5:00 pm Bradford Town Hall
Review and approval of January Minutes. Introduction of a new member of the Energy Committee.
- Community Power Update
- Municipal Weatherization Status – The BEC plans to evaluate the effectiveness of the weatherization projects and to identify other energy saving opportunities at the Fire Station, Highway Garage and the Library. Sandra has obtained fuel oil and electricity consumption data for the past two years as well as information on the oil burning equipment for these three facilities. She has reached out to Shakes to Shingles for assistance with the analysis. In progress.
- Solar Energy
- Electrification
a. Geothermal opportunities?
b. Heat pump installation opportunities?
c. Other? - New Hampshire Network Update
a. NH’s Comprehensive Climate Action Plan – Working sessions have commenced and volunteers are needed to assist in the development of the Plan.
b. Like NH’s 2009 CAP, this year’s State of NH Priority Climate Action Plan (PCAP), March 2024 GhGe reduction targets are not mandatory. The NH DES is under executive orders to not make any specific policy, legislative or fiscal recommendations, but to highlight opportunities under current policies and statutes. The PCAP identifies the measures below as having the most impact in reducing tons of CO2 from 2025-2050:
i. Heat pumps to improve energy efficiency of buildings and water heaters;
ii. Incentivizing EV and plug-in hybrid purchases;
iii. Weatherization and pre-weatherization to improve energy efficiency of buildings; and
iv. Food waste optimization. - Legislative Updates
a. A good place to stay on top of NH legislative updates is through https://www.newhampshirenetwork.org/NH-bills
b. Another good place is the NH Network Bill Action website.
c. Online testimony can be given using this website at the NH General Court. Sandra has been forwarding the links to these websites to an informal email distribution group of climate advocates. - BEC Public Outreach in February
a. Energy Assistance for Businesses
b. Energy Audits and Weatherization for Residences
c. Energy Saving Home Improvements Help at Tax Time Too! - Proposed articles for March Bridge
a. Sandra wrote a Letter to the editor. - Other Items
a. KCA – Sandra and Susan attended the meeting on 1/27/25. Energy Committee members reported on actions by their Towns. KCA is working on scheduling Button-up Workshops.
b. NHSaves opportunities for Bradford businesses? Looking for a case study.
c. Inflation Reduction Funds availability.
d. Sandra and Susan both watched a webinar State of Clean Energy – Presentation by Sam Evans Brown, Clean Energy NH February 6. Some takeaways: - All federal funding is paused for review and nobody knows what this really means. Sam hopes that philanthropy could help fill in for this loss.
- NH is way behind all of the other New England states in terms of renewable energy. Rhode Island is at almost 100%
- There has been a growing backlash against solar in NH hence all of these crazy bills hitting our legislature. 400 local ordinances across the US have rejected clean energy initiatives.
- Continued solar development is key and a non-profit called Solsmart is partnering with Clean Energy NH to help towns with planning, permitting, zoning, etc.
- CENH is focused on the economic benefits to advocate for clean energy transition policy. This is the most important selling point for getting towns onboard. Save money! Not sure if/how CENH folds this into the idea of economic losses from climate change to our state, so reliant on summer and winter sports.
- Solar is overwhelmingly the cheapest source of energy. Many countries are making huge gains in converting – even poor countries like Pakistan.
e. Sandra attended a webinar February 10 – Unwrap the Future III. Reuse and Zero Waste as the New Normal presented by the NH Plastics Workgroup. Plastic is worse than we thought. Less than 5-6% of plastic is recycled as it is too toxic for reuse with a few exceptions. Most ends up in a landfill or incinerated. Moving from single use to refill is better for the environment. Balloons kill wildlife. New research from the University of New Mexico, in collaboration with several institutions, reveals that the brain may contain significantly higher levels of microplastics compared to other organs. The study, published in Nature Medicine, analyzed tissue samples from 47 cadavers and found that brain tissue contained roughly ten times more microplastics than liver and kidney tissue. The average microplastic content in the brain was about 4,800 micrograms per gram, equivalent to the amount found in a plastic spoon. Dr. Matthew Campen and his research team’s groundbreaking work continues to shed light on the environmental and health impact of microplastics. - Conclude