PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A City Council hearing on Wednesday explored a recent study of the ways Philadelphia Gas Works must change to help the city meet its goal of being carbon neutral by 2050, while preserving jobs and affordable energy.
It’s a tall order, but it’s doable, according to the study, by using a combination of weatherization and alternative energy sources including geothermal, methane from waste, and electricity. Advocates favor electrification on the theory that it will mostly be generated by renewable sources, but PGW CEO Seth Shapiro questioned the utility’s ability to keep up with demand.
Councilmembers and advocates who testified questioned the utility’s commitment to the goal.
Related
Shapiro assured Council that he was on board with reducing carbon — but then he promptly rejected the tool most likely to achieve that goal: converting customers to electric heat powered by renewable energy.
“The growth that we’re seeing in renewable generation cannot keep up with the growth in demand for electric. I haven’t seen a single credible projection that shows a decline in natural gas usage or generation over the next several decades,” he said.
“If you think about the exponential growth we’re going to see in electric vehicles, it’s just not going to keep up,” he said.
Related
That troubled but did not surprise advocates such as Logan Welde of the Clean Air Council.
“It was essentially an informercial for continuing to use gas,” Welde said.
Welde and others were equally disturbed that Shapiro — under questioning by Council members Cindy Bass and Helen Gym — defended PGW’s assistance with a bill in Harrisburg that would prohibit the city from reducing gas use through electrification.
Company emails show a PGW lobbyist suggested language for the bill, which harms Philadelphia’s zero-carbon goal.
Shapiro said he was just providing expertise.
“I’ve read these emails,” he said. “It’s not lobbying. I don’t see it.”
PGW has officially been neutral on the bill.