Energy Committee Agenda 03.21.23

March 20, 2023 Karen Hambleton Energy Committee, Minutes 0

Meeting at BACC 5:00-6:30 pm

Review and approval of January Minutes  

  1. Vital Communities Climate Change Leadership Academy Updates.
    • Community Power
    • Municipal Solar
  2. Town Hall Renovation Project – Update
  3. Municipal Weatherization Status  
    • Fire Station – The BEC submitted a Warrant Article Petition to the Town Clerk to weatherize the Fire Station.  The election was rescheduled to March 29, 2023 due to weather. The NHSaves representative inquired with Sandra about the status of the project and was informed of the delay.
    •  Highway Garage Update – rescheduled to May 2023.
    • Library – Weatherization of our Library in December 2021 resulted in a 25% annual reduction in heating oil use during the 2022 heating season.
  4. Solar Energy
    • Update on rooftop solar.
      • Highway – roof not suitable to support solar panels
      • BACC – long term use needs to be determined
      • Fire Station – estimate requested
      • Library – abutter’s large pines may need to be removed.
  5. Town Hall – No updates
  6. Heat Pumps – No updates
  7. Kearsarge Climate Action
    • Kearsarge Climate Action (KCA) and Kearsarge Neighborhood Partners (KNP) announce a window insert project under the guidance of the non-profit  WindowDressers.org  This local volunteer project will be available to residents of the Sunapee Kearsarge area to be held in late Fall 2023 at St. Andrews Church in New London, NH.
    • A good place to stay on top of NH legislative updates is through the https://www.newhampshirenetwork.org/NH-bills
  8. BEC Public Outreach
    • Status of Warrant Article Petition to weatherize the Fire Station,
  9. An article planned for the April Bridge will share a decision-making tool for individuals or businesses that own buildings to use Inflation Reduction Act funds to lower their carbon footprint. The beta version is ready and covers the entire state of NH and can be found at: https://go.elevationweb.org/ira-decision-making-tool. It was created by The Durham Energy Committee in collaboration with Elevation, a nonprofit digital services agency.
  10. Outreach to NH politicians. Comments were submitted to our NH House representatives urging them to vote yes on HB208. This Bill would establish greenhouse gas emission reduction goals for the state and establish a climate action plan which was last updated in 2009. The Bill passed on March 16, 2023 which will make NH eligible for significant federal funding opportunities for energy efficiency, electrification of heating and transportation, and clean energy deployments from the IRA over the next several years.
  11. Energy Opportunities for Bradford Re: Inflation Reduction Act formerly known as Build Back Better

The BEC will continue to report on energy saving opportunities.

  1. Other Items
  2. Conclude