By Pedro Glatz
Climate Change and Environmental Justice Associate Director, ICCR
As part of NYC Climate Week, on September 24th the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) and the Building Decarbonization Coalition (BDC) co-hosted a dynamic discussion on the role of Thermal Energy Networks (TENs) as a potential solution to the challenge of decarbonizing building heating and cooling powered by gas utilities.
Tuesday’s panel included diverse stakeholders, who presented their views on the advantages and opportunities that Thermal Energy Networks can provide in the transition, and I was fortunate to moderate the discussion. As I said in my opening remarks, while many of us in this space see TENS as an essential part of a just transition, we also recognize that fully integrating it into our energy mix will not be without its challenges; that’s why we need to have these conversations. Getting into the specific details of policy, projects, and the needed investments is exactly the type of discussion we wanted to catalyze.
Ania Camargo, the Thermal Networks Senior Manager at BDC, began the discussion with an overview of the current landscape for this technology. She described the functioning of these networks and addressed the recent legislation passed by numerous states across the country promoting the use of TENs. In addition, Camargo presented several benefits of the adoption of TENS at scale, including affordability, grid reliability, and avoiding investments in stranded assets. We were also joined by Mike Roles, the Executive Director for Climate Jobs Rhode Island, who brought in the worker’s voice, acknowledging the threat that gas utility workers face from the need to move away from fossil fuels for building heating and cooling. Roles argued that TENs present an opportunity for workers who could transition to working on thermal energy networks with minimum reskilling, which unions can provide. We also heard from Brittni Provencher, Clean Engineering Manager at Con Edison, one of the largest investor-owned energy companies in the U.S., who is overseeing the company’s TENS pilots mandated by New York State Law as she described the planning process and the implementation timeline for these projects. Rounding out the panel was Amy Orr, the Director of U.S. Shareholder Engagement at Boston Common Asset Management, who issued a call to action for the investor community to embrace TENS as a possible effective solution to reduce emissions while providing an excellent opportunity to protect good jobs.
There was a lively interaction between the speakers and the audience about the barriers faced by TENs within the regulatory framework, as well as the promising impact that a massive implementation of this technology could have. Another topic of great interest was how TENS can be implemented in the different geographies and climates across the US.
I am sure that the attendees left the discussion thinking about how we might collectively advance this exciting technology for the future of heat and we look forward to future convenings. ICCR’s Just Transition Initiative will focus on investor engagements with gas utilities this season, supporting discussion on this urgent topic in collaboration with labor, local communities, and subject matter experts.
To learn more about TENS, read our investor brief.
Missed the event? You can watch it on YouTube here!
The post Thermal Energy Networks: Investing in the Future of Heat first appeared on Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility.