On June 26th, Governor Janet Mills signed new legislation to broaden customer access to net metering (known in Maine as net energy billing) and to promote distributed energy generation, including through competitive procurements for long-term contracts with the state’s transmission and distribution utilities.
More than a dozen states are adopting “community solar” programs that are bringing solar power and lower energy bills to low-income households from New York to California.
The Green New Deal that some Democrats are now championing is unlike anything this country has ever done before. But scientists have been studying policies like these for decades. And their research can tell us a bit about what might happen if we pass this sweeping new vision for climate action and economic equality.
The Green New Deal means different things to different people. In some ways, that’s part of its appeal. On the other hand, a Green New Deal can’t mean anything anyone wants it to, or it will come to mean nothing at all.
The promise of a Green New Deal has become a galvanizing force in United States politics, inspiring climate activists and building much-needed pressure behind a sweeping federal climate plan.
