The cause of climate change is burning fossil fuels. The solution is to stop burning fossil fuels. That is why nations across the world, and many cities, including Northampton and Amherst, have the goal of becoming greenhouse gas-neutral by 2050.
Fossil fuels are used to generate about 60% of our electricity in Massachusetts, fossil fuels are burned to drive 99.9% of our vehicle miles, and fossil fuels heat most of our houses. Fossil fuels are also used for fertilizers and pesticides used to grow our food and to power the cargo ships that bring all of our stuff from overseas.
We need to stop burning fossil fuels and leave them in the ground. The only way to achieve this, without returning to a lifestyle of the Stone Age, is to massively increase renewable energy using “solar” (i.e., solar photovoltaics) and wind turbines. Solar generates electricity with 20 times less carbon emissions than any fossil fuel, and wind generates electricity with 35 times less emissions, according to scientific “cradle to grave” life cycle assessments.
While burning fossil fuels is the problem, nature provides some help. Globally, ocean and land ecosystems absorb about 50% of fossil fuel emissions. Healthy tropical forests are the major absorber. Forests in the U.S. help by absorbing about 11% of our current emissions.
Massachusetts forests, being dormant for half the year, absorb less, about 7% of our emissions. We can manage our lands to work better with nature to increase this carbon absorption, or “sink” — scientific studies suggest that the sink could be doubled to 15% or possibly 21% of current emissions. But even doubling nature’s removal of carbon still leaves us burning fossil fuels.
Can we get to carbon neutrality by 2050? Yes. Massachusetts has a plan — see the “Massachusetts Decarbonization Roadmap” at mass.gov/info-details/ma-decarbonization-roadmap. The roadmap has four key strategies:
Phase out more than 90% of all fossil fuel use including gasoline and diesel.
Greatly improve the energy efficiency of existing buildings and set high energy efficiency standards for new buildings.
Electrify everything possible.
Massively expand wind and solar power to meet clean energy needs.
To reduce burning fossil fuels by 90%, we must expand solar and wind electricity generation by a factor of 10. We must not only replace the dirty electricity we currently use, but also generate clean electricity to replace the natural gas or heating oil we use to heat our homes and businesses. And we need clean electricity to power our cars and trucks instead of gasoline and diesel.
Offshore wind power can provide the majority of the needed clean electricity (assuming our neighbors on the coast allow it). But solar must be a critical part of the solution. To meet the 2050 goals, Massachusetts solar capacity will need to accelerate to more than 600 megawatts installed annually by 2030 and grow at least 1% annually to reach 1,000 megawatts installed in years 2048-2050.
This is a staggering amount of new solar capacity! The Massachusetts Clean Energy and Climate Plan states that “even with maximal rooftop deployment far in excess of historic levels, [this] will require the installation of ground-mounted solar on approximately 60,000 acres of land in Massachusetts over the next thirty years.” Fortunately, this is less than 2% of the state’s land area, and much of that could be on landfills, brownfields and other previously used areas.
We in western Massachusetts need to do our part by expanding solar power and doing it smartly. Yes, we absolutely need forests and solar, and productive agricultural lands as well. We must put solar on every suitable roof, parking lot and landfill. But we also need to find appropriate places for large ground mount solar farms.
If done smartly, solar farms do not destroy the land. Rather, smart solar can protect water resources and provide wildlife habitat, including pollinator habitats that are rare in existing forests. Indeed, smart solar will help protect the remaining 95% of Massachusetts forests from the impacts of fossil fuel pollution and worsened global warming.
If we refuse the expansion of solar, we will continue to burn fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are sold to us by multinational energy corporations making vast profits by destroying land and water in someone’s backyard. Fossil fuels are burned in Massachusetts’s poorest neighborhoods to generate the electricity we currently use, subjecting our neighbors to asthma and shortened lifespans.
Solar farms are not a perfect solution, but if done smartly, we can have solar and forests and agriculture that all contribute to healthier neighborhoods, a healthier Massachusetts, and a healthier, cooler world for us, our children, and for nature.
Steve Roof, professor of Earth and Environmental Science at Hampshire College, has been researching climate change for over 30 years and teaches on renewable energy and climate solutions. He also serves on the Amherst Energy and Climate Action Committee. His opinions here are his own.