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\nLongtime environmental advocate: It\u2019s the energy bills<\/p>\n
David Hess has been working on environmental policy and advocacy in Pennsylvania since the 1980s, and thinks the rising cost of energy is a key reason for the Democratic victories in Tuesday\u2019s election.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cIt had everything to do with the concerns people had about\u2026 the electric and natural gas bills that they\u2019re getting, the price of gasoline,\u201d he said. \u201cIt had to do, in particular, with data centers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hess, who is a former secretary of the state Department of Environmental Protection, points out that the four Republican senators who lost all had data center projects in their districts. Data centers<\/a> use a lot of power, and that has led to higher energy prices. According to an independent analysis,<\/a> Pennsylvania homeowners are paying an average of 20% more for electricity than they were two years ago.<\/p>\n Pennsylvania Republicans have blamed<\/a> the price hikes on climate policies in other states and Governor Shapiro\u2019s electric grid policies.<\/p>\n Now that Democrats are taking control, Hess advises them to focus on reducing those costs by diversifying energy sources.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe Republicans had a one energy source policy, that was natural gas. And to put more eggs in that basket just wasn\u2019t going to work at all to reduce costs,\u201d he said. \u201cYou need a variety of generation sources to do that.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n With a trifecta, Pennsylvania Democrats would pass energy reforms and rein in data centers<\/a><\/p>\n How to increase alternative energy sources<\/p>\n A recent report<\/a> found that Pennsylvania ranks near the bottom of states in adding renewable energy to the electric grid. The state gets 5% of its electricity from renewable energy, compared with 37% in Texas, another gas-producing state.<\/p>\n Democrats have a chance to change that, said Sharon Pillar, founder and director of the non-profit Pennsylvania Solar Center.\u00a0<\/p>\n Pennsylvania requires utilities to get only 0.5% of their electricity from solar energy, an amount that hasn\u2019t changed since 2004.\u00a0<\/p>\n Pillar wants the state to increase that amount because she says it will mean more energy and will also help the economy.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe work with a lot of companies; they\u2019re ready to go,\u201d Pillar said. \u201cThey\u2019ve been waiting on Pennsylvania for many years, and I think they\u2019ll be very excited to come and invest billions of dollars into Pennsylvania.\u201d<\/p>\n Pillar also wants lawmakers to approve community solar,<\/a> which allows people who don\u2019t have rooftop solar to buy energy from a nearby array.\u00a0<\/p>\n Advocates for renewable energy, like Elizabeth Fiedler, a Democrat from South Philadelphia who chairs the House Energy Committee, also see a need for state investment in local electric grids.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to do everything we can to get more energy online,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \t\t
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