MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • June 19, 2022
Most northern New England residents see climate change as a serious threat. A majority of them support state government policies that encourage a full-scale conversion to heat pumps powered by renewable electricity. That is, until they are told how much the shift will cost them in new equipment and higher electric bills, plus the risk of cold-weather power outages on a fragile electric grid. Then support drops off. Instead, it may make more sense for people to keep their oil units and run them with a cleaner-burning, vegetable-based blend that’s available today. Soon they’ll have a climate-friendly, liquid heating fuel made from forest waste, a technology being developed in Maine.