opinion
This past fall, Governor Roy Cooper laid out a strong vision for a thriving, low-carbon economy with North Carolina’s first ever Clean Energy Plan. As we head into a new decade, it's imperative that North Carolina adopt this new vision and fully embrace the clean energy future to benefit all North Carolinians.
The Clean Energy Plan sets bold new climate goals for North Carolina: achieve a 70% reduction (to below 2005 levels) in electric-sector greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030 and reach carbon neutrality by 2050. It also includes actions the state can take to achieve these goals, scale up investments in affordable clean energy and clean transportation, and create economic opportunities for both rural and urban areas. While these goals and proposed actions should be applauded, the plan also makes clear that new policies are needed to realize this vision.
More: Gov. Cooper's climate change, clean energy plan discussed in Asheville March 14
We at Sierra Nevada Brewing Co, along with many other brewers across the Tar Heel State, recognize the risks climate change poses to our industry. Extreme weather events like hurricanes, flooding, drought and erratic temperatures could have significant impacts to our operations and affect the affordability and availability of brewing ingredients such as barley and hops. And, more importantly, climate change threatens the day-to-day lives of our employees, customers, and the local farmers we work so closely with. Extreme weather events are expected to increase in frequency and severity if we do not act quickly on many GHG reduction priorities.
Sierra Nevada is proud to be among many craft brewers in North Carolina and across the country already working to mitigate the impacts of climate change by investing in clean energy and transportation.
Our Mills River facility is LEED platinum certified and home to a 600-kilowatt solar array and electric vehicle charging stations for employees and customers. We also capture and reuse the carbon dioxide produced during the fermentation process and utilize heat recovery systems throughout the facility to reduce overall energy demand and increase efficiency.
For us, investing in clean energy and transportation is not just about doing the right thing for the environment—it also makes business sense. Renewable energy is currently cost competitive with energy sources like coal and natural gas, so it’s a smart investment. Prioritizing investments in clean energy and transportation will help North Carolina meet its emissions reduction goals while also helping companies and ratepayers save money on their energy bills—a winning combination for all North Carolinians.
The Clean Energy Plan sets the stage for North Carolina to join other leading states that have forged ahead with ambitious energy targets and policies. At Sierra Nevada, we joined more than 800 stakeholders in offering recommendations for the Clean Energy Plan, and we are particularly impressed with three of the plan’s key recommendations and the impact they provide towards achievement of carbon net neutrality by 2050.
First, North Carolina must modernize regulatory processes and align utility business models to encourage greater clean energy investments. Based on a system created many years ago, electric utilities are currently incentivized to build more power plants and sell more electricity. Performance-based ratemaking and coal-securitization policies would help utilities prioritize energy efficiency and retire uneconomic fossil fuel plants—which in turn would speed up the transition to a more efficient and clean electricity system.
Second, as a growing number of companies make commitments and take action to power their operations with renewable energy, North Carolina lawmakers should adopt policies to increase customer access to it by enhancing customer choice, enabling customers to contract with competitive energy suppliers and offering more attractive utility-run clean energy programs.
Related: New Belgium: Don’t taint your beer with Burma blood money | OPINION
Related: Sierra Nevada wins overall excellence manufacturing honor
Finally, North Carolina must adopt policies that help accelerate the transition to a low-carbon future while growing the state’s economy. We should account for the costs of carbon, adopt strong clean energy policies and allow more companies and individuals to invest in clean energy projects and electric vehicles.
The North Carolina General Assembly has done a lot of good work to scale up clean energy so far. But to bring the state into the next decade, we need to scale up leadership on both sides of the aisle and bold new policies that look beyond the current structures to go further and faster in reducing GHG emissions and transitioning to a low-carbon economy. Such policies will strengthen our economy and ensure a thriving future for generations to come. We urge the administration, state legislators and utility regulators to lead the way and turn the commendable vision of the Clean Energy Plan into a reality.
Mandi McKay is the Sustainability Manager at Sierra Nevada Brewing Co, which has breweries in Mills River, North Carolina, and Chico, California, and is a member of the Ceres BICEP Network.
"Key" - Google News
January 12, 2020 at 07:00PM
https://ift.tt/2NmqNWW
Want a thriving beer scene in North Carolina? Here's why clean energy is key | OPINION - Citizen Times
"Key" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2YqNJZt
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
No comments:
Post a Comment