Client: New Leaf Energy, Inc.
Authors: Joshua Castigliego and Sumera Patel
November 2024
On behalf of New Leaf Energy, Inc., Senior Researcher Joshua R. Castigliego and Assistant Researcher Sumera Patel conducted analysis estimating the net change in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions resulting from New Leaf Energy’s proposed clean energy facility on Maple Springs Road in Wareham, Massachusetts. This proposed facility will house solar photovoltaics (PV) and an energy storage system (ESS) (collectively referred to as “PV+ESS facility”) and require 32.7 acres of land to be cleared of trees to make way for its development.
AEC estimated net emission savings of this proposed PV+ESS facility as the sum of “positive” CO2 emissions savings (i.e., reduced emissions) from the electric grid due to renewable energy generation and “negative” CO2 emissions (i.e., increased emissions) due to land-use conversion from forestland to grassland. Combined, these two effects result in substantial net emissions savings (i.e., reduced emissions) resulting from the proposed New Leaf Energy facility: AEC’s analysis shows that the facility’s grid emissions reductions would be roughly 4.4 times greater than its added emissions due to site development.