Energy Committee Agenda 11.28.23

November 28, 2023 Karen Hambleton Energy Committee, Minutes 0

Meeting at BACC 5:00-6:00 pm

Review and approval of October Minutes

  1. Community Power Update
  2. Town Hall Renovation Project – See Bradford Bridge for updates.
  3. Municipal Weatherization Status  
    • Highway Garage Update – waiting for incentive payment of $4,316.65.
    • Fire Station Update. Air sealing and insulation of the attic spaces above the offices and training room and the above concrete walls was conducted 10/30-11/1. Shakes to Shingles will return to seal gaps above the parking bays, etc. using AeroBarrier.
  4. Solar Energy – No updates.  
  5. Heat Pumps – No updates. 
  6. Kearsarge Climate Action  
    • Site visits to a number of businesses and schools was carried out on 11/7 and additional site visits scheduled for 12/6.
    • Window Dressers build 11/9-11/15. This collaboration of the Kearsarge Neighborhood Partners, KCA and Window Dressers brings custom low-cost window inserts to local residents and businesses. 
  7. New Hampshire Network: The New Hampshire Network for Environment, Energy, and Climate was founded in January 2021 to facilitate communication among groups concerned about New Hampshire’s environment, energy future, and climate.  Sandra and Laura participated in a kickoff meeting of a newly formed Energy Group on 10/19/23.
  8. Legislative Updates
    • A good place to stay on top of NH legislative updates is through the https://www.newhampshirenetwork.org/NH-bills
    • Although this is not a new law, NH RSA 261:153 (2022) enables towns and cities to adopt a $5 fee to vehicle registrations to fund EV chargers in your municipalities. This could help Bradford raise money to fund Energy related projects such as EV charging stations.  
  9. BEC Public Outreach
    • The November issue of the Bradford Bridge contained an article entitled Bradford Community Power Moving Forward and an article on Business Food Waste Diversion in the Kearsarge Area – Pigs to the Rescue: Who knew they could help the climate?
  10. Proposed articles for December Bridge
    • Susan proposed writing an article on benefits on switching to heat pump water heaters.
  11. Other Items
    • 2023 Local Energy Solutions (LES) Conference November 2, 2023. Take away message: Distributed Energy Resources (DER) have the potential to reduce peak electricity demands by 20-30%. Details are contained in a newly released report by the Department of Energy’s (DOE) “Pathway to Commercial Liftoff for Virtual Power Plants”.
  12. Conclude