New Hampshire Municipal Energy Assistance Program
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MEAP
The New Hampshire Municipal Energy Assistance Program is made possible through the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission and the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reductions Fund.
New Hampshire has recently seen a dramatic increase of resources available to municipalities to assist in energy conservation and efficiency. While the various activities may take different paths, the common goal is reduced energy costs at the municipal and community levels. Among the resources at your disposal is the NH Municipal Energy Assistance Program (NHMEAP), a collaborative effort involving existing New Hampshire entities, funded through the NH Public Utilities Commission.
The purpose is to provide a guided (and staffed) step-by-step process to help up to 48 New Hampshire communities become project-ready. This effort will set the ground work for future technical assistance through Regional Planning Commissions and other agencies, and for gaining access to funding through state and federal programs for implementation projects.
This page will provide continued updates on the progress of the program and further information on events and ways your community can participate.
Project Partners
Executive Summary of Grant
The past few years have seen a dramatic increase in the number of New Hampshire (and New England) towns forming LECs – groups of citizens charged with assessing and improving community action on global warming and energy use. Through the work with New Hampshire LECs and communities in general, Clean Air Cool Planet and partners have performed over three dozen town-level inventories and supported more than 90 New Hampshire LECs. The Sustainable Energy Resource Group (SERG), has similar experience consulting and networking with some 75 LECs in Vermont and in New Hampshire’s Upper Valley region.
CA-CP and SERG, along with Jeffrey H. Taylor and Associates (JHTA); Sustainable Development & Energy Systems, LLC (SDES); Carbon Solutions New England (CSNE); and Vital Communities (VC) proposed a collaborative project to carry out a sequence of greenhouse gas emissions inventories and energy audits for between 24 and 48 geographically diverse communities in New Hampshire, setting the stage for these communities to perform renovations to selected buildings that would reduce energy use by as much as 50%. In each of the 24-48 selected communities, we will use EPA’s Portfolio Manger and the new Small Town Carbon Calculator (STOCC) to inventory municipal emissions, prepare a summary report, and present that report to select boards, town officials, and members of the public.
Once initial inventories are complete, we will work with each participating town to identify a low-performing building and to carry out an energy audit for that building. In most of the towns, the selected building will receive a Decision Grade energy audit, a type of basic audit designed to identify most, if not all, energy conservation measures appropriate for a facility given its operating parameters and site owner's objectives. In the remaining two to five communities, to be selected based on their participation in the inventory stage of this project, we will conduct more in-depth Investment Grade audits for their lowest-performing municipal building. Both types of audits will culminate in a set of recommendations for building retrofits and renovations that would allow the town to reduce its building’s energy use by 50% within a 60-month timeframe. In addition, a representative sample of six communities will be chosen to receive comprehensive policy audits. These will focus on whether regulatory policies at the municipal level are unnecessarily contributing to greenhouse gas releases, for example by requiring overly dispersed development patterns or preventing the expansion of existing village centers. Findings will be presented to select boards and town officials with the goal of effecting changes in local policies.
Once all audit reports are released, the project team will provide on-going support to towns as they begin the process of identifying priority renovations/retrofits, creating RFPs, hiring contractors and realizing their potential reductions.
All phases of this project will be accompanied by a program of public engagement and education, both for the selected communities, and for the broader New Hampshire audience. Local involvement in participating communities will be solicited in both the inventory and the audit processes, trainings in inventory and audit practices and home weatherization will be offered, and all results and reports will be released at community events. For towns throughout New Hampshire, we will publicize success stories through press releases in the media and through case studies on the Clean Air-Cool Planet website, as well as through discussion sessions at Clean Air-Cool Planet’s upcoming LEC Conference, and through informal distribution to about 100 existing New Hampshire Local Energy Committees.
Through this project, we will build capacity within New Hampshire towns to address their energy use and greenhouse gas emissions in a systematic, effective and locally relevant way. This will in turn yield the benefit of reduced emissions within these towns, on the order of about 50%. This benefit will begin to be realized within the term of a one-year grant, but will primarily be realized in the longer term, as towns begin to undertake recommended renovations with on-going support from the project team.
Selected Towns
Almost 60 communities applied to participate in the NH Municipal Energy Assistance Program (MEAP). Of the 52 towns that met the September 25 application deadline, we selected 32 towns in a first round. A number of factors informed our selections: it was important all 10 New Hampshire counties be represented; we explored the potential for results to be transferred to other communities; we took into account the socio-economic ranking of the town as measured by the New Hampshire Community Development Finance Authority for use in the administration of its Community Development Block Grant program; and we wanted to include towns of different population sizes. Letters of support accompanying applications, which was strongly encouraged, also influenced our final selections.
The following towns were selected: Albany, Alstead, Barrington , Berlin, Canterbury, Chesterfield, Cornish , Danbury, Danville, Dunbarton, Enfield, Fremont , Grafton, Hopkinton , Hollis, Kingston , Laconia, Lancaster, Lebanon , Lee, Littleton , Marlborough , Newfields , New London, Northumberland, Peterborough , Sanbornton , Sandwich, Sullivan, Washington , Weare, and Westmoreland.
NEW! The following towns were selected in the final round:
Barnstead, Bedford, Dorchester, Exeter, Franconia, Gilmanton, Goffstown, Gorham, New Castle, New Ipswich, Pittsfield, Rye, Springfield, Stratham, Tuftonboro, and Thornton
Energy Project Assistants
Eight Energy Project Assistants were hired to assist the selected towns with the first step of the process: the municipal energy inventory. Sarah Harpster from Clean Air Cool Planet along with Robert Walker of SERG and Gabe Zoerheide from Vital Communities will directly supervise the assistants. A successful training was conducted on October 3rd in Concord for the assistants. The project assistants are located across the state of New Hampshire to provide in-house service to the selected towns. Each town will receive an introductory letter and phone call to begin the process and meet their assigned Project Assistant.
The Energy Project Assistants are: Liz Canal: Canterbury, Hopkinton, Washington, Springfield and Weare; Sandra Bisset: Barrington, Hampton, Lee, Exeter, New Castle, Rye, Stratham and Newfields; Dave Peel: Berlin, Lancaster, Littleton, Gorham, and Northumberland; Brittany Phelps: Albany, Peterborough, Gilmanton, Tuftonboro, Dorchester, and Sandwich; Laura Chestnut: Cornish, Danbury, Enfield, Lebanon, New London and Grafton; Lisa Baldwin: Laconia, Franconia, Thornton, and Sanbornton; Tim McDonald: Danville. Freemont, Pittsfield, Barnstead, and Kingston; James Vayo: Alstead, Chesterfield, Marlborough, Hollis, Bedford, Goffstown, New Ipswich and Dunbarton; Maryellen Rousseau: Westmoreland
Comments from Selected Towns
Franconia: NHMEAP has been very valuable for Franconia. It has helped the town get started with energy reduction management with relatively easy steps. The LEC had an intention to start measuring town energy usage, but needed help getting started. With this program (NHMEAP), the town completed 90% of the energy inventory within 2 weeks and could quickly see the distribution of town’s energy use. With the easy steps provided by MEAP, gathering your town’s energy data is much more manageable and simple than expected. Franconia is beginning to see the value of looking at energy data on monthly basis to evaluate the energy usage flow throughout the year.
Lee: We are extremely grateful to have the technical assistance of the MEAP program within our community. The MEAP program is helping us to evaluate our energy needs and getting us organized toward energy conservation. The Lee Energy Committee has been working for sometime to focus on helping the community with weatherization programs etc, and with the additional timely help of the MEAP program, we have been able to pull it all together into a formal and well received energy conservation strategy. Although the Block Grant applications are not part of the MEAP program, the SDES Group has been extremely helpful in clarifying the specific technical requirements of our energy efficiency projects. It is all due to the partnerships that the MEAP program has set-up that has made the difference for us.
Washington: We're very happy MEAP came along. MEAP has helped us make great progress. Educating town officials on what can be done [in energy] is a long process. A lot of times, even with an energy committee, individuals get discounted. It is great for the board to see the data and to see the $$ they spend on energy... which ultimately convinces them. However, I was frustrated with the time it took to get the STOCC back. It took a long time to get the results after all the hours I took to gather data. We were also anxious to get the baseline report and grew tired of waiting for the EPA results. Once again I understand our EPA had other towns to serve.
Initial Board of Selectman Presentations
The individual MEAP project for each town is initiated with a public presentation by the Energy Project Assistant to the governing body of the town. This allows for town leaders to ask questions and learn what to expect from the MEAP project and how they can assist in the successful outcome of the project. The following towns have or will receive an initial presentation to the local governing body or are scheduled for a presentation to begin the inventory phase of the NH Municipal Energy Assistance Program (MEAP):
October 30, 2009: Grafton
November 4, 2009: Sanbornton, Barrington
November 5, 2009: Washington (Washington Town Hall 6:30 PM)
November 9, 2009: Weare (Weare Town Hall 7:00 PM), Sandwich (Sandwich Town Hall 7:30 PM), Kingston (Kingston Town Hall 7 PM), Hollis
November 10, 2009: Newfields (Newfields Town Hall 7:30 PM)
November 12, 2009: Dunbarton (Town Hall)
November 15, 2009: Danville
November 16, 2009: Hopkinton (Hopkinton Town Hall 5:30 PM)
November 17, 2009: Peterborough (Peterborough Town Hall 6:30 PM), Lee
November 19, 2009: Westmoreland (Westmoreland Town Hall 7 PM)
November 23, 2009: Berlin (Berlin City Hall 6:30 PM)
November 30, 2009: Northumberland (High School Library 6 PM), Marlborough
December 1, 2009: Alstead
December 2, 2009: Littleton (Littletown Town Hall)
December 3, 2009: Fremont (Freemont Town Hall 7:30 PM)
December 7, 2009: Lancaster (Town Hall 6 PM), Canterbury (Meeting House 6:15 PM), Enfield (6 PM), Sullivan
December 22, 2009: Lebanon (City Hall)
December 28, 2009: Bedford, New Castle
January 4, 2010: Cornish, Exeter (Town Offices 7 PM)
January 11, 2010: Goffstown (Town Hall 6:30 PM)
January 20, 2010: Dorchester
January 25, 2010: Laconia (City Hall 7:30 PM); Springfield (Memorial Building 7 PM)
January 26, 2010: New Ipswich (Town Office 6:30 PM), Barnstead (Town Hall 7:30 PM)
January 27, 2010: Danbury
February 8, 2010: Rye (Town Hall 6:30 PM)
February 22, 2010: Franconia (Town Hall 4:30 PM), Tuftonboro (7:15 PM), Stratham (Stratham Municipal Center 7:30 PM)
April 20, 2010: Pittsfield (Town Hall 6:10 PM)
Roadmap Process
As stated above, the MEAP process will involve guiding the selected communities through the Roadmap Process to reduce municipal energy and greenhouse gas emissions.
This Roadmap process was developed by the Public Sector working group of the Energy Efficiency and Sustainable Energy Board (EESE Board). The EESE Board is administratively attached to the NH Public Utilities Commission.
The following sections of this web page illustrate guidance provided in terms of inventory, audits and projects.
Inventory Report and Results
The first step in the roadmap process involves conducting a municipal inventory of energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. The following towns have completed a base year energy and greenhouse gas emission inventory of municipal buildings and operations. The Energy Project Assistants have created a report for each municipality based on the results of the inventory.
These reports will be used to help prioritize which building to select for the energy audit performed by SDES Group, LLC.
We are pleased to announce that six of the eight Energy Program Assistants have completed their inventories and presentations with 45 of the participating municipalities. The 45 participating towns all have received a baseline energy inventory, report and presentation. The two remaining towns are currently wrapping up the inventory phase of this program
The inventories were completed by using the Small Town Carbon Calculator and the EPA Portfolio Manager tool. The following towns have or will receive a presentation and report on the results of the inventory on the following dates:
December 17, 2009: Washington (Town Hall 7 PM)
January 20, 2010: Albany (Albany Town Hall 5:15 PM)
January 25, 2010: Sandwich (Sandwich Town Hall 7:30 PM)
January 28, 2010: Dunbarton (Town Office 7 PM)
February 1, 2010: Hopkinton (Town Hall 5:45 PM)
March 4, 2010: Dorchester (Town Hall 7:15 PM)
March 15, 2010: Weare (Town Office 7:30 PM - may be 8 PM based on agenda created on March 12)
March 16, 2010: Newfields (Newfields Town Hall 7:30 PM)
March 22, 2010: Springfield (Memorial Building 7 PM), Berlin (City Hall), Danville (7:15 PM)
March 24, 2010: Bedford (BCTV Meeting Room 7 PM)
March 29, 2010: Stratham (Stratham Municipal Offices 7:30 PM)
March 30, 2010: Lee (Town Hall 6 PM)
March 31, 2010: Grafton (Town Office 7 PM)
April 5, 2010: Kingston(Town Hall 7 PM)
April 7, 2010: Littleton (Community House 4 PM)
April 12, 2010: Exeter (Exeter Town Offices 7 PM)
April 19, 2010: Rye (Rue Town Hall 6:30 PM), Northumberland (Town Hall 6 PM)
April 27, 2010: Barnstead (Town Hall 7 PM)
May 3, 2010: Canterbury (Meeting House 6:30 PM), Gilmanton (Town Hall)
May 19, 2010: Sanbornton (Sanborton Town Office 6:30 PM)
May 20, 2010: Westmoreland (Town Hall 7 PM)
June 14, 2010: Cornish (Town Office 7:30 PM)
June 21, 2010: Goffstown (Town Hall 6:45 PM)
Examples of comprehensive Inventory Reports
The majority of towns that have been selected for MEAP assistance are in the inventory phase of the project. Approximately a quarter of the towns have a completed inventory report and are working with SDES Group on the building audit phase of the project. Over half of the towns that will receive a land use audit have been selected to work with Jeffrey Taylor and Associates and are in the process of working with their Planning Boards on energy and land use.
In the past few months, the project has seen many obstacles to overcome. However, as illuminated in the feedback from selected local governments, many towns are seeing success in the ability to learn how to actively manage their energy use. In order to annually reduce energy, a town must learn the basic steps on how to monitor their energy use internally. This project teaches towns how to accomplish.
Municipal Building Audits
The second step of the roadmap process involves conducting audits to buildings, vehicle fleet, streetlights and land use regulations. The inventory report will help identify which sector to focus on. This section deals with the municipal building sector.
The following towns have completed municipal inventories and reports prior to this project and are beginning the building audit phase of the process:
Alstead, Marlborough, Chesterfield, Hollis, Peterborough, Barrington, Sullivan
Check this section in the future to see the dates, locations and times of presentations to the local elected officials on the results of the building audits:
December 14, 2009: Hollis Building Audit Results (Hollis Town Hall)
January 11, 2010: Sullivan Building Audit Results (Sullivan Town Hall 7 PM)
January 13, 2010: Chesterfield Building Audit Results (Chesterfield Town Offices 8 PM)
January 19, 2010: Peterborough Building Audit Results (Peterborough Town Hall 6 PM)
January 21, 2010: WashingtonBuilding Audit Results (Washington Town Hall 6:30 PM)
TBA: Alstead
Building Audit Reports
Hollis Decision Grade Building Audit
Sullivan Decision Grade Building Audit
Peterborough Decision Grade Building Audit
Chesterfield Decision Grade Building Audit
Marlborough Decision Grade Building Audit
Washington Decision Grade Building Audit
Alstead Decision Grade Building Audit
Hopkinton Decision Grade Building Audit
Albany Decision Grade Building Audit
Franconia Decision Grade Building Audit
Land Use and Energy Audits
NEW: The communities of Enfield and Keene are the fifth and sixth municipalities to receive the final Land Use and Energy Audits by Jeffrey H Taylor and Associates.
Three of the six energy and land use audits (Sanbornton, Peterborough, and Lancaster) are now complete! An energy and land use audit is being drafted for Exeter, and will be presented to the Town at a May meeting.
Check this section in the future to see the dates, locations and times of presentations to the Planning Boards and local elected officials on the results of the land use and energy audits:
January 7, 2010: Sanbornton (Town Offices 7 PM)
May 11, 2010: Exeter
Example of a Land Use and Energy Audit
Draft Master Plan and Land Use Regulation Audit for the Town of Temple produced by Jeffrey Taylor and Associates.
These audits can help with the creation of Energy Chapters within a community's Master Plan. Examples of energy chapters are available below:
Projects
New Hampshire Office of Energy and Planning (NHOEP) established a subgrant program to award $6.6 million of the EECBG grant funding to local municipalities and counties. New Hampshire municipalities and counties submitted over 270 applications, totaling over $21 million in grant requests. Of those 270 applications, NHOEP will be able to fund 116 innovative projects in 65 communities that will save money and reduce energy usage. The following MEAP towns have received Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants to implement projects:
Bedford, Canterbury, Chesterfield, Dunbarton, Enfield, Exeter, Franconia, Fremont, Gorham, Hollis, Lancaster, Laconia, Lebanon, Lee, Marlborough , Newfields , New London, Peterborough, Pittsfield, Rye, Stratham, Sullivan, Tuftonboro, and Washington.
Please visit the NH OEP web site for more information. We look forward to following their progress and sharing future case studies.
Resources
Here you will find reports and organizations that can assist your local government and community.
This is an example of a New Hampshire town that has successfully followed the roadmap process and received funding to implement projects.
Table of Resources and Activities
This is a list of resources and activities funded through RGGI.
This is a link back to the main NH Energy web site that is intended to provide guidance to local energy committees and municipal staff.
Application Letter for Interested Communities
This was the application letter for MEAP. The application deadline has passed.
Contact
If you would like more information about this program or have questions, please call or email Christa Koehler, at ckoehler@cleanair-coolplanet.org or 603-422-6464 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 603-422-6464 end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 603-422-6464 end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 603-422-6464 end_of_the_skype_highlighting ext 108
