Moving Massachusetts to #1 for Clean Tech

By Kate Wattson

A new report prepared by Clean Edge Inc. ranks Massachusetts the #2 clean-energy state in the nation. As someone who has personally committed to living in Greater Boston and working in the clean energy industry for the rest of my life (barring any unanticipated success in the So You Think You Can Dance audition process), I feel proud of the Commonwealth for fostering an industry poised to contribute to a clean economy and a competitive urge for our dogged and over-educated Yankees to take on the hippies and techies in California for the #1 position. While I’m grateful for the many initiatives outlined in the report that lead to the state’s high ranking, I will take advantage of the report’s structured 9-point action plan for improvement to conveniently add a 10th point that has been unnerving me.

1. Establish an energy-efficiency innovation center and pursue a national Department of Energy (DOE) laboratory.
2. Adopt aggressive financial incentives for clean energy.
3. Establish a Massachusetts “Green Bank” to accelerate funding for clean-energy and energy-efficiency startups and projects.
4. Continue to increase commercialization of clean-energy research advances.
5. Institute an on-bill repayment system for energy-efficiency enhancements.
6. Boost regulations for building efficiency.
7. Streamline and hasten the local permitting process for clean-energy projects.
8. Take carbon-reduction leadership to the next level: nationwide
9. Play to the state’s strengths.
10. Educate the public on renewable energy technologies to facilitate more in-state renewable projects.

Our company is headquartered in Waltham, MA, a Boston suburb that has attracted several cleantech start-ups and venture capital firms. A well-established composting infrastructure for yard waste in Massachusetts provides an excellent base for creating a food waste recycling infrastructure throughout the state, a concept that is well supported by the Department of Environmental Protection and many commercial food businesses. With Massachusetts’ aggressive renewable energy goals and limited ability to site renewable energy generation projects within the state, high solids anaerobic digestion of food and yard waste to create renewable biogas energy seems like a no-brainer.

An anti-biomass energy initiative that will appear on the ballot this fall (and a corresponding bill that will be voted on by the legislature tomorrow) could prevent using our local resources wisely. A group of NIMBYs (Not-In-My-Back-Yard project opponents) opposing several large biomass burn plants in Western Mass decided to stop those plants by attempting to pass a law via referendum that would prevent all biomass-to-electricity facilities from earning renewable energy credits (RECs) through the state’s Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS). Overall, anaerobic digestion is a carbon neutral or carbon negative process; however, the combustion step that generates electricity will result in carbon dioxide emissions that would disqualify anaerobic digestion from receiving RECs under this initiative. RECs are necessary to make the economics of anaerobic digestion facilities work. Without them, Harvest and other companies cannot build projects in Massachusetts, resulting in lost opportunities for green jobs, greenhouse gas emission reductions, and innovative green businesses.

Harvest strives to be a leader in energy from organic waste.  We need your support for biomass energy to build a facility in our backyard. While the recent federal approval of the Cape Wind project (one of the most high-profile examples of NIMBY opposition) will greatly help our renewable energy economy, we can’t meet our renewable energy goals without biomass. Massachusetts needs to support a biomass industry through public education to dispel myths and highlight the benefits of biomass energy. Without the support of the citizens of the Commonwealth, a green economy in Massachusetts will never truly take off. The state and its related agencies, through research and information dissemination, need to be actively involved in gaining the support of the public for in-state renewable energy projects.  Let’s make Massachusetts #1 in leading the clean tech economy.