These are dark days for the environment and I must admit that I have been hesitant to write an optimistic essay about our local efforts in addressing the climate change. The catastrophic fires in California have been devastating, plus weather anomalies abound — from 10 inches of snow falling in New Orleans to the temperature in Anchorage, Alaska registering 10 degrees warmer than here in Massachusetts.

And, by the way, 2024 was the warmest year ever recorded.

But local climate actions are something we can carry out even while we remain dismayed and confused by the world at large.

First the accomplishments, then the report card.

The Island continues to have a vibrant and active renewable energy community, with all towns as well as the Martha’s Vineyard Commission and Vineyard Power participating. In 2024, each town had numerous large and small accomplishments to celebrate.

For example, Aquinnah and Chilmark joined forces and were chosen to participate in a federally-sponsored partnership program with the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory to develop plans for resilience of critical infrastructure via micro-grids for the Chilmark and Aquinnah town centers.

Aquinnah was chosen as one of 10 towns in the Commonwealth to participate in a pilot program requiring all-electric construction for new buildings. West Tisbury approved the new opt-in specialized building code, allowing them to become Green Communities Climate Leaders and access grant funding for new renewable energy projects.

Oak Bluffs received the go-ahead from Eversource to interconnect a new 1MW solar array for their landfill site. The town has also done a superb job hosting a series of public climate action information sessions.

Tisbury opened their new all-electric school with 4EV chargers.

Edgartown received a no-cost National Renewable Energy Lab feasibility study for a micro-grid with solar power and battery storage and has developed a town EV charger strategy with additional Level 2 as well as two Level 3 fast chargers.

To conclude this non-comprehensive list of accomplishments for 2024, Vineyard Power launched its no-cost Energy Coaching program with over 100 Island residents participating, and established a program with Cape Light Compact to provide financial support to income-eligible residents to lower their electric bill. This ongoing program is currently serving over 450 families on the Vineyard, delivering approximately $533/per household annually in direct benefits to reduce electricity costs.

Last, but not least, the Martha’s Vineyard Commission has continued to provide support to our efforts and much of the raw data behind the Island Climate Action Report Card below.

A reminder: our towns adopted climate change mitigation goals at their 2021 town meetings. Simply stated, the 2030 goals are to lower our fossil-fuel consumption by 50 per cent (2018 baseline) by 2030 and to support Greening the Grid (50 per cent renewable electricity by 2030.

So how are we doing?

With respect to fossil fuel use (for heating and transportation) the results are mixed. Overall, our use in 2023 is 5.3 per cent lower than in the pre-pandemic base year. (Note that this includes an increase in population of approximately 21 per cent.)

Approximately 10 per cent of our fossil fuel use (and thus CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions) comes from the Steamship Authority. The purchase of three (or four) refurbished diesel-powered vessels would seem to be problematic for achieving our goals here, as is the lack of any near or long-term strategy for the SSA to meet the Commonwealth’s mandated 2050 renewable energy goals.

Electric vehicle adoption is a significant factor in reducing fossil fuel use. Thanks to a newly-developed tool from the state DOER, we can assess how many electric vehicles (and plug-in hybrids) are registered on Martha’s Vineyard. In 2023, 2.7 per cent of the total number of registered autos and light trucks on the Island were electric. This compares to 5.2 per cent in California, so we are somewhat behind the curve. Note that the percentage for the United States as a whole is less than 2 per cent. And, importantly, EV sales represented approximately 15 per cent of the new vehicles purchased in 2024.

Air and ground-source heat pumps are a significant element of fossil-fuel elimination. Based on MassSave data, installations on Martha’s Vineyard annually have increased by 81 per cent since 2019. We do not have accurate data as to the total number of HVAC systems on-Island, but the trend toward HVAC electrification is a positive.

Greening the Grid is essential to meeting our energy transition goals. The Island has made a notable contribution to this effort. On-Island solar energy generation has risen by 70 per cent from the 2018 base year, and now represents almost 10 per cent of the total annual electricity use. The Eversource-supplied electricity we use was approximately 35 per cent renewable in 2023, so in 2023 the electricity we use locally is approximately 45 per cent renewable. We are well on the way toward meeting our green electricity goal for 2030.

Of course, of utmost importance for climate change is the greenhouse gases we are responsible for sending into the atmosphere. Based on our data (which includes both fossil fuel combustion and electricity generation), and focused on CO2 emissions (the most significant contributor to global warming), the Island emissions for 2023 were approximately 234,000 metric tons of CO2. This is 4.6 per cent lower than in 2018, notwithstanding the 21 per cent increase in population over that period.

On an individual level, the key metric is per capita emissions. In 2023, Island per capita CO2 emissions were 11.3 thousand tons. This compares to 13.8 for the US as a whole, while China’s value is 9.3 and Sweden’s 3.4.

In sum, our overall progress is heartening but we still have much to do. The actions we take now will be remembered by the inheritors of our Island home.

Rob Hannemann chairs the Chilmark Energy Committee as well as the all-Island Vineyard Sustainable Energy Committee and a member of the Martha’s Vineyard Commission climate action task force. He lives in Chilmark