Carrie Katan

Boston is piloting window heat pumps in affordable housing Housing authorities in Boston and two nearby cities are installing plug-in heat pumps from startup Gradient to try to swiftly and affordably cut emissions.

Window mounted heat really could be the biggest thing in residential decarb since EVs went mainstream.

Between this and other projects @bhaboston.bsky.social is leading the way!

Utility Securitization: A Possible Electric Rate Reduction Tool Discover how utility securitization can reduce electric rates and explore policy recommendations to optimize its use in Massachusetts.

Want to save electric ratepayers money?

Fed up with ‘deceptive’ low energy price offers, Mass. threatens heavy fines on outside energy supplier - The Boston Globe The Massachusetts DPU proposes fining CleanChoice $5.1 million and revoking its license to sell electricity in the state.

While the third-party supplier industry claims its issues are limited to small "bad apples", the DPU is accusing one of the largest suppliers in the Commonwealth of multiple different kinds of fraud. #energy #masspoli

Halting Revolution Wind could be a disaster for New England’s grid If Trump kills the now-frozen offshore wind project, utility customers will pay more money for dirtier and less reliable electricity.

Trump really loves smashing the “make electricity more expensive” button on his desk. I can’t say I am a fan.

www.canarymedia.com/articles/fos...

With N.H. electric bills going up, here’s one way to keep costs down - The Boston Globe Some New Hampshire consumers are turning to other electricity suppliers. “You can do something about your energy charge,” the state’s consumer advocate said.

Going after aggregation because sometimes utility basic service is cheaper is like saying climate change isn't real because sometime it snows. It's the long-term average that counts.

NYC utility tests portable home batteries to dull AC’s impact on the… Con Ed connected power boxes to 65 customers’ AC units, allowing households to stay cool without plugging in during summer system overload.

Having monopoly utilities build massive pieces of energy infrastructure is often expensive and slow. Maybe small low-to-no-install options like this (and solar and window-mounted heat pumps) can be a better option.

MA has many great energy programs, and then there's the APS.

This Massachusetts town banned gas — and housing boomed anyway Critics say stringent, pro-electrification building codes and restrictions on natural gas will impede housing developers. A Boston suburb is proving them…

You 👏can 👏 build 👏homes 👏 with 👏 out 👏 gas.

Building the Constitution Pipeline is vital for New England’s grid stability - The Boston Globe The region pays a premium for energy. New York’s pipeline veto is to blame.

The EPA Administrator seems to be entirely unaware that its high per unit distribution costs, not high generation costs, which are largely responsible for New England’s high energy prices. Building a pipeline to fix our energy issues would be like going for a run to fix a bad knee.

www.bostonglobe.com/2025/08/01/b...

Massachusetts could give heat pump owners a huge discount on… The state will lower electricity rates for heat pump owners this winter, and is considering even deeper cuts to encourage residents to ditch fossil-fueled…

Good climate policy doesn't have to be expensive.

Why the nuclear energy renaissance is real — and necessary The technologies, economics and motivations driving the modern nuclear revival differ fundamentally from what came before.

Opinion pieces like this never seem to answer the simple question, what does nuclear get you that batteries, wind, and solar can't get you faster and cheaper?

The more I hear about window mounted heat pumps the more they seem like solar. Mass produced cheap to install systems that could outcompete other options 9 times out of 10. This great report from ACEEE only adds to that:

Airloom Energy to pilot novel wind power tech at Wyoming site The shorter, more compact turbine design will be cheaper to produce, faster to deploy, more suitable for height-restricted areas and less likely to trigger local opposition, the Laramie-based company ...

👀👀👀👀 I wonder if it's low profile could help get more onshore wind in Mass.

An economic opportunity, or an energy crisis in waiting? Data centers are coming to Massachusetts. - The Boston Globe As the state prepares for the anticipated boom, questions are piling up.

Has anyone run the numbers on if the economic benefits of data centers outweigh the economic impact of higher electric rates caused by increased demand? I find it hard to imagine that math is going to math in our favor. #energy

Healey’s energy affordability bill gets support, tough questions on Beacon Hill - CommonWealth Beacon At a hearing on Beacon Hill, Gov. Maura Healey’s energy affordability bill was met with praise from lawmakers, but Sen. Barrett and Rep. Turco raised questions about Mass Save and the overall affordab...

“If we cannot get a ban, we would love if there is legislation that protects people from the worst abuses of the system,” Katan said in an interview. “That would still be a massive win for the people of the commonwealth.”

Which Third-Party Electric Suppliers Overcharged Massachusetts Consumers the Most? Third-party electricity suppliers overcharge customers in Massachusetts. Learn why municipal aggregation programs offer a better deal.

Third-party suppliers have long used MA’s broken retail electricity market to take advantage of customers. Now with our anti-shopping guide you can tell the companies you shouldn't buy electricity from apart from the companies you really shouldn’t buy electricity from.

Trump aims for 400 GW of nuclear by 2050, 10 large reactors under construction by 2030 Nuclear advocates welcomed proposed regulatory reforms while cautioning that NRC and DOE staff cuts could “undermine” progress. One skeptic said NRC changes would compromise safety.

Unrealistic deadlines to increase output form heavy industry, is it fair to call this Admin's industrial/energy policy Stalinism With Capitalist Characteristics?

Screenshot of a May 2 post from New York Times with text reading "Trump administration officials said on a join conference call that they were 'joined at the hip' with the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, and called the budget a 'joint project.'" Included is a photo taken through a window showing. Elon Musk and Trump talking in the Oval Office.

Hey Boston, the sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and DOGE continues to dismantle essential government services.

It's a beautiful day to head on down to #TeslaTakedown
TODAY Saturday May 3
12pm-2pm
888 Boylston St

Solar panel company accused of shady business in Massachusetts California-based company Sunrun Inc. has sued more than 420 Massachusetts residents for breaking contracts. Many homeowners allege it’s a scam.

This is a great story that highlights why we need legislation to protect solar customers, like S.2264.

#Enron is back in Texas! When they are going to reopen in Mass? I am tired of these third-party electric suppliers quietly going after low-income folks. I want to see these companies commit spectacular, statewide blackout causing, crimes again and I think Enron can get us there.

Eversource, buddy, it is 2025, kindly do not call the EMT (a big piece of LNG infrastructure) an emission reduction tool in your MA climate compliance report.

MA Gas utilties: Our demand is going up so we must build more pipelines.
Also MA gas utilties: Our demand will go down and therefore we need state support.
They are really blinking with both eyes in some of their filings with the DPU.

One day these predatory companies will be thrown out of Mass and I can stop writing about them. Until then here is another blog outlining how they are bad.

“With a similar climate to Québec, one could reasonably expect the costs of electrifying the winter peak in Massachusetts” is an actual sentence in a report National Grid filed. Utterly disconnected from reality.

Don't make me tap the sign:
"Elaborate calculations which are at war with realities are of no avail."
- Lindheimer v. Illinois Bell Tel. Co., 1934

National Grid argued in their climate plan that support for renewable natural gas (RNG) will make it more practical because support for wind and solar worked out. This is equivalent to saying, "I worked hard to run a 5 minute mile, therefore if I work hard again I can swim to the moon.”

chef’s kiss

Minimizing the cost of the state's huge energy storage procurement Massachusetts ratepayers have a newfound interest in charges on their utility bills since the large price spikes of recent months.

Mass Fiscal says the cost of battery storage procurement needs to be shared between utilties, MLPs, and co-ops...the thing there are no electric co-ops in the Massachusetts. #mapoli #energy