The Future of Clean Heat

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About The Future of Clean Heat Campaign

By March 2022, the companies that deliver gas to our homes and buildings must submit plans to government regulators to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to net zero. This is a key moment for us — utility customers must push for the solutions we need to ensure a livable future for ourselves and future generations.

“Natural” gas is an explosive, unhealthy, heat-trapping gas and has no place in a clean energy future. 

The future we need is possible now, and we, as customers, must demand bold action. All-electric technologies exist today that are non-explosive and without the health and climate risks of gas, oil, propane, and other fossil fuels.

Utility company executives must partner with their workforce, government leaders, and customers to lead this transition. The transition away from natural gas will require large investments in infrastructure and building upgrades, and there are ways we can redirect resources to pay for it. Let’s spend customers’ dollars — our dollars — on renewable, healthy energy infrastructure instead of the outdated and dangerous infrastructure of the past.

The Future of Clean Heat Platform

Natural gas is a dangerous fossil fuel that harms our health and contributes to climate change. By March 2022, the companies that deliver gas to our homes and buildings must submit plans to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to net zero. As mothers and others who care for the future of all children, we are raising our voices to insist that our utility companies produce climate-friendly plans that protect the health and safety of our families and ensure a livable planet for future generations.

We call on the gas utilities in Massachusetts to align their plans with this Future of Clean Heat Platform.

The utilities’ plans must:

• Replace fossil fuels in our homes with all-electric solutions that are safe, healthy, and affordable, for all;
• Use electricity from renewable sources only, such as solar and wind;
• Offer heat pumps for heating and cooling and other electric appliances to all homes and buildings, and subsidies to make these technologies affordable for everyone;
• Replace leaky gas infrastructure with networked geothermal systems to enable large numbers of home and building owners to shift from utility gas to geothermal heating and cooling;
• Make clean energy available and affordable to all families and ensure that renters and low-income customers are not the last on the gas system and left responsible for the cost of the system’s collapse;
• Fund programs to install better insulation and plug air leaks to make homes and other buildings more comfortable and lower heating and cooling bills in all neighborhoods;
• Create pathways to employment for residents of low-income communities, so that they can secure family-sustaining jobs in the clean energy economy;
• Include retraining for gas workers to ensure they retain family-sustaining jobs.

In the gas utilities’ plans, there is no place for:

• “Natural gas” which causes climate change and pollutes our homes and communities.
• Gas pipelines, facilities, and the wasteful replacement and expansion of gas pipes under our neighborhood streets. Fossil fuels are not part of our energy future and we cannot continue to invest in them.
• Hydrogen or biofuels in buildings. They are explosive, unhealthy, contribute to climate change, and are too expensive to pipe into our homes.
• Large and dangerous gas leaks. Utilities must repair gas leaks with the most significant environmental impact as the gas system transitions.

Our Families Need: Homes that are all-electric, safe, and affordable for all!