In 2022 Maryland passed the Climate Solutions Now Act, a law that is so popular that Governor Hogan chose not to veto it in an election year. Maryland is now required by law to eliminate our net greenhouse gas pollution by 2045 and hit a 60% by 2031 benchmark.
The very next year, in 2023 Maryland had the tremendous good fortune to have Governor Moore appoint Serena McIlwain as the new Secretary of the Maryland Department of the Environment. Secretary McIlwain arrived in the position with a clear mandate from the legislature to eliminate net climate pollution.
And she has taken up the mantle given to her by the legislature. Her department has created a detailed roadmap for how to achieve that requirement, the Climate Pollution Reduction Plan, a plan that, if fully implemented would save the average household up to $4,000 in reduced energy costs, generate up to $1.2 billion in public health benefits, increase personal income by $2.5 billion, and create a net gain of 27,400 jobs between now and 2031 as compared with current policies. She not only created that plan but has led her team in an effective implementation of the plan
In this episode I have the great honor to be joined by Secretary McIlwain to talk about new data on how close we are to hitting the necessary pollution cuts, the tremendous work she has done so far and what work remains. She is actually joining this conversation from Rio De Janeiro where she is attending the 30th UN Convention on Climate Change Conference of the Parties or COP 30
I think most people following Maryland energy issues are aware that Brandon Shores and Wagner coal plants are closing because coal cannot compete in today’s energy market, but far fewer know the full story of how these two coal plants, built more than 50 years ago, ended up costing Maryland rate payers billions of dollars in the 2020s. That story is so full of negligence, greed, and conflict of interest from PJM and utilities that I feel genuine shock every time I hear it. I honestly believe that the energy conversation in Maryland would be fundamentally changed if everyone knew the full timeline of events that led us to this moment. That’s why I’m dedicating this episode to telling the true and terrible story of these coal plants. I won’t have a guest joining me today, it’s just me, you, and the gripping tale of a multibillion dollar heist.
Appliances used to heat our buildings emit three times more air pollution than all the power plants in Maryland combined. As we have talked about before, addressing this pollution in large existing buildings has tremendous benefits, and Building Energy Performance Standards or BEPS are an indispensable tool for energy efficiency and pollution reduction from large existing buildings. 15 different jurisdictions across the country have adopted Building Energy Performance Standards. Maryland, of course, enacted a state-wide BEPS program in 2022, requiring all buildings over 35,000 square feet to eliminate onsite emissions by 2040, and that remains current law.
The Maryland General Assembly in 2025 passed legislation to conduct a study about Maryland’s BEPS program and how it could be improved, and while that study is ongoing, it is worth looking at Maryland’s only other successful BEPS program, the one in Montgomery county which is successfully being implemented today.
To talk about all about Montgomery County’s BEPS program and what lessons the state wide BEPS program could take away I am joined by Emily Curley who is the
Building Energy Performance Programs Manager for Montgomery County and Garrett Fitzgerald who is the Section Chief - Climate Programs and State Policy for Montgomery County.
You can read all about how lawsuits challenging BEPS are flimsy here. That blog talks about a Colorado case specifically, but the case being brought in Montgomery County is on even shakier ground.
In February of 2023 the Maryland People’s Counsel initiated a docket at the Public Service Commission to consider the future of gas in Maryland. That docket has already resulted in meaningful changes to how Maryland regulates gas infrastructure, and the process is far from complete. To talk about the proceedings, what has come out of them so far, and what the next steps in the process are, I am thrilled to be joined by the Chair of the Maryland Public Service Commission himself, Chairman Fred Hoover.
Solar appears to have reached some kind of super critical singularity, or tipping point. Whatever you want to call it, something is happening with solar that has never happened before and that many people never thought would never be possible.
In the first half of 2025 China installed more than 250 gigawatts of solar energy. For context, the PJM Grid has a combined total capacity of 182 gigawatts. So the solar China installed just in the past 6 months is capable of meeting 130% of PJM’s peak demand
And this is not just happening in China. In 2024 Pakistan imported 17 gigawatts of solar power, equal to the countries entire installed capacity of gas power, and twice the installed capacity of their coal fleet, imported in a single year.
For the first time Texas is regularly meeting roughly half of its power demand with solar energy, and California, the fourth largest economy in the world, can at times meet 100% of its power demand with solar energy. So much solar has been built in California that the use of gas for electricity generation has decreased 40% since 2023
Globally, the world installed 64% more solar so far in 2025 than we did in 2024, which was itself a record smashing year, an exponential growth rate of head spinning speed
This is all happening because solar energy is now by far the cheapest form of electricity generation the fastest to build, and the cleanest to boot.
To celebrate this bright spot in energy news, Third Act has declared today, September 21st as Sun - Day, a day to celebrate the amazing power of the sun. To talk about what this new solar paradigm means for Maryland I am joined by Leah Meredith who is the Mid-Atlantic Regional Director at the Solar Energy Industry Association SEIA, or as she is affectionately known, Leah with SEIA
Energy prices are going up and it is a real problem. Families are being forced to make difficult decisions about whether to heat their home, or put food on the table. What is driving up these energy bills? Exactly how much have they gone up, and what can people do to lower their bills?
To help answer all of these questions my guest today is low income energy advocate Laurel Peltier who Chairs the Energy Advocates Coalition and has been instrumental in recent policy victories to help lower energy prices. She volunteers her time offering expert advice to people struggling to pay their energy bills, and she is kind enough to share that wisdom with all of us.
You can see Laurel's complete guide to lowering your energy bill here
If you could take every dollar the state invests in clean energy and turn it into two dollars, that would be a super power, but much more than that The Maryland Clean Energy Center has proven that it is able to turn every one dollar invested into clean energy into 14 dollars. Given that the state sorely needs the ability to multiply money right now, I sat down with Kathy MaGruder who is the Executive Director of the Maryland Clean Energy Center and Kieth Wang who is the Finance Manager at MCEC.
The demand for electricity in our region is projected to increase sharply in the coming years, driven largely by data centers. We know that the fastest, most cost effective way to make sure the grid has the capacity to accommodate this increased demand is through the use of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs).
Sparkfund is a new company with a novel approach to bringing DERs to scale. I first heard about Sparkfund from an episode of David Roberts’ Volts podcast (which I highly recommend listening to as well), and given that Maryland very much needs to find ways of building new generation in-state quickly and cheaply, I immediately wanted to learn more. When I learned that Sparkfund is looking to work in Maryland, I of course wanted to have someone on this podcast to talk all about what this new approach will mean for our state. I am honored today to joined by Brendan Reed who is the Vice-President of Sparkfund to tell us all about it.
Energy prices in Maryland are going up. They rose in January of this year mainly because of utility overspending on distribution networks, this summer and fall, bills are going to go up again but this time because of increases to the supply part of the bill, the responsibility of our region’s grid manager, PJM.
It is well established that the private organization PJM that oversees our grid makes proposed new energy projects wait in a queue for a very long time before allowing them to get built, longer than other grids. Some projects spend more than 5 years in this energy permitting purgatory. It is also generally understood by those who follow energy issues that by slowing down the buildout of new deployment PJM has contributed to increasing energy prices.
What we have today that is new and exciting is a report, Tackling the PJM Electricity Cost Crisis, which quantifies exactly how much PJM’s mismanagement of their queue is costing all of us.
I am thrilled today to be joined by Sabine Chavin who is a Senior Associate at Synapse Energy, the research and consulting firm that conducted the study, and Julia Kortrey who is the Deputy Director of state policy at Evergreen Action, the non-profit who commissioned the study.
Mike Tidwell is the founder and executive director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network and a successful author. For the past 20 years he has dedicated practically every day of his life to doing the most he possibly can to reduce the harmful impacts of climate change. In the past two years or so that has meant on top of being an executive director for a regional non-profit, waking up before dawn every day so he could write a new book.
That book, The Lost Trees of Willow Ave, a story of climate and hope on one American Street, is now out and available for purchase. It is an emotionally gripping narrative with valuable and at times surprising insights on where the climate movement is headed.
I am overjoyed to have Mike on the show to talk about his new book.
Congratulations on finishing the legislative session of 2025 everyone! I want to say a heartfelt and genuine thank you to every lawmaker and every staffer who worked this session. As we are seeing on the federal level, a functioning government is not something to be taken for granted, and it is only possible here in Maryland because of your tremendous work and dedication. Thank you for your public service to Maryland and to your country.
This year legislative leaders in the House and Senate passed a package of three energy bills to address Maryland energy problems. Brittany Baker and I walked through these three bills as they were introduced in a previous episode, but I want to revisit them because a lot got changed and there were significant improvements and additions to the legislation, so in this episode I will go over everything in the leadership energy package and what the bills accomplish.
Advanced Clean Cars II is, according to MDE, Maryland’s single largest climate pollution reduction strategy over the long term, and Advanced Clean Trucks is a second program having a significant positive impact on Maryland’s transition off of fossil fuels.
Unfortunately, there is legislation being considered this year, HB1556, that would delay the enforcement of both of these programs.
In that context, I wanted to talk with Maryland’s leading clean transportation expert and advocate, Lindsey Mendelson who is the Senior Transportation Campaign Representative at Maryland Sierra Club to talk about Advanced Clean Cars II and Advanced Clean Trucks, the benefits that these programs have for Maryland, and why it’s more important than ever to defend them.
Today we take a break from our normal energy focused programing to talk about a historic and nationally significant bill moving through the legislature in Maryland, the Prescription Drug Affordability Board HB424/SB357. At a time when prices for everything are going up, Maryland lawmakers have found a way to lower the cost to Marylander of one of the most expensive and necessary items in many of our lives, prescription drugs.
To tell us all about it I am overjoyed to have on the show today the founder and executive director of the Maryland Citizens Health Initiative and my wonderful dad, Vincent DeMarco. Thanks so much for talking with me today.
In Annapolis there is much debate about what Maryland’s electric grid does or doesn’t need, one thing that has been decidedly absent is any publicly available modeling about Maryland’s electric grid.
That’s why I am so thrilled that the respected modeling firm Center for Climate Strategies has just put out a new report based on a model they created of Maryland’s energy system. This report has so many helpful insights that are directly relevant to policies currently being considered by lawmakers in Annapolis.
For example, there is no publicly available modeling showing that Maryland needs new gas generation in order to meet growing energy demand, and spoiler alert, this report also does not find that Maryland needs new gas to meet growing demand.
To talk about that and the many other revelations from the model he created and the report he just released, my guest today is Tom Peterson, the founder and CEO of Center for Climate Strategies.
I have a real treat to share with you today, a conversation with Delegate Charkoudian explaining what a Renewable Energy Credit is! This is another one from the vault, and this is actually the very first conversation we recorded together, the one that got this whole podcast started.
A Renewable Energy Credit is really the building block that makes up our entire clean energy policy, and you really can’t understand our energy policies without a full understanding of what a REC is, and every kind of REC is different in its own unique way. This is a fun one and I hope you enjoy it.
I think everyone in Annapolis is aware there are a lot of energy bills flying around, but not everyone is fully up to date on each of the bills, what they do, and how they interact. The goal of this episode is to give you a crash course on the biggest electricity generation bills this year and what they all mean.
We will talk about the three bills in the energy package that the Senate President and Speaker of the House put together, including the Renewable Energy Certainty Act, the Energy Resource Adequacy and Planning Act, and the next Generation Energy Act. We will also talk about the Governor’s ENERGIZE Act and review Delegate Charkoudian and Senator Brook’s Abundant, Affordable, Clean Energy Act.
To help us walk through all these bills I have a very special guest today: one of the great energy experts and advocates in Annapolis, Brittany Baker who is the Maryland Director at the Chesapeake Climate Action Network.
In 2022 the Maryland General Assembly enacted Building Energy Performance Standards or BEPS. More than a dozen states and municipalities have enacted BEPS and it’s easy to see why. The program has benefits for air quality, energy affordability, grid stability, and quality of life. As Churchill said “We shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us.” Improving our buildings improves our lives.
I’m thrilled to say that BEPS is currently in effect, regulating the 9,000 buildings over 35,000 square feet, reducing pollution today.
This year, the Maryland Department of the Environment has introduced a bill that would amend BEPS to allow building owners additional flexibility in complying with BEPS, SB256 HB49. The bill as introduced is pretty short, but MDE has negotiated with lawmakers a package of amendments that provide a great deal of additional flexibility and leeway for building owners. The bottom line is that if the bill passes as amended no building owner will have to do anything unless the investment pays for itself over a fixed period of time.
I’m grateful to MDE and the legislators for developing legislation that helps out building owners while maintaining the program.
Do dive into exactly what changes are being proposed to BEPS, my guest today is Cliff Majersik with the Institute for Market Transformation. He was the policy lead in developing the first BEPS in the country, and has been involved in every other BEPS policy across the country. I can think of no one better to have this conversation with.
Transportation is the largest single source of climate pollution in Maryland. Fully one third of all our emissions come from this sector. For reference, the second biggest source of emissions in Maryland is electricity generation which makes up only about one fifth of total emissions.
The legislation in the general assembly this year that has the greatest potential to reduce emissions from the transportation sector is the Transportation and Climate Alignment Act, SB0395 and HB0084 introduced by Senator Hester and Delegate Edelson. This bill passed both chambers last year but the clock ran out on it on Sine Die.
The Transportation and Climate Alignment Act has the potential to lower transportation costs, increase transit options, reduce congestion, cut climate pollution, and even lessen the burden on our electrical grid. It does all of this not by investing new money but by shifting how we invest existing transportation funds
In the summer of 2024 I sat down with Delegate Lorig Charkoudian to record a conversation about what PJM is and how it affects our energy policy here in Maryland. This was before the launch of this podcast, and we simply uploaded our conversation onto Youtube where you can still find it.
This is one of my favorite conversations I have recorded on energy policy because it really demystifies an entity that has enormous control over our energy system. Going in, I thought I knew a lot about PJM, but I didn’t fully understand exactly what it’s doing until this conversation. I think you’ll get a lot out of it, and I wanted to share it on this podcast.
Right now, Marylanders are paying for the costs of climate change. Higher tides, hotter heat waves, and heavier rain events are all damaging infrastructure and requiring expensive repairs. Public schools that never needed AC for over a hundred years now need to have AC installed at great expense to tax payers. Salt water intrusion is making what used to be agricultural land infertile, slashing property values and as a result, property taxes to the state. 40 years ago, 9 inches of rain was a once in a hundred year rain event, today, 9 inches of rain is at least a once in 10 year rain event. None of our storm water management systems were designed to handle that increased precipitation. Many of those systems are in the middle of the expensive process of upgrading, and where upgrades to storm water management systems aren’t happening, floods are damaging people’s homes.
You can throw a dart at the map of Maryland and wherever the dart lands you will find stories of state funds being used to pay for damages caused by climate change. These costs are not optional. If a road floods regularly at high tide it will need repair, and right now the Maryland tax payer is paying for all of them. Climate damages are contributing to the projected budget deficit in Maryland
Thankfully, Maryland’s Senior US Senator Chris Van Hollen developed an innovative policy that will make the largest international fossil fuel companies pay for the cost of climate damages and ensure they cannot pass the cost on to consumers. He has introduced his Polluter Pays Act in Congress and that legislation has inspired a state version of the policy called the RENEW Act which Senator Hester, Delegate Fraser-Hidalgo and Delegate Boafo have introduced in Maryland.
Making polluters pay is extremely popular, with a full 70% of Marylanders supporting it. The policy has growing momentum and has been enacted in multiple other states, and it’s easy to see why. It provides immediate taxpayer relief at a time when the cost of living never seems to stop rising.
I am thrilled that Senator Van Hollen is my guest today on Maryland Energy Talk to discuss how we can make polluters pay for the climate damages in Maryland