at conference to address climate change – The Boston Globe
In the coming days of the two-week conference, there will be additional visitors from Massachusetts, including Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Kathleen Theoharides; one of the primary authors of the state’s new climate law, Senator Michael Barrett, a Democrat from Lexington; and Boston’s environment chief, the Rev. Mariama White-Hammond.
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Safety bills mix with calls for natural gas transition – WBUR.org
Advocates and lawmakers repeatedly pointed Tuesday to the climate law that Gov. Charlie Baker signed in March, which commits Massachusetts to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and requires interim emissions reduction goals between now and the middle of the century.
“Reaching that goal is going to require us to move buildings onto electric heat and off of gas, which will raise questions about the infrastructure that we have in place to deliver gas,” Sen. Michael Barrett, the Senate co-chair of the TUE Committee, said. “And at the same time, of course, we’re concerned about leaks from that infrastructure and somehow have to balance our weariness about continued investment with the necessity of maintaining public safety. Each year, at least so far, about 14,000 new leaks are detected in this infrastructure.”
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‘Triage and transition’: Safety bills mix with calls for move away from natural gas – WickedLocal.com
“Reaching that goal is going to require us to move buildings onto electric heat and off of gas, which will raise questions about the infrastructure that we have in place to deliver gas,” Sen. Michael Barrett, the Senate co-chair of the TUE Committee, said. “And at the same time, of course, we’re concerned about leaks from that infrastructure and somehow have to balance our weariness about continued investment with the necessity of maintaining public safety. Each year, at least so far, about 14,000 new leaks are detected in this infrastructure. And we’ve been running hard to stay in place, plugging leaks but finding new ones.”
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Barrett details plans for UN climate change conference in Scotland – Lexington Minuteman
Barrett said he plans to address a couple of key topics while in Scotland. The electrification of transportation and heating are both at the forefront of his mind, he said. Barrett is pushing for increased state subsidies that would allow individuals to purchase more electric vehicles. This extends to public transportation, where Barrett wants to see more electric MBTA buses. He also wants to find better ways of persuading people to switch to electric heat pumps instead of traditional furnaces in their homes, he said.
“This nitty gritty, close-up question of execution is a tough one,” he said. “What we need to do in Glasgow is to come up with some international standards for state and city actions.”
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