November 6 Webinar Pipeline to the FUTURE Delivering Safe, Renewable Geothermal Energy to Massachusetts
Over 80 attendees tuned into the Pipeline to the Future webinar, hosted by the LWVMA Environmental Action and Advocacy Committee. The topic of the webinar was how Massachusetts can improve efforts to repair gas leaks and how we might begin to transition the gas utilities toward becoming renewable energy utilities. The program began with remarks by Massachusetts Senator Cynthia Creem, the FUTURE ACT’s Senate sponsor, and was followed by a comprehensive presentation by Audrey Schulman and Zeyneb Magavi on the specifics of how gas utilities can start now to become renewable energy utilities and provide safer, cleaner energy to the customers they serve.
Questions for Senator Creem, call 617-694-1639 or email her. Questions for Audrey Schulmanand Zeyneb Magavi of HEET, email them.
Senator Creem was first elected to the Senate in 1998 and has been the Chair of several joint committees, including Criminal Justice, Revenue, and Judiciary, as well as chairing Senate Post-Audit and Oversight. As Senate Majority Leader, Senator Creem has filed numerous bills taking on high profile issues, including: criminal and juvenile justice reforms to promote successful re-entry and diversion policies; reducing gun violence; protection of privacy rights including a moratorium on government use of facial recognition technology and protecting consumer data privacy; promoting food allergy policies to protect all restaurant customers; increasing voter participation by allowing election day registration; and, this session, the “Future Act” to expedite gas leaks repairs and expand renewable energy options for consumers and utilities.
Audrey Schulman is the co-founder and executive director of HEET. An experienced grassroots activist, Audrey has performed energy assessments on everything from homeless shelters to historic churches. She has also led HEET’s work on gas leaks by mapping the utility-reported gas leaks across Massachusetts. With Metropolitan Area Planning Council, she led the FixOurPipes.org study to find how to fix gas leaks faster and at less expense through increased municipal/utility coordination. She was also the instigator of the Large Volume Leak Study. Schulman is the author of five novels, which have been translated into 11 languages, and reviewed by the New Yorker and CNN.
Zeyneb Magavi, HEET director. Zeyneb is currently focused on transitioning the natural gas distribution system to a thermal energy distribution system, or HEET Grid, using the GeoMicroDistrict concept. The next step is to pilot in a neighborhood in MA, together with the state’s largest gas utilities. Zeyneb previously led HEET’s Large Volume Leak Study which established a method to rapidly cut emissions from leaking gas pipes in half. She has worked at BBN Technologies, Harvard University, and in multiple startups. She is committed to creating and driving forward just and wise solutions to the urgent challenge of climate change through multi-disciplinary problem solving, co-creation, and innovation.
