Earlier this month, Connecticut governor, Ned Lamont, signed an executive order that would put the state on a path to achieving a zero carbon energy grid by 2040.
In the order, Lamont calls on the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) to evaluate alternative energy solutions so that Connecticut, which has some of the steepest residential electric bills in the country, can transition to a totally clean electric grid over the next 20 years.
It also expands the Governor’s Council on Climate Change, set up by former governor, Dannel Malloy, in 2015, allowing it to add new members and requiring them to file annual reports detailing its progress to curtail greenhouse gs emissions by 41 percent below 2001 levels within the next decade.
The move comes after three Northeastern states – Maine, New York and Ohio – have updated their renewable portfolio standards (RPS), policies that require electricity suppliers to source a certain amount of their electricity from designated renewable resources or eligible technologies. As a result of their updates, Maine and New York have joined California, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico and the District of Columbia in requiring 100 percent clean electricity by 2050.
