Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative marks 25th carbon auction

The Natural Resources Council of Maine took advantage of a carbon permits auction on Wednesday to highlight how Maine’s participation in the multistate Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative is helping the state’s economy. The carbon permit auctions, which are the centerpiece of RGGI’s efforts to limit climate-changing carbon pollution from power plants, provide about $10 million per year for Maine to support energy efficiency initiatives for homes and businesses, according to the NRCM in marking the milestone 25th auction.

“Maine should be proud of the phenomenal success RGGI has been for the state, and the decisions we’ve made to invest in our economy and our clean energy future,” Dylan Voorhees, clean energy director for NRCM, said in the release. “Maine’s experience with RGGI shows clearly how we can slash carbon pollution while growing the state’s economy, having turned $30 million in smart energy efficiency investments to date into $250 million in energy savings.”

The results of Wednesday’s auctions will be made public in a few days, once they have been verified by independent market monitors. The most recent quarterly auction was held in June and generated $2.5 million for Maine, equivalent to about $10 million per year. By Maine law, the vast majority of RGGI proceeds are used to support efficiency improvements for Maine homes and businesses, administered by Efficiency Maine.

As of December 2013, Maine had invested more than $31 million of RGGI funds on efficiency programs and grants for homeowners, businesses and industry. These investments save Maine homeowners and businesses $257 million over the lifetime of these efficiency improvements, according to a report released by NRCM using information from RGGI Inc. and Efficiency Maine. An additional $22 million in RGGI funds has been received by Efficiency Maine to date and was committed for efficiency programs and large custom projects that are either ongoing or for which the final results have not yet been compiled, according to the NRCM’s release.

The largest portion (40%) of RGGI funds spent so far has gone to Efficiency Maine’s “large customer” program, which provides competitive matching grants to businesses that are among Maine’s largest energy consumers to invest in a wide variety of efficiency projects. As of December 2013, $12 million of these grants had leveraged $35 million in private spending at Maine’s industrial and other large facilities, and generated $139 million in lifetime savings.

In a case study released on Wednesday, NRCM highlighted Hannaford Supermarkets’ use of two RGGI-funded grants to complete lighting retrofits in refrigerated areas in its distribution center and in display cases at 10 grocery stores. The new ultra-efficient LED lights at those facilities have saved Hannaford, Maine’s largest employer, about $200,000 in energy costs every year.

Other recipients of RGGI-funded grants include Huhtamaki, Jackson Labs, the Lewiston-Auburn Water Pollution Control Authority, Madison Paper, Maine Wild Blueberry, Mt. Abram Ski Area, SAPPI Paper, Sugarloaf, Twin Rivers Paper and the University of Maine.

A second NRCM case study released Wednesday described a home efficiency project by Brunswick resident Emily Vail, completed by family-owned contracting company Upright Frameworks. Vail’s 1950s cape got new insulation and air sealing to reduce oil bills and make the house much more comfortable. The $7,000 project (less $1,500 thanks to Efficiency Maine and RGGI) reduced her household energy use by 30%.

RGGI has been operating in Maine since 2008 and is the only regional program—and the only program outside of California—that sets mandatory global warming pollution limits for power plants. It gained additional importance this year when the federal Environmental Protection Agency proposed the first ever national limits for global warming pollution from power plants, as reported by Mainebiz.