Massachusetts First

If wind and solar are the answer, why install gas lines in new construction?

The United Nations C40 Plan requires all mayors interested in signing on to their plan to complete and sign the Cities Race to Zero pledge form.¹  Beverly Mayor Cahill and Salem Mayor Pangallo have signed on to this pledge, but it is not mentioned anywhere on city websites or social media pages. Peabody Mayor Bettencourt is taking a different route and is committed to the local Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC), as mentioned in the Peabody Net Zero Roadmap.²

Both plans focus on cutting CO2 emissions to:

“promote the use of clean energy sources for heating and cooling buildings.”³

According to Beverly’s Projects Development notes, in at least two new building plans,

“the contractor shall give the gas company advance notice of when the gas line can be installed.”⁴ 

Also, the Salem Planning Board discusses using propane in some of their new buildings.⁵, ^5a

Beverly and Salem are working on their Resilient Together plan, and one of the items is to:

“Require renewable energy facilities (e.g., solar installations, energy storage) for new construction.”⁶

Beverly is planning solar battery storage for the solar arrays installed for the middle and high schools. The new apartment complexes are also designed with rooftop solar panels, but there is no mention of adding solar battery storage.⁷

After searching the Peabody website for new construction plans to see what energy resources will be used, only one result was listed: Guidance Documents for Multi-Unit Buildings ⁸. Unfortunately, this takes you right to the Health Department home page.

Salem is building wind turbines and anticipates this new energy resource to be up and running by the winter of 2025/2026.⁹

With the combination of solar energy, solar battery storage, and wind turbine energy available soon, why waste manpower and money installing gas lines into these new buildings? After implementing these new energy resources, will they continue using the gas resources for heat, hot water, and cooking?

More about the Race to Zero to follow.

Read our previous articles about Net Zero:  Mayors Race to Zero and Net Zero Action Plans

Remember to vote in the Beverly and Peabody Mayoral Elections on November 7, 2023!

by Citizens for Truth Contributor

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Sources

[1] https://www.c40knowledgehub.org/s/race-to-zero-pledge-form?language=en_US

[2] https://peabody-ma.gov/comm_dev/Peabody%20Net%20Zero%20Roadmap%20Draft.pdf

[3] https://www.c40knowledgehub.org/s/cities-race-to-zero-public?language=en_US

[4] Page 2, item#14: https://ma-beverly.civicplus.com/DocumentCenter/View/3692/119-Rantoul_Planning-Board-Plan-Set?bidId=

[5] https://www.salemma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif7986/f/uploads/may_4_2023_-_planning_board_-_minutes.pdf

[5a] https://www.salemma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif7986/f/uploads/february_16_2023-_planning_board_-_minutes.pdf

[6] https://kladashboard-clientsourcefiles.s3.amazonaws.com/Beverly-Salem/03_Buildings.pdf

[7] https://www.beverlyma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/2914/21-0414-Kearsarge-Beverly-PB-Narrative?bidId=

[8] https://peabody-ma.gov/result.html?q=approved+new+buildings

[9] https://salemoffshorewind.com/