With smart reforms, the next iteration of EmPOWER Maryland can achieve greater total energy and financial savings, better serve limited-income Marylanders, and deliver even more environmental and public health benefits.
A dramatic change that was just beginning a decade ago is still picking up steam. It’s a change that is making the world cleaner, safer, and healthier. And it is a change to one of the most critical systems underlying modern life – our energy system.
Over the last decade, technologies that can help America shift away from fossil fuels — like solar panels, wind turbines, LED light bulbs, energy storage and electric cars — have spread rapidly around the country. Use this interactive tool to view clean energy progress for your state.
Not every American city – and perhaps not any American city – can follow Madrid’s model exactly. But all have the power to encourage compact land use, expand public transportation, tame the negative effects of private cars in urban places, and facilitate the growth of shared mobility and vehicle electrification – unlocking powerful opportunities for cutting carbon from transportation.
How often do you buy a new car? Not too often, I bet, and therein lies a major challenge to cutting carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles. Even though new cars, SUVs and light trucks are, on average, less polluting, it takes a long time for older vehicles to be retired and replaced with more efficient ones. And unlike houses, which can be renovated with insulation, weather sealing and more efficient appliances to reduce energy use and emissions, there’s no way to renovate cars to use less fuel and produce less global warming pollution. But that might be about to change, at least in a small way.
The commitment that Maryland made in 2008 to invest in energy efficiency is starting to pay off. Lower electricity use and lower peak demand have begun to save money for consumers and spurred local economic activity. A Smart Solution explains how consumers will spend $60 million less per year on their power bills as a result of recent energy efficiency investments, and how local businesses have benefited from investments in efficiency.
