Newton and Cambridge consider similar by-laws

As Brookline organizers look forward, cities like Newton and Cambridge are studying what they have done and are pushing for similar legislation.
Jonathan Kantar, a Newton resident and architect, brought a memo to Newton City Council proposing they follow Brookline in electrifying new buildings.
“This is part of the strategy in our climate action plan, in the state’s Green Communities Act, where they’ve made a commitment to get to 80 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050,” Kantar said at a City Council discussion. “As part of those initiatives, we need to electrify, so that we can take advantage of renewable energy for all of our energy related uses. You can’t do that with fossil fuel [infrastructure]. So we have to capitalize on these strategies, and this is one of them.“

Cambridge City Councilor Quinton Zondervan has introduced an amendment to their municipal code that would take a similar approach to Brookline’s WA21. According to Zondervan, it is critical that we stop installing new fossil fuel infrastructure.
“We have to stop making climate change worse. Adding more buildings that rely on gas combustion given what we know about the dangers of climate change makes no sense at all,” Zondervan said in an email. “Fracking, which produces most of the gas we consume here in Cambridge, destroys communities and the environment and has to end. With alternative technologies to using gas being readily available and cost effective, there is no excuse for continuing down this ruinous path.”
Brookline and Cambridge share the goal of net zero carbon emissions by the year 2050, which factors into Zondervan’s rationale for the proposed amendment.
“It would let us get there faster because it would avoid the need to convert those buildings to electric later, which is expensive and will be delayed as long as possible,” Zondervan said. “It makes far more sense to build all new buildings without gas infrastructure inside so that we can make those buildings net zero as soon as the electricity supplied to them is 100 percent renewable.”
Kantar said that it is necessary for municipalities to push the envelope of electrifying legislation so that, eventually, the movement can grow to the state level.
“The feeling is that we need cities and towns to try these various methods and learn what each one does,” Kantar said. “Try them so that there begins to be a realization that there’s the political will and the community support for this kind of thing. And then, hopefully, the state will respond.”