Thanks to the Portland city councilors who voted recently to require the owners of certain commercial properties to begin reporting their buildings’ energy usage.

There are tools available to make the process doable, and the delay in implementation will give building owners ample opportunity to learn how the reporting systems work. Over time, benchmarking should encourage investments in efficiencies.

According to the just-released results of a new survey commissioned by the Natural Resources Council of Maine and conducted by DRI-Critical Insights, 59 percent of Mainers believe that the harmful impacts from global warming are already occurring in Maine.

With the Gulf of Maine warming faster than every other ocean area on Earth, except for one, and with the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere now at 400 parts per million, there’s literally no time to lose. I applaud the councilors’ courage.

Mary Ann Larson

Portland


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.