“Did Vermont fail to do energy efficiency, which the Green New Deal and green groups like Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)Â claimÂ is the most important way to reduce emissions?” Shellenberger writes.

“Nope. In 2018, the American Council for an Energy-Efficient EconomyÂ rankedÂ Vermont among the top five states for aggressive action on energy efficiency â€” for the fifth year in a row.”

What’s more, the state’s primary electric utility company has been a leader in assisting customers with going “off-grid” using solar energy and batteries.

So what’s the deal? If the state is doing everything right in terms of transitioning to “all-green” power like Ocasio-Cortez, Sanders, and other socialist Democrats want, what’s up with increased emissions?

Did Vermontâ€™s electric utility block access to distributed renewable energy sources, like rooftop solar panels? On the contrary. The stateâ€™s main electric utility has been a pioneer inÂ helpingÂ customers go â€œoff-gridâ€ with solar and batteries.

Whatâ€™s going on? If Vermont did everything that Ocasio-Cortez, McKibben, Sanders, and other Green New Deal advocates wanted, why have its emissions risen so sharply?







A few years ago, thanks to prodding by anti-nuclear climate activist knuckleheads like Bill McKibben, Vermont Yankee was ‘convinced’ to take the state’s sole nuclear plant offline. In the process, Vermont couldn’t replace the energy lost from the closure, so it had to import energy from elsewhere — energy that was created by fossil fuel plants.

McKibben tried pointing to a New York Times data tool to “prove” closing the nuke plant didn’t increase emissions in the state (as a 2010 study by pro-nuclear environmentalists predicted would happen) because, as the paper reported,Â â€œthe state replaced the [nuclear] power by buying lots and lots more hydro from Quebec.â€

But Shellenberger says McKibben misread/misapplied the data.

“In reality, Vermontâ€™s utilities couldnâ€™t replace with in-state generation the lost electricity from Vermont Yankee, instead turning to electricity imports from the New England power pool, primarily from natural gas,” Shellenberger writes.

McKibben countered that the rise in emissions came from a rise in transportation in the state. “Vermont has done nothing to change the transportation system that is by far the main source of carbon emissions, followed by home heating,” he said.

Shellenberger explains:

Itâ€™s true that emissions from transportation are the largest source of the stateâ€™s emissions. But Vermontâ€™s emissions from transportation wereÂ higherÂ in 2005 than in 2015 and the long distances driven by Vermonters comes with the territory in this rural state.

And itâ€™s not true that Vermont â€œhas done nothingâ€ on transportation, as McKibben claims. In fact, Vermont hasÂ won awardsÂ from the United Nations and NRDC for addressing â€œenvironmental and air pollution problems spurred primarily by trafficâ€ by putting in place â€œdesign-oriented strategiesâ€ so that it â€œdoes not rely solely on automobiles.â€