By Kayla Benjamin for The Washington Informer.
Broadcast version by Brett Peveto for Maryland News Connection reporting for the Solutions Journalism Network-Public News Service Collaboration
The second-oldest Black community in Prince George's County broke ground last week on a six-home development that centers around new energy technology. A combination of solar panels and energy-storing batteries will power a small subdivision in Fairmount Heights, and the development will run on a microgrid that shares energy between the homes and can continue running even when Pepco's wider system has outages.
Spearheaded by nonprofit Housing Initiative Partnership (HIP), Pepco, and renewable energy platform company BlockEnergy, the pilot project broke ground Oct. 13. Developers say they plan to complete the build by spring 2024, when HIP will market the single-family houses to first-time homebuyers earning 80 percent or less of area median income.
"We are building six zero-energy homes that are going to be affordable to first time homebuyers," said Stephanie Prange Proestel, HIP's deputy director, at the groundbreaking ceremony. "We are going to have clean, resilient, reliable energy for our homeowners that's going to be more affordable."
The term "zero energy" means that a home produces as much energy as it consumes over the course of a year. HIP has helped develop zero energy, affordable houses before, but the microgrid system is a new frontier for the nonprofit-and for the region.
"There are not a lot of these [microgrids] in Maryland, and particularly there are not a lot in communities that have been ignored for far too long, that have been underserved and overburdened," said Maryland Energy Administration Director Paul Pinsky. "A lot of these efforts and innovations over the last 20 to 25 years have been in the middle- and upper-middle class, and that's got to change."
The new subdivision sits where Fairmount Heights' original municipal building used to be. The project aims to celebrate the town's rich legacy with a historic marker and a neighborhood "pocket park" that will serve as the formal beginning of the Fairmount Heights Black history walking tour.
"We've got these two legacy institutions [the town of Fairmount Heights and HIP] that are coming together to do this really new and innovative thing and paving the way for more communities like this in Prince George's County," said Angie Rodgers, the county's deputy chief administrative officer for economic development. "You've got institutions that have been around forever but are still thinking about, how do we make our communities better? How do we be on the cutting edge?"
How It Works
The technology behind the microgrid comes from BlockEnergy, an energy platform company that works with utilities to provide power in this new form. The Fairmount Heights development will be the third BlockEnergy community in the world; the first two are in Florida and New Mexico.
Each of the houses will have its own solar panels and energy storage battery. All the homes are linked through an underground network and will automatically share power with one another, and with a bigger battery station that stores more energy and connects to Pepco's main power grid.
"We're basically reinventing the way that we get energy into communities, because we really haven't changed that fundamentally for over 100 years," said Rob Bennett, founder and CEO of BlockEnergy, in an interview.
Bennett and other stakeholders said they expect the system to produce and store enough energy to cover the community's typical household needs, but it also has the ability to draw on Pepco's main grid when more energy is needed.
Cool New Tech - Hefty Costs
Unsurprisingly, the battery and network technology for BlockEnergy's grids remains expensive. The individual homes' battery boxes, which resemble large A/C units, currently cost between $30,000 and $50,000 each, according to BlockEnergy's Vice President of Emerging Technology, Gary Oppedahl. Pepco bought the systems for Fairmount Heights.
The boxes are made mostly in the United States, Oppedahl said, in part to meet requirements for receiving federal clean energy incentives. He also emphasized that pilot projects often have high upfront costs, and that savings on fuel costs and maintenance can mean lower costs for utilities in the long run.
BlockEnergy leaders also say they expect costs will go down as the company scales up and similar technologies become more common.
"The systems in place today are very reliable, very good, very well tested and proven because we've been doing it that way for 100 years," Bennett, BlockEnergy's CEO, said. "So it's difficult to move away from that and adopt something new until it's proven that it really is the better way."
Pioneering a new energy system also added costs on the developers' side, with extra funding needed for the microgrid's planning and design, Prange Proestel, HIP's deputy director, said.
"It is something that really requires a nonprofit bundle together these different sources of funding, in order to do this demonstration project," said HIP Executive Director Maryann Dillon in an interview. "It's tough to make the numbers work when there's so few houses to spread the costs over."
The feasibility study and additional utility work also meant a longer timeline, which increases costs. HIP first bought the land from the town of Fairmount Heights in 2019. The town aims to earn certification under the statewide Sustainable Maryland program, which recognizes municipalities that make progress on green goals.
"This is a realization of a dream that we've had for quite a while," said former Fairmount Heights mayor Lillie Thompson Martin, under whose administration the project began. "This is the trend of the future... it's very important that we keep the stride going so that Fairmount Heights is not left out of the big picture."
Ownership and Energy Costs
Pepco will own and operate the network and the batteries, while a local community solar company will own the solar panels. That means the new residents will pay for their energy, rather than using it free and selling excess back to the grid the way traditional rooftop solar owners can.
However, it also means that any maintenance costs for the expensive tech-either the solar or the batteries-will not fall on the first-time homeowners.
"These are first-time low-income homeowners, and if there's a $200 problem with their own battery, they can't afford to get it fixed-and so suddenly there's no clean energy coming to their home," said Tony Ruffine, a renewable energy consultant working with BlockEnergy. "Instead, this is the utility's [battery]."
The whole system will have 262kWh of battery storage capacity, according to BlockEnergy, and 48kW worth of rooftop solar. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory's solar output calculator estimates that a solar panel system of that size in Fairmount Heights would likely produce just over what six average households would need in a year. That doesn't account for the fact that these homes will be more energy-efficient than most.
"We put in a lot of green features to really make the housing affordable to whoever moves in, so they're not burdened by utility bills," said HIP Executive Director Maryann Dillon in an interview. "A key driver in making housing affordable is controlling your utility bills, and obviously it's the right thing to do with global warming."
Lowering Impact and Increasing Resilience
In his remarks at the groundbreaking, Pinsky, the director of the Maryland Energy Association, discussed how this project encompasses two key responses to climate change. On one hand, the high-efficiency homes are expected to produce enough solar energy to cover their usage-that means they avoid using additional fossil fuels that add planet-warming greenhouse gasses to the atmosphere.
At the same time, the microgrid offers a potentially more stable energy source as climate change increases the frequency of severe storms that often knockout traditional power lines. In the community using BlockEnergy technology for 37 houses in Tampa, the lights stayed on during Hurricane Ian even as more than 2 million Floridians lost power.
"The surrounding area was out of power for three or four days-the people in Southshore Bay [the Tampa mini-grid community] didn't even know there was a power outage," Bennett said. "They, I think, entertained a lot of their neighbors who didn't have power, who came over to charge phones and things."
"Because of climate change, natural disasters seem to be happening more and more," Bennett continued. "So it's important to have communities that can survive and stay safe and secure with electricity."
Kayla Benjamin wrote this article for The Washington Informer.
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A new round of federal funding is coming North Dakota's way to help plug dozens of abandoned oil wells.
The U.S. Department of the Interior this week awarded $25 million to North Dakota to respond to what is described as "legacy pollution."
With the financial boost, 46 orphaned oil and gas wells will be plugged, along with remediation work at more than 270 contaminated sites. The funding is tied to the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
Curtis Shuck, chairman of the Well Done Foundation, which works with states on capping neglected wells no longer in operation, said this work is vital in reducing negative environmental impacts, such as lingering methane leaks.
"(At) the end of the day, when we walk away from a project, it's hopefully like it was never there," Shuck explained.
Beyond protecting air and water resources, federal officials say the projects create good-paying union jobs and pave the way for economic growth. A number of conservation groups said while the efforts are needed, oil companies abandoning sites are being let off the hook. At the very least, they argued more regulations are needed to prevent well abandonment.
On the economic front, Shuck pointed out restoring the land underneath wells benefits the agricultural sector by giving farmers more acreage to work with.
"In places like North Dakota, or in Montana where we started, the farmer doesn't have to play dodge ball," Shuck emphasized.
He added farmers can be more efficient with their operational costs by not having to plow around an abandoned well.
Observers said despite enhanced efforts to address the issue, the U.S. has a lot of catching up to do with roughly 130,000 documented orphaned wells out on the landscape. In the initial round of program funding, North Dakota used its share to plug 73 wells.
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By Kari Lydersen for Energy News Network.
Broadcast version by Mark Richardson for Illinois News Connection reporting for the Solutions Journalism Network-Public News Service Collaboration
University Park is a small suburb south of Chicago, built around sprawling warehouses for companies like Clorox, Amazon and Solo Cup that attract a steady stream of diesel truck traffic. Its residents, 88% of whom are African American, are also exposed to pollution from a steel and wire processing facility relocated there from a gentrifying Chicago neighborhood, as well as steel mills and an oil refinery in nearby Northwest Indiana.
So, village manager Elizabeth Scott figured, the town was a prime candidate for improving quality of life and the environment by adopting electric vehicles — even if only two local households had EVs when Scott first checked the secretary of state’s website.
An EV Readiness program developed by the Chicago-area Metropolitan Mayors Caucus helped University Park catapult to being a leader in electric vehicle adoption, with the program offering a “blueprint” for preparing charging infrastructure, accessing grants and doing community outreach. University Park earned the second-highest score of a dozen municipalities participating in the first cohort to finish the EV Readiness program last year, and they were the only municipality in the region’s “Southland” to complete the program.
University Park is in the process of acquiring an EV charging station for electric semi-trucks city leaders hope will increasingly serve its warehouses, and they hope to add electric vehicles to their municipal fleet while also supporting residents to get their own EVs.
University Park’s EV Readiness website offers resources for local electric car owners and aspiring owners, from a video demonstrating how electric vehicles work to an interactive map of charging stations.
Scott, who has an electric car herself, had long noticed the vast disparity in available charging stations in the predominantly Black and Latino neighborhoods and suburbs on the South Side of Chicago, versus the wealthier and whiter neighborhoods and suburbs to the north.
“In Black and Brown communities there’s been a lot of disinvestment,” said Scott. “This [electric vehicle rollout] is big, it’s something new — for the world, and especially for this country.”
The truck charging station will be one of the first in the Midwest. “We’re kind of pioneers in this, this is uncharted territory,” Scott continued.
EV expansion
The EV Readiness program, funded by utility ComEd, offers guidance on a wide range of issues, including updating zoning and building codes to facilitate EV charger installation, training first responders in dealing with electric vehicle fires, and accessing federal and state incentives.
Municipalities receive scores for various achievements and can earn bronze, silver or gold certification through the program. Doing a fleet assessment to prepare to acquire municipal EVs helps earn silver certification, for example, and actually adding EVs to the fleet earns gold. Oak Park received a gold certification during the program’s first cohort, with the rest of the municipalities earning bronze.
The cohort of participating municipal leaders received guidance and instruction from the Mayors Caucus and met regularly.
“It was like a support group, to be able to partner with other communities, bounce ideas off one another,” Elizabeth Scott said. “I highly recommend every municipality to go through the program.”
Between October 2022 and November 2023, according to state registration data, the total number of EVs owned in the municipalities participating in the first cohort increased from 2,175 to 3,608. Hanover Park doubled its EV ownership, from 105 to 219, and Oak Park increased ownership from 581 to 904. Much-smaller University Park doubled its EV ownership — from eight to 16 vehicles.
A timely idea
The concept of EV Readiness was born in 2018 during public meetings around the Volkswagen vehicle emissions cheating settlement that provided funding to states for alternative fuels and electric vehicles. Metropolitan Mayors Caucus director of environmental initiatives Edith Makra noted that the majority of public comments made during that period were focused on acquiring electric vehicles.
The caucus launched the initiative with a series of listening sessions with stakeholders including the IBEW electrical workers union, fire safety officials, advocacy groups and municipal leaders. The caucus developed an EV Readiness checklist, certification program and curriculum. The first cohort of municipalities started the program in December 2022 and “graduated” in December 2023.
“When we first signed on to support this program, we weren’t fully sure what the response from municipalities would be,” said ComEd external affairs director Philip Roy. “We were kind of blown away by the interest. We have over 400 municipalities in our service territory, that are all very different — in size, makeup, resources, they all need different kinds of help. That’s where having a group like the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus that is so used to working with a broad, diverse set of municipalities is key to success.”
The EV Readiness program dovetails with an ongoing Metropolitan Mayors Caucus initiative known as the Greenest Region Compact that involves communities collaborating to develop and adopt sustainability standards.
EV Readiness also builds on the model of SolSmart, a nationwide technical assistance initiative that helps municipalities invest in and prepare for solar power, at no cost to them. Many of the municipalities in the first cohort of EV Readiness were also participants in SolSmart.
With both programs, part of the goal is to help communities be well-positioned to apply for federal grants and incentives.
“We wanted communities to be ready for the influx of funding that was on the way, we knew it was coming, we wanted to make sure they were thinking about it,” said Metropolitan Mayors Caucus sustainability specialist Cheryl Scott (no relation to Elizabeth Scott).
During the first cohort, the federal government announced the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program providing grants for EV charging under the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The smallest grants available were $2 million, “more than most of our communities need,” as Makra said. And ironically the paperwork to apply for the environmental justice-focused Justice 40 mandates of the program was “a really heavy lift for most small communities,” as Makra said.
So, the Mayors Caucus worked with communities to prepare an aggregated NEVI grant application, seeking $15 million to install 114 chargers in 35 towns and two counties. Recipients have not yet been announced.
Statewide leadership
Illinois has been a leader in legislation promoting electric vehicles on the state level. The 2021 Climate and Equitable Jobs Act created incentives for public transit electrification and EV ownership, with a goal of having one million EVs on Illinois roads by 2030. The law creates rebates of up to $4,000 for consumers who buy electric vehicles, and demands utilities pursue transportation electrification in an equitable way that does not burden customers who don’t own EVs.
Last year the Illinois legislature passed the Electric Vehicle Charging Act, which requires new single-family homes and multi-family buildings be EV capable, meaning conduit is laid to allow easy installation of chargers and wiring. State law also prohibits landlords and homeowners associations from unduly interfering with charger installation, and clarifies how renters should pay for electricity used in charging EVs.
ComEd funded the first two cohorts of EV Readiness with $225,000, and the utility is in the process of finalizing increased funding for additional cohorts, said Roy. The second cohort of the program – including 16 municipalities and two counties – is underway.
During a recent luncheon sponsored by the Executives’ Club of Chicago, ComEd CEO Gil Quiniones touted the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus’s work and the importance of EV rollout.
“We want to make sure our grid is ready, if someone wants to buy an electric vehicle today and put in a charging station,” Quiniones said. “We want electric vehicles to be an easier choice for our customers.”
He said alleviating “range anxiety” by installing more charging stations is key. Currently, there are about 2,000 level 2 chargers and 1,000 fast-chargers in ComEd’s service territory, he said.
As part of its Beneficial Electrification program, ComEd is spending $231 million on rebates and other incentives to encourage electrical vehicle adoption by municipalities and individuals.
“We recognize that municipalities are going to play a vital role in the transition to electrification,” said Roy. “Many of the policies that drive how and where infrastructure is installed are very hyperlocal policies that municipalities oversee: zoning, parking code, use of public space.”
An investment in the future
The mayors caucus helps municipalities coordinate with utilities on EV readiness and helps them understand suggested electrical code standards and practices.
Cheryl Scott said most municipalities require permits for level 2 or fast-charging stations, but not for level 1 charging.
“If it’s the same outlet as plugging a toaster in, should the government get involved?” she asked. “Level 1 is where we saw uncertainty about how to do that. If it’s an older house, older wiring could cause problems. The owners manual (for chargers) says check with an electrician.”
“Do you permit for EV charging at a residential level or not?” added Makra. “We ask a community to think that through. Do you risk being overly burdensome, or not necessarily protecting your constituents in terms of safe installation?”
The EV Readiness program encourages communities to adopt policies going beyond the state EV charging law, and some including University Park did so by requiring new commercial construction be EV-capable.
Oak Park, a suburb west of Chicago, adopted the “most transformative” charging infrastructure policy, in Cheryl Scott’s words. The town requires a level 2 charger be installed in any new residential building with a garage or parking space, and commercial buildings and multi-family residences must have a level 2 charger for every five parking spaces. Several towns including University Park also adopted policies that commercial construction must be EV-ready or EV-capable; the state law only applies to residential buildings.
Elizabeth Scott said she’s seen interest in EVs blossom in University Park since EV Readiness launched, for environmental and financial reasons.
She said she spent $350 a month on gasoline for her car before getting an EV, since her position requires constant driving. Now, she spends about $100 a month on charging.
“It’s convenient, it’s safer, I have no catalytic converter to steal, I don’t have oil changes,” Scott noted. “But it’s really an investment in the sustainability of our future and our communities. I’m really grateful we’re able to do this as a community of color that normally doesn’t have all the opportunities.”
Kari Lydersen wrote this article for Energy News Network.
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Since the 2020 collapse of the famed Apalachicola Bay oyster fishery, people who made their livelihoods on the bay have been counting on local leaders and scientists to pave a path for a triumphant return.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission closed the bay for overharvesting, habitat degradation, the BP oil spill and more.
Betty Webb, coordinator and facilitator with the Partnership for a Resilient Apalachicola Bay, said the Apalachicola Bay System Ecosystem-Based Adaptive Restoration and Management Plan marks a milestone in the quest to reclaim the bay, giving hope to multigenerational families who were forced to find new jobs in construction, air conditioning and plumbing.
"In their mindset, that's an interim opportunity for them to survive. Some have even gone into the service industry, for the tourism," she said. "But their heart and their passion is wanting to get back on that bay. They like the freedom. They like the self-employment."
For decades, oysters drove the economy, generating an estimated annual economic output of $134 million before the collapse. The plan has five overarching goals for restoration, including implementing sustainable management practices for oyster resources while considering future conditions such as warmer temperatures attributed to climate change.
Chad Hanson, an officer with The Pew Charitable Trusts, emphasized the significance of the Apalachicola Bay System Initiative in addressing the diverse impacts of climate change, ranging from intensified storm events such as hurricanes to prolonged droughts that disrupt the bay's water flow.
"That affects where oysters can can optimize their productivity. Thus, the plan calls for looking at the modeling, including what those projections for future conditions will be, to ensure that the management of oyster reefs and the restoration of reefs are being done accordingly," Hanson explained.
The new management plan was developed over four years of collaboration and is critical to the community. Webb emphasized the urgent need to reopen the bay in January 2026 for affected families, and said even if it has to operate at limited capacity initially, she urges policymakers to ensure fair access for all.
Disclosure: The Pew Charitable Trusts - Environmental Group contributes to our fund for reporting on Endangered Species & Wildlife, Environment, Public Lands/Wilderness. If you would like to help support news in the public interest,
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