The Climate Minute

The Clean Heat Commission report presents a bold vision for how to go about the task of decarbonizing buildings, from homes to skyscrapers, here in Massachusetts. We get the perspective of an expert working on the issues.

A person’s FICO score shouldn’t prevent them from being able to lower their energy bills and being a part of climate crisis solutions. We talk to the Founder and CEO of the Capital Good Fund, a non-profit working to create solutions to overcome the financial barriers that prevent people from transitioning renewable energy.

Don’t despair over our stalemated politics. Our guest asks “What if, instead of fighting over politics, diverse groups of citizens could create an inspiring vision of the kind of system we want – and then come together and create it?”  Listen for the new ideas in her book on how to bring clashing views into synthesis and progress.

A landmark MA government report called for significant changes to help reduce CO2 emissions from the use of home heating fuels. For example, the report details the need to plan for a transition away from gas utilities in the coming years. We caught up to the Conservation Law Foundation’s Vice President for Massachusetts to learn more.

We talk about how a heat pump works, and how you probably have a better understanding than you think you do!

Decarbonization is the process of getting fossil fuel out of your life. This is a starting point to discuss how we learn about climate and what actions we can take.

Spoiler Alert: It is a health hazard. After recent reports linked gas stoves to asthma, a Federal Agency began thinking about the health impact of gas burning stoves.  A conspiratorial freak-out followed, with right wing politicians distorting facts. Listen in for how much we love our induction cooktops.

Governor Healy began her administration by working to align the state’s roadmap efforts. The wind industry undergoes some growing pains, and we discuss why fusion would be great but not relevant to our current needs.

The clean energy transition means jobs, especially here in Massachusetts. Vineyard Wind is preparing to start construction of a wind farm off the coast. These will be ‘green jobs’ and so it is interesting to find out more specifics. In mid- January, Vineyard Wind held a job fair in New Bedford MA to find workers for the task. We interviewed some of the employers.

A small start-up company offers to inject dust into the sky to reflect sunlight and thus stop global warming.  What could possibly go wrong?