Review and approval of March Minutes
- Vital Communities Climate Change Leadership Academy Updates.
- Jenny is writing an article about Community Power for the Bridge. Warner voted to switch to Community Power at their recent town meeting. We will reach out to them to learn from their experience. There are three choices for suppliers in NH, one of which is a non-profit coalition. We will present all three for discussion and input from the Select Board. Public hearings would follow, and then it would need to be presented to the town as a warrant article at the 2024 town Meeting.
- Municipal Solar – We concluded after much research and many possible scenarios examined, that our municipal buildings will not benefit from solar installations at this time. Possibilities are also very complicated at Naughton property or Transfer Station. Until there is an expansion of the electrical grid to accommodate a larger array, a solar installation is not a financially sound investment for the town. See #4.
- Town Hall Renovation Project – Work continues. See update in the April Bridge.
- Municipal Weatherization Status
- Fire Station – The residents approved the Warrant Article Petition to weatherize the Fire Station on March 29, 2023. This will happen in the fall. Once completed and paid by the town, NHSaves has committed to pay an incentive to the town 42% of the cost of the weatherization.
- Highway Garage Update – Steve Hall is in the process of scheduling the work for May 2023. A new process for sealing cracks: AeroBarrier nozzles dispense a mist of waterborne acrylic that fills cracks and holes as it exits a building pressurized with a blower door. This option is being explored with Steve.
- Library – Weatherization of our Library in December 2021 resulted in a 25% annual reduction in heating oil use during the 2022 heating season.
- Solar Energy
- Update on rooftop solar.
- Highway – roof not suitable to support solar panels
- BACC – long term use needs to be determined
- Fire Station – ReVision’s high level assessment of the Fire Station roof indicated that the east-west orientation is not favorable for the installation of rooftop solar panels.
- Library – abutter’s large pines may need to be removed.
- Sandra and Kathleen will meet with the Bradford Economic Development Committee to discuss their interest in solar for Bradford to share our research.
- Update on rooftop solar.
- Heat Pumps – The Town Librarian is in the process of obtaining estimates for the installation of mini-split heat pumps and has requested the Energy Committee to investigate funding opportunities. Heat pumps would also be useful for air conditioning upgrades. Sandra is investigating NHSaves rebates for municipal buildings.
- 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
- Kathleen testified for SB68 based on HB314. See #8. Her point being that until the grid in rural areas has the capacity to handle larger (5MW) solar arrays, we will be unable to take advantage of this opportunity.
- BEC Public Outreach
- Information on a decision-making tool to help individuals and communities obtain the most money for energy assistance under the Inflation Reduction Act was published in the April Bradford Bridge.
- May Bradford Bridge – Laura has written on rebates and energy tax credits. This is a good time to encourage residents do a home energy audit and plan. There will be an article from KFC on the Window Dressers program. Also a few words about “No Mow May”.
- Energy assistance: application process will remain the same next year. April 30 was the deadline for this past winter. There will be money next year, and we discussed ways that we can help residents apply for this assistance. The procedure was complicated, grants were slow to be paid, and we could help get the word out on how to apply next year by posting info at the Freege, elementary school, food pantry, etc.
- Outreach to NH politicians. Comments and testimony (Kathleen Bigford) were submitted to our NH Senate urging them to vote yes on SB68. This bill is simply a reaffirmation of a policy choice that has already been endorsed by both chambers of the legislature, and signed by the governor in 2021 in the form of HB315. SB68 removes the requirement that a municipal host under the limited electrical energy producers’ act be located in the same municipality as all group members thus benefiting smaller towns in more rural parts of the state. SB68 will allow these towns to band together to build 5MW projects collaboratively. These shared community energy facilities will be large enough to offer competitive rates, and offer meaningful savings on municipal energy bills, putting downward pressure on property taxes. Smaller energy projects, the kind allowed under current law, cannot achieve these same savings
- The BEC will continue to report on energy saving funding and opportunities for residents and our Municipality.
- Conclude Next meeting Tuesday, May 16, 2023, 5pm-6pm.