PARTNERS: Keene, NH

On April 20, 2000, the Keene City Council passed a Resolution to join the Cities for Climate Protection Campaign (CCP), an effort coordinated by the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), www.iclei.org, to combat climate change. As the first municipality in the State to join the campaign, Keene has established itself as a leader in environmental stewardship. 

In August of 2000, the Keene City Council formed the CCP Committee to steer the process of reducing greenhouse gases. The Committee is comprised of various stakeholders in the Keene community. The CCP Committee created a Local Action Plan on how Keene can reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. This involved numerous public forums and workshops in order to collaborate with the entire Keene community.

The City of Keene has begun implementing many of these measures already in order to start the process. On February 19, 2004 the City Council unanimously adopted the CCP Local Action Plan. The City believes that Climate Change is a critical environmental problem and requires municipal involvement in order to lead the community into action.

Keene signed a MOU with Clean Air Cool Planet. CA-CP took Keene representatives to Hull Massachusetts in order for city officials and staff to learn more about wind turbines. Keene is investigating the possibility of locating a wind turbine on the landfill to generate power for the transfer station in the future.

Below is a list of actions the city has taken to date on reducing greenhouse gas emissions:

Geothermal System
In the Winter of 2002, the City of Keene purchased a former warehouse to be renovated into a new Public Works building. The City then created a Design Committee to explore different options in re-designing the building to accommodate our Public Works department. Upon learning about renovations needed, the CCP Committee in the Summer of 2002 recommended that the City explore the option of using an alternative fuel source to heat and cool the building. After much analysis, the city decided to install a geothermal heat pump instead of a traditional fuel source. The geothermal heat pump went on-line in 2003 and has been a successful undertaking. The return on investment is under 10 years.

Biodiesel Program

The City of Keene was approached by the Governor’s Office of Energy in 2002 to see if Keene was interested in a grant to try using biodiesel for the city fleet. After 18 months and over 50,000 gallons of fuel used in 78 pieces of equipment, biodiesel had been a total success. That next year, the City was faced with the question on whether we would continue the biodiesel program without any grant money. Once again, the City Council made the environmentally responsible decision to spend the extra money in order to make the Biodiesel pilot project a reality for the past few years. The City currently uses Biodiesel in a wide range of equipment from 48,000 GVW plow trucks, ambulances, rescue trucks, wheel loaders right down to small garden tractors. One of the significant benefits of the use of Biodiesel is that there is a significant reduction of pollutants that reduces the health risks to not only City employees but citizens of the City. Fortunately, a federal credit now exists as part of a two-year program that places the cost of biodiesel around the same price as traditional diesel fuel.
Annual Savings: Money saved on insurance, employee sick leave, increased employee productivity
Annual CO2 Reductions: 417 tons

Methane Recovery

The City of Keene installed a landfill gas-to-energy generator at the Keene Municipal Landfill, in part to provide three-phase power for the adjacent Materials Recovery Facility. The City of Keene operated Caterpillar G-3412-SINA, 250 kW electric generator, powered by landfill gas through five interconnected wells combusts more than 98% of the volatile constituents of the inlet gas and eliminates 140 tons of hydrocarbons per year, which would otherwise be released by the landfill.  In addition, the landfill gas-to-energy generator burns methane as its primary fuel.
Annual Savings: $55,000                                                  
Annual CO2 Reductions: 140

Internal Recycling Program
In July of 2002, the City started an internal recycling program. The program involved education and blue bins for all paper recycling. It is anticipated to divert 20 tons of paper per year. The program is saving approximately $2,300 a year and gaining another $800 from selling the paper in the commodities market.
Annual Savings: $3,000                                                    
Annual CO2 Reductions:  83 tons

LED Replacements
The Keene Police Department installed LED (light emitting diode) lights for the red and green signals at most of the traffic signals in Keene. LED lights use 80 to 90% less energy than conventional incandescent bulbs. In addition, LED lights require 1/6 the maintenance of conventional bulbs, only needing replacement every eight to ten years.
Annual savings: $4000                            Annual CO2 Reductions: 15 tons

Police on Bikes
The Keene Police Department has two bicycles that are used for patrols. Moving police out of cars and onto bikes reduces municipal fuel use and provides visible evidence that bicycling is a legitimate transportation option. Bike police also have a positive impact on crime, as bicycles are more difficult to spot than cruisers, and allow access to areas inaccessible to cars. In addition, the patrols are good for public relations, as they make police more approachable and can be used for special events. A bike patrol unit displaces a cruiser approximately 25% of the time.
Annual Savings: $805                                                                   
Annual CO2 Reductions: 6 tons

Climate Change Education and Outreach

• Junior Sprint Solar Car Race - In order to showcase the City’s accomplishment and educate the Keene community on climate change, the city has embarked on an education campaign to bring light to the issue. The City recently helped sponsor and run a Junior Sprint Solar Car Race with the Middle School Students. This was accomplished with the collaboration of the Keene Middle School and ANEI.

• Energy Audit - The City also worked with the 8th grade Middle School Students to perform an Energy Audit of two City owned buildings using the Energy Star Benchmarking software. The students presented their results to City Council, which spurred the exploration of possibly retrofitting city owned buildings.
  

• Climate Change the Musical – The City participated in preparation and development of a musical about climate change for education and outreach for the CCP program.

• Anti-Idle Program – This spring, the city worked with Keene High School students on creating a pilot anti-idling project at the high school. Survey results of the program will be quantified this summer and grant money and donations will be sought to bring this campaign to other schools in Keene this fall 

• Rebuild Partner
  Just received a ‘Level 1’ Energy Audit through Rebuild on majority of city owned buildings.

Next Steps

Community

It is now time for the City to showcase our efforts and facilitate greenhouse gas reductions at the community level. In order to accomplish this, the City has begun to implement a 10% Challenge Campaign geared toward households and businesses. This campaign asks residents and businesses to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 10% in the areas of energy, transportation and solid waste.  The city will be working on creating a sustainable business awards program that will recognize businesses in the city that reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Keene is actively seeking resources and funding in order to continue implementing this campaign in an effective manner.
Annual Savings: $3,500,000                                                         
Annual CO2 Reductions: 14,000 tons

Municipal
The City of Keene just received a free energy audit on many city facilities. Keene is no entertaining the idea of entering into an Energy Savings Performance Contract with and Energy Service Company to retrofit city buildings and greatly reduce our energy consumption. The audit confirmed an approximate of $30,000 in savings annually in energy costs.
Annual Savings: $30,000                                                              
Annual CO2 Reductions: 180 tons      

Check out the CCP website at www.ci.keene.nh.us/planning.climateprotection.htm for additional information about what Keene is doing.