Energy & Waste 4.0: Introduction

The management of energy and of waste is essential for supporting human activity on the Vineyard. We take for granted that we’ll have plenty of energy and that someone will take care of our trash, garbage, and human waste. Rising fuel costs and increasing environmental concerns are making us more aware of the high costs and unsustainability of how we currently deal with these resources, bringing virtually all our energy to the Island, and transporting virtually all of our waste away. These two areas offer huge potential for radical transformations of how we manage these resources to put in place sustainable practices that will also bolster local economic activity.

Energy: As of 2005, the Vineyard used approximately 4.3 trillion BTUs of energy annually (equivalent to 757,000 barrels of oil, or three quarters of a 1000’-long supertanker). We use about 30% of this energy for heating and cooling our buildings, 33% for electricity for lighting, appliances, machinery, and 37% for transportation. Our primary energy fuels are oil, propane, and gasoline, as well as electricity generated primarily from the source fuels (in order of magnitude) natural gas, nuclear, coal, and oil.  Most of the cordwood burned for heat comes from off island.  The generation of electricity on-Island from small wind turbines and various solar systems does not yet produce a meaningful percentage of our energy needs.

There are several reasons to want to change the current system of providing energy to the Vineyard community.

·  With respect to cost, the Vineyard has a large and steadily increasing annual energy bill (more than $64 million in 2005). Our energy costs are among the highest in the United States. Since more than 99% of our energy is produced off-Island, these expenditures leave our local economy. Both the Vineyard’s year-round community and visitor-based economy are particularly sensitive to high energy costs and disruptions to the energy supply.

·  With respect to the environment, fossil fuels are our major source of energy. There is general scientific agreement that burning fossil fuels produces carbon dioxide that is influencing the earth’s atmosphere and contributing to rapid climate change. Burning these fuels results in air and water pollution and emissions, which endanger health and contribute to climate change. Annual carbon dioxide emissions attributable to the Vineyard were 329,000 tons in 2003 and will rise to 457,000 tons by 2050 if we take no new action.   The Vineyard is particularly vulnerable to effects of climate change such as:  rising sea levels, more frequent and severe weather, and health risks from insect-borne diseases. Importing our electricity from distant power plants means that a substantial amount of power is wasted in the conversion of source fuels into electricity and in transmission losses; it takes about three units of energy at the plant to produce one unit on the Vineyard.

·  With respect to reliability, foreign fuel sources are increasingly insecure and unstable and may subject the community to supply shortages and price fluctuations beyond our control.  The fact that we have to bring energy to our shores results in higher risks. Fuels are shipped to the Island by ferry or barge, subjecting the Vineyard to shipping-related issues. Electricity is brought to the Island by four 23.2 kilovolt underwater cables that are vulnerable, hard to repair, and the Vineyard’s 50-megawatt peak electricity usage level is fast approaching their 62.5 megawatts capacity; the cost of additional cables will be high and will be borne by all.

Many communities in the U.S. and elsewhere are well ahead of us in embracing new technologies to change their dependence upon fossil fuels, and can serve as models for Martha’s Vineyard.  Also, the Vineyard’s abundant resource of wind energy gives us options not available to most other communities.

Waste: The volume of waste the Vineyard disposes of is also an energy intensive and, thus, costly operation. Currently we ship 40,000 tons of trash off island each year, accounting for 15% of the Steamship Authority’s freight traffic annually, or one in seven freight trips.  Our generation of waste is increasing much faster than our year-round population growth.  If we look at waste as a resource, we might address multiple issues:  we import compost at great expense, while shipping off sewage sludge and organic materials we could use to make our own fertilizer and compost. Wiser use of what we now discard as waste could reclaim useable resources, reduce waste transportation costs, create new economic opportunities, and even produce energy.

In relation to the Island Plan’s goal of making the Vineyard a sustainable island, this section outlines a way to make the Vineyard largely energy neutral by 2050, essentially by using efficiency measures to reduce overall energy consumption by 50%, and then generating this energy from renewable sources such as wind turbines. Achieving these ambitious targets presents complex challenges that would take a significant commitment to deal with, but if the community chooses to do this, it is within our reach.

Energy “Self-Sufficiency” The Vineyard could be energy “self-sufficient” – in the sense of producing an equivalent amount of energy to what we consume – and even a net producer of renewable energy, thanks mainly to the area’s strong and consistent winds. We would want to remain connected to the nation’s electric grid, so that at some times, excess energy can go into the grid, while at other times, we draw more than we generate. We could not only produce the equivalent of our electrical use, but could produce enough electricity to offset the greenhouse gas emissions from our continued reliance on fossil fuels for mostly transportation-related uses. By 2050 with current growth trends, the Island Plan estimates that energy use would grow from 4.3 trillion BTUs to 5.6 trillion BTUs (based on population growth and reflecting 20% reduction in per capita energy use based upon current industry trends and emerging technologies).  However, with the aggressive efficiency measures outlined in the Island Plan, we could reduce our overall energy consumption by more than half (reducing per capita use by 80%) consuming just 2.7 trillion BTUs. Producing this amount of energy could theoretically be done in any of the following ways: ·  47 utility-scale (6 mw, 40-story tall) wind turbines at a cost of about $777 million (all cost figures are approximate orders of magnitude based on 2007 figures), or ·  28,036 residential-scale (10 kw) wind turbines at about $1,402 million, or ·  93,400 residential-scale solar panel installations at about $1,555 million, or ·  850 acres of utility-scale solar panel arrays at about $1,912 million. We will likely continue to get our energy from a variety of sources, but this very preliminary estimate suggests that utility-scale wind is by far the most cost effective, and it is probably the only option that could be physically accommodated, namely in an off-shore wind farm in Vineyard waters.

Fundamental to achieving the energy objectives outlined in this section is to achieve a consensus on effective strategies among major stakeholders.  This involves bringing together the energy establishment – utility companies, Cape Light Compact, fuel transporters, wholesalers and retailers – to build consensus for cohesive, integrated strategies.

Objective E1: Organize to deal effectively with energy issues.

Common to all the energy issues discussed in this section is the need for well thought-out and integrated mechanisms to organize, educate, fund and lobby.

·  Strategy E1-1: Develop organizational infrastructure to sustain energy efficiency and generation initiatives. The challenges to our community for effectively addressing the demands, technologies and costs for the production, management of energy will require multiple initiatives and strategies.  While individual towns and the private sector may perform some of this, the larger initiatives that promise the most impact in improving efficiencies, changing user behavior, or developing our Vineyard-grown resource will require a high level of coordination among the towns to produce a complementary, if not unified, effort to bring about positive change.  A few examples of such Island-wide activities that could fall under one or more entities are:

-   Receive grants, rate surplus and tax revenue, evaluate proposals and administer funds; authorize bonding authority to finance larger public energy projects

-   Provide technical outreach and assistance to identify opportunities and evaluate technologies, train construction community and building inspectors in energy efficiency construction techniques, offer and coordinate incentives such as tax credits, rebates, grants and low interest loans, design and operate an energy audit-upon-sale program, train and supervise competent energy auditing teams.

-   Provide technical support for existing building inspectors, with enforcement powers to certify the energy efficiency of construction.  Presently, each town has its own building inspector. Until towns could justify their own individual energy inspectors, the position of an Island-wide Energy Building Inspector could be created to check for compliance and ensure that techniques are being applied correctly.

-   Establish a revolving fund allowing financing of energy projects.