Vermont community action

The Vermont Electric Cooperative (VEC) is a consumer-owned electric distribution cooperative headquartered in Johnson, Vermont.

In 2019, Vermont Electric Cooperative served about 34,000 members in 74 towns in northern Vermont, including Addison, Caledonia, Chittenden, Essex, Franklin, Grand Isle, Lamoille, and Orleans counties.

The Vermont Electric Cooperative (VEC) is a consumer-owned electric distribution cooperative headquartered in Johnson, Vermont.

In 2019, Vermont Electric Cooperative served about 34,000 members in 74 towns in northern Vermont, including Addison, Caledonia, Chittenden, Essex, Franklin, Grand Isle, Lamoille, and Orleans counties.

Vermont Electric Cooperative was founded in 1938 in Eden Mills to serve residents in parts of rural Lamoille County who had been bypassed by investor-owned utilities. The Rural Electrification Act financed most of the growth in the early years.

Early service was extended into Chittenden and Franklin counties. From the 1940s until the early 1960s, the territory it served expanded in northern Vermont through the construction of new lines and the acquisition of small private companies. In 1969, Vermont Electric Cooperative expanded into southern Vermont by merging with Halifax Electric Cooperative. In 1970, Vermont Electric Cooperative acquired the International Electric Company serving Derby Line.

In 2004, Vermont Electric Cooperative acquired Citizens Communications Company's Vermont Electric Division. This more than doubled the membership-base. In 2006, Vermont Electric Cooperative sold its Southern District in Windham and Windsor counties to Central Vermont Public Service (CVPS), reducing its membership by 2,770. Additionally 12 member services in 3 towns of MA were sold to Western Massachusetts Electric Company (WMECO)

In 2008, Vermont Electric Cooperative sought a 9.2% rate increase from the Vermont Public Service Board. It estimates that the rise in rates from transmission rates from ISO New England will increase its transmission costs by $1.5 million to $6 million total. About 30% of the increase is due to this increased transmission costs.

In 2009, Vermont Electric Cooperative announced that it would purchase 50% of the 40 megawatts Sheffield wind-generated electricity when it becomes available.

The cooperative installed smart meters at 80% of their households from 2007 to 2009. Savings using these have paid for the equipment upgrades.

A 12-member Board of Directors is elected by members. Seven seats are reserved for geographic districts. Five members are elected by the entire membership.

District 1 includes the towns of Averill, Avery's Gore, Barton, Bloomfield, Brighton, Brownington, Brunswick, Canaan, Charleston, Ferdinand, Guildhall, Holland, Lemington, Lewis, Lyndon, Maidstone, Morgan, Newark, Norton, Sheffield, Sutton, Warner's Grant, Warren Gore, Westmore and Wheelock. There are also towns in Caledonia County. District 2 includes Coventry, Derby, and Newport city. The remaining towns in Orleans County are in District 5. District 4 includes Jay, Lowell, Newport town, Westfield, and Troy. District 8 includes Albany, Barton, Craftsbury, Glover, Greensboro, and towns in Lamoille and Caledonia counties.

The president of the Board of Directors is Dan Carswell.

In 2013, there were 18 candidates for three open seats on the board.

Vermont Electric Cooperative not only supplies electricity to members, but also offers a range of programs including bill credits for the purchase of certain electric appliances and devices including electric vehicles, plug-in electric vehicles, heat pumps, heat pump hot water heaters, pellet stoves, electric forklifts, and Zero Energy Modular homes. In December 2016, Vermont Electric Cooperative launched Co-op Community Solar, a program under which members can sponsor solar panels in community solar arrays. Members pay an upfront payment for a term of either ten or twenty years and get a fixed monthly credit on their electric bill. Over the term, the total value of the bill credits exceeds the value of the upfront payment.

In 2021, Wind power in Vermont consisted of five utility-scale wind farms with a total capacity of 149 megawatts (MW). They were responsible for one-sixth of in-state electricity generation in 2019.

No other wind farms are in the pipeline as of January 2020.

The first megawatt turbine in the world was installed in Vermont, at Grandpa's Knob in 1941.

Solar power in Vermont provides almost 11% of the state's in-state electricity production as of 2018. A 2009 study indicated that distributed solar on rooftops can provide 18% of all electricity used in Vermont. A 2012 estimate suggests that a typical 5 kW system costing $25,000 before credits and utility savings will pay for itself in 10 years, and generate a profit of $34,956 over the rest of its 25-year life.

Net metering is available for up to at least 500 kW generation, but is capped at 15% of utilities peak demand. Excess generation is rolled over each month but is lost once each year. Group net metering is also allowed. Vermont is given an A for net metering and a C for interconnection. A feed-in tariff was created in 2009, but is limited to 50 MW and is fully subscribed. The cap increases by 5 to 10 MW/year starting in 2013 until it reaches 127.5 MW in 2022. It is available for solar, wind, methane, and biomass. Seven solar projects are receiving payments, of $0.30/kWh, for 25 years.

Vermont Energy Investment Corporation or VEIC is a non-profit organization in Chittenden County, Vermont that seeks to reduce the economic and environmental costs of energy consumption through energy efficiency and renewable energy adoption. Since its founding in 1986, the organization has been involved in designing energy efficiency and renewable energy programs in North America and worldwide.

VEIC also operates three large-scale energy efficiency programs in the United States, including Efficiency Vermont, the nation's first statewide energy efficiency utility.

Climate change in Vermont encompasses the effects of climate change, attributed to man-made increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide, in the U.S. state of Vermont.

The state is already seeing effects of climate change that affect its ecosystems, economy and public health. According to the Vermont state government, rainfall has significantly increased in the last 50 years, storms and flooding have increased, and winters have become warmer and shorter. These changes have led to significant impacts on both the winter tourism industry, and a decline in critical agricultural and woodland industries like maple sugaring.

The state openly acknowledges and is developing programs that respond to global warming. Vermont was one of the first states in the United States to adopt greenhouse gas emissions goals in 2006.

Climate change in Vermont encompasses the effects of climate change, attributed to man-made increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide, in the U.S. state of Vermont.

The state is already seeing effects of climate change that affect its ecosystems, economy and public health. According to the Vermont state government, rainfall has significantly increased in the last 50 years, storms and flooding have increased, and winters have become warmer and shorter. These changes have led to significant impacts on both the winter tourism industry, and a decline in critical agricultural and woodland industries like maple sugaring.

The state openly acknowledges and is developing programs that respond to global warming. Vermont was one of the first states in the United States to adopt greenhouse gas emissions goals in 2006.

According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, "Vermont's climate is changing. The state has warmed by more than two degrees (F) in the last century. Throughout the northeastern United States, spring is arriving earlier and bringing more precipitation, heavy rainstorms are more frequent, and summers are hotter and drier. Severe storms increasingly cause floods that damage property and infrastructure. In the coming decades, changing climate is likely to harm ecosystems, disrupt agriculture and winter recreation, and increase some risks to human health".

Rising temperatures and shifting rainfall patterns are likely to increase the intensity of both floods and droughts. Average annual precipitation in the Northeast increased 10 percent from 1895 to 2011, and precipitation from extremely heavy storms has increased 70 percent since 1958.

During the next century, average annual precipitation and the frequency of heavy downpours are likely to keep rising. Average precipitation is likely to increase during winter and spring, but not change significantly during summer and fall. Rising temperatures will melt snow earlier in spring and increase evaporation, and thereby dry the soil during summer and fall. So flooding is likely to be worse during winter and spring, and droughts worse during summer and fall.

Changing climate threatens ecosystems by disrupting relationships between species. Wildflowers and woody perennials are blooming—and migratory birds are arriving—sooner in spring. Not all species adjust in the same way, however, so the food that one species needs may no longer be available when that species arrives on its migration. Warmer temperatures allow deer populations to increase, leading to a loss of forest underbrush, which makes some animals more vulnerable to predators.

Climate change can allow invasive species to expand their ranges. For example, the hemlock woolly adelgid has infested hemlock trees in southern Vermont. Infestation eventually kills almost all hemlock trees, which are replaced by black oaks, black birch, and other hardwoods. Warmer temperatures are likely to enable the woolly adelgid to expand northward. The loss of hemlock trees would remove the primary habitat for the blue-headed vireo and Blackburnian warbler. It could also change stream temperatures and cause streams to run dry more often, harming brook trout and brown trout. Similarly the Emerald ash borer has expanded north into Vermont forests capitalizing on the warming winters.

Additionally, whereas previously Lyme disease was not prevalent in Vermont, because the ticks that carry the disease were not common, now it is.

Vermont has a largely rural and small town economy, which depends heavily on tourism and agriculture. However, the state's emphasis and early adoption had led to a strong green technology and business sector in the state.

Changing climate may reduce the output of Vermont's US $700-million dairy industry, which provides 70 percent of the state’s farm revenue. (As of 2019, about 135,000 of the 10 million US dairy cows were in Vermont.) Higher temperatures cause cows to eat less and produce less milk. Climate change may also pose challenges for field crops: Some farms may be harmed if more hot days and droughts reduce crop yields, or if more flooding and wetter springs delay their planting dates. Other farms may benefit from a longer growing season and the fertilizing effect of carbon dioxide.

Warmer temperatures are likely to shift the suitable habitat for sugar maples farther north into Canada. Scientists do not know whether warming will reduce maple syrup production in Vermont over the next few decades: although Vermont is the nation's leading maple syrup producer, maple syrup is also produced in warmer places in Pennsylvania and southern New York. The maple industry is already seeing a trend of declining production in the state, in part because of the earlier defrost.

Vermont's Hardiness zone's are also expected to change shifting most of the state from hardiness zone 4 where it was classified until 2000, into a project hardiness zone 5 for most of the state by 2040. The lack of cool temperatures and "freeze days" will negatively effect crops like blueberries, apples, and balsam firs.

Climate change has affected the Vermont skiing industry. Warmer winters bring more rain and less snow to Vermont. The EPA has noted that a decline in snowfall would shorten the season during which the ground is covered with snow, which could harm recreational industries like skiing, snowboarding, and snowmobiling, and local economies that depend on them.

Moreover, the autumn foliage is becoming more uncertain. This has had an effect on the flow of visitors in that season as well.

The state is already seeing increases in tick-borne and mosquito-born diseases, emergency room visits for heat related illness, and allergens: 2019 was the hottest summer on record in many parts of Vermont, and saw increased heat related illnesses.

In 2006, the state of Vermont was one of the first states in the United States to set greenhouse gas emission goals. Vermont's green energy programs, such as Efficiency Vermont and incentives for use of clean energy, have been effective at changing the mix of energy used in the state. Green Mountain Power, the main provider of energy in the state, is 60% renewable and 90% carbon free.

The state recognizes the need to invest in adaptation, especially since much of the state's infrastructure, housing stock, and economy were developed with much cooler environments.

• Plug-in electric vehicles in Vermont

Dupigny-Giroux, L.A.; E.L. Mecray; M.D. Lemcke-Stampone; G.A. Hodgkins; E.E. Lentz; K.E. Mills; E.D. Lane; R. Miller; D.Y. Hollinger; W.D. Solecki; G.A. Wellenius; P.E. Sheffield; A.B. MacDonald; C. Caldwell (2018). "Northeast". In Reidmiller, D.R.; C.W. Avery; D.R. Easterling; K.E. Kunkel; K.L.M. Lewis; T.K. Maycock; B.C. Stewart (eds.). Impacts, Risks, and Adaptation in the United States: Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume II (Report). Washington, DC, USA: U.S. Global Change Research Program. pp. 669–742. doi:10.7930/NCA4.2018.CH18.—this chapter of the National Climate Assessment covers Northeast states

• Vermont state government page on climate change in Vermont

U.S. Bicycle Route 7 (USBR 7) is a north–south U.S. Bicycle Route that follows the Western New England Greenway in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont in the United States.

Green Mountain National Forest is a national forest located in Vermont, a temperate broadleaf and mixed forest typical of the New England/Acadian forests ecoregion. The forest supports a variety of wildlife, including beaver, moose, coyote, black bear, white-tailed deer, wild turkey, and ruffed grouse. The forest, being situated in Vermont's Green Mountains, has been referred to as the granite backbone of the state.

The Vermont Foodbank is the largest anti-hunger organization in Vermont.

Started in 1986, the Vermont Foodbank provides charitable food to more than 280 food shelves, meal sites, shelters, senior centers and after-school programs throughout Vermont. According to their website, the Foodbank distributed more than 8.2 million pounds of nutritious food to as many as 86,000 hungry Vermonters in 2013.

Sugar Mountain Farm is a 70 acres (28 ha) family-operated pig farm in West Topsham, Vermont with approximately 200-400 pastured-raised pigs. The pigs are fed acid whey from a nearby dairy farm, apple pomace leftovers from a nearby cider facility, vegetables, and spent barley from a brewery as opposed to grain.

The company has stated that it uses "natural farming methods", also known as permaculture. They only use antibiotics if a pig gets sick. The farm does not use castration to control boar taint, relying on other methods such as selective breeding, diet, and pasturing males away from females. They raised sheep and pigs until 2009, when the farm focused on pork due to lower demand for lamb and wool.

Green Up Day, observed annually on the first Saturday of May, is a statewide effort in the US state of Vermont to clean up roadside trash.

Vermont ( vər-MONT) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the north. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the state had a population of 643,503, ranking it the second least populated U.S. state ahead of Wyoming. It is the nation's sixth smallest state in area. The state's capital of Montpelier is the least populous U.S. state capital. No other U.S. state has a most populous city with fewer residents than Burlington. Vermont is also well known for being the largest producer of true maple syrup in the United States for over 200 years.