Brown professor tells House committee Rhode Island must 'turn off the tap' on fossil fuels, urges electrification and batteries

Providence — Dr. Steven Porter, a professor at Brown University, told the House Committee on Environment and Natural Resources on Jan. 29 that Rhode Island can meet its climate targets only by rapidly electrifying heating and transportation and eliminating on‑site combustion of gas and oil.

Porter said Rhode Island emits roughly 10,000,000 tons of CO2 per year and that ‘‘the only way to solve this problem is to turn off the tap’’ — meaning stop burning fossil fuels on site and shift to electric heat, electric vehicles and zero‑emission power generation. He argued that electrification plus clean electricity would reduce emissions, improve public health and lower household operating costs.

The committee heard examples from Porter’s own home retrofit, which replaced oil heat and an oil hot‑water heater with heat pumps and an induction stove. He said the retrofit reduced the house’s emissions from about 10 tons a year to…