We are four Lafayette College Engineering Studies majors, and in this report, we suggest that the City of Easton, supported by the Housing Authority of the City of Easton (HACE), use microgrids to reduce the emissions from residential energy consumption while prioritizing equity.
Energy consumption is and will remain central to everyday American life. The problem arises in the type and quantity that is consumed. Heating, cooling, and generally maintaining and living in a house require a lot of energy. A vast majority of global energy is supplied by fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and gas. When these are burned to generate electricity and heat, greenhouse gasses are released to create the ‘greenhouse effect’, or trapping of the sun’s heat in the atmosphere. This results in a plethora of negative consequences for the environment, public health, the economy, etc. According to the EPA, burning fossil fuels for electricity is one of the largest sources of GHG emissions in the US. Not only does energy consumption contribute to climate change, but it is also challenged by climate change. Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of hot and cold days; to manage it, Americans will have to spend more money and use more energy to heat and cool their houses with air conditioning.
Energy is central to climate change not just as a cause but also as a solution. In December 2015, a historic global agreement was made at the UN Climate Conference: The Paris Agreement. Behind the legally binding agreement are 193 nations and the EU. The Paris Agreement defined that for the Earth to stay inhabitable, increases in global temperatures cannot rise more than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and ideally would not rise more than 1.5 degrees Celsius. To achieve this, countries must take action to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions in line with the Paris Agreement’s goal that global emissions will be at net zero by ‘mid-century’. The legally binding agreement acts as a framework for social and economic transformations in the coming decades but does not dictate to nations how they should go about reducing their emissions. Instead, governments should formulate policy solutions that are tailored to their specific economic, geopolitical, and environmental characteristics.
The City of Easton is attempting to do just that and has spent years researching and planning after signing on to the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy in 2016. The plan sets goals for 2030 and 2050 – importantly greenhouse gas emissions will be reduced by 80% in 2050 compared to 2016 levels. The CAP outlines objectives in 10 areas that will aid in meeting this goal but does not provide a timeline for when each action item will occur. Given the severe scarcity of employees, time, and capital that Easton currently has to dedicate to climate action, it would be greatly beneficial to pursue an intermediary policy option to address the largest emitting sector before a plan to meet all objectives is materialized.
The largest emitting sector in Easton, accounting for nearly half of emissions, is residential energy (Easton CAP). In the Climate Action plan, there are two broad objectives to address residential energy. The first, RB1, is to support retrofits and energy efficiency measures in existing residential buildings and homes. This objective is supported by four action items – expanding existing home energy efficiency programs; establishing a program for replacing appliances and systems with high-efficiency electric options; providing incentives for rental property owners to increase energy efficiency; and educating homeowners about the benefits of energy efficiency measures. The second objective, RB2, is to ensure that new residential buildings and homes are built to maximize energy efficiency. There are two action items connected to this – encouraging or requiring net-zero emissions building standards and reviewing and updating building codes to increase efficiency.
Other objectives that relate to residential energy consumption emissions are found within Chapter X: Energy Production. The CAP has three objectives in this sector – EP1: educate residents and businesses about the benefits of renewable energy and the options available to them; EP2: maximize energy generated by small-scale renewable energy systems within the city; and EP3: support policy changes that expand renewable electricity options for all Easton residents.
Energy consumption does not happen in a vacuum, but rather is deeply embedded in the context of any given region. In Easton, social context is particularly important. Approximately 18.9% of Eason residents live under the poverty line, and many of these residents rent their housing instead of buying. The city had received federal grants to increase the amount of affordable housing, yet this worsened the equity issue of energy consumption. In efforts to keep costs low, these contractors built the housing cheaply and inefficiently. This means low-income residents spend more on their energy bills but cannot afford to make efficiency changes to their homes. They also might not be able to afford air conditioners which becomes a public health concern in extreme heat.
Widespread poverty and a high population of renters pose a challenge to policies that incentive homeowners to make energy efficiency adjustments in their homes. Many Easton residents do not own a home to retrofit, and if they do they might not be able to afford these measures. Even if Easton were to get the funding, technology, and outreach programs together to roll out their RB1 objective, and if they were to maximize the efficiency of all of the homes in Easton, there would still be efficient homes being powered by fossil fuels. It would be greatly beneficial for Easton to power residential buildings with renewable energy before the rest of the city as it is the highest GHG sector, instead of focusing solely on efficiency measures for now. An effective way to do this is through Microgrids.
We propose that the City of Easton connect a microgrid, powered by renewable energy, to the public housing units owned. We suggest public housing units because firstly, there is currently not a strong economic incentive for private owners to opt into the plan. Secondly, this choice would reduce the costs of energy and the frequency of energy blackouts for these residents. Disconnecting this segment of the population from the macrogrid would allow Easton to make significant strides toward reducing GHG emissions and promoting equity. Lastly, this plan would exert Easton as a leading Pennsylvania city in the fight against climate change. As Easton has received a federal Housing and Urban Development (HUD) planning grant and is applying, and likely to get, for a multimillion-dollar redevelopment grant, we suggest that the microgrid be established in proximity to the North Union Street and Bushkill apartments. As determined in the draft plan produced with the HUD grant, these apartments will be among the first to be redeveloped, and their proximity to one another makes it feasible for both to be connected to one microgrid.
In this report, we provide evidence that a microgrid would be an effective intermediate policy option to make significant progress in reducing residential energy emissions while prioritizing equity. We will delve into the context that makes microgrids an appealing option for the city and why the N. Union Street and Bushkill apartments are ideal locations. Then, we will provide a technical analysis of how a microgrid works and a discussion of what the local source of energy could be. We will offer case studies of cities that have successfully used microgrids to reduce GHG emissions, and we will end the report with an economic analysis of funding options and costs.