Maryland Energy Talk

In 2022 the Maryland General Assembly enacted Building Energy Performance Standards or BEPS. More than a dozen states and municipalities have enacted BEPS and it’s easy to see why. The program has benefits for air quality, energy affordability, grid stability, and quality of life. As Churchill said “We shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us.” Improving our buildings improves our lives. I’m thrilled to say that BEPS is currently in effect, regulating the 9,000 buildings over

Transportation is the largest single source of climate pollution in Maryland. Fully one third of all our emissions come from this sector. For reference, the second biggest source of emissions in Maryland is electricity generation which makes up only about one fifth of total emissions. The legislation in the general assembly this year that has the greatest potential to reduce emissions from the transportation sector is the Transportation and Climate Alignment Act, SB0395 and HB0084 introduced by

In the summer of 2024 I sat down with Delegate Lorig Charkoudian to record a conversation about what PJM is and how it affects our energy policy here in Maryland. This was before the launch of this podcast, and we simply uploaded our conversation onto Youtube where you can still find it. This is one of my favorite conversations I have recorded on energy policy because it really demystifies an entity that has enormous control over our energy system. Going in, I thought I knew a lot about PJM, but I

Right now, Marylanders are paying for the costs of climate change. Higher tides, hotter heat waves, and heavier rain events are all damaging infrastructure and requiring expensive repairs. Public schools that never needed AC for over a hundred years now need to have AC installed at great expense to tax payers. Salt water intrusion is making what used to be agricultural land infertile, slashing property values and as a result, property taxes to the state. 40 years ago, 9 inches of rain was a once in

In 2024 the Maryland General Assembly passed the Electricity and Gas - Retail Supply - Regulation and Consumer Protection Act, better known as SB 1, introduced by Senate President Pro-Tem Malcolm Augustine and Vice-Chair of the House Economic Matters committee Brian Crosby. SB 1 set a national standard for protecting consumers from predatory retail suppliers, some of whom were luring people into contracts with low rates and the promise of clean energy, only to  quickly escalate their rates while

Many Marylanders are seeing record high gas bills this year because of a little known Maryland program called STRIDE In 2013 Maryland lawmakers created the STRIDE program to fix leaks in certain gas pipes. At the time, no one anticipated it would result in utilities building entirely new gas systems and costing Marylander tens of billions of dollars, but that is exactly what has happened I sat down with Maryland’s People’s Counsel David Lapp to talk about how the STRIDE program got so far out of

Maryland needs to generate more electricity in state. As Delegate Lorig Charkoudian explains, the fastest, cheapest way to do that is through the Abundant, Affordable, Clean Energy Act, or AACE Act that she and Senator Brooks are introducing in 2025. The quickest, most reliable way to get more in state electricity generation may not be what you think it is. Sources: Governor Moore's Climate Pollution Reduction Plan Energy Information Administration Maryland State Profile Data PSC Renewable