The cold weather has state lawmakers thinking about
how to make home heating improvements.
A legislative committee voted this week to send a bill to
the Senate that encourages thermal energy production.
Utility companies are required by Massachusetts law to
provide customers with some electricity that comes from renewable or
alternative energy-generating sources. The Telecommunications, Utilities and
Energy Committee voted unanimously in favor of legislation that adds thermal
energy to the list of alternative energy sources they can draw from. This will
encourage energy suppliers to pursue solar thermal energy and other renewable
heating sources in addition to clean electricity.
"The same investments that we've made in solar energy
on the electricity side could be made on the heating side of our energy bills
as well, and could make the energy that we heat with much more clean, much more
renewable and could help us create jobs here in Massachusetts," said Sen.
Benjamin Downing of Pittsfield.
Other provisions in the bill eliminate coal gas and paper-based
fuels from the list of alternative energy sources.
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