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Energy Committee Guide

Projects and Initiatives

Implement Strategies and Encourage Action

Now that you've formed your committee, developed a mission statement, taken stock, gathered information, and established your goals, you can begin to implement your projects and strategies. How?

1. Community Toolkit
   Take a look at the Clean Air Cool Planet Community Toolkit. There are numerous examples of what other towns have implemented in the northeast.
2. Establish Project Champion
   For each project under consideration, it is important to identify a project champion. Often the most successful projects occur when there is a community champion who helps to see the project through by providing vital outreach and public relations support.
3. Behavior Change Project
   As a first step, it may be prudent to begin with projects that do not need an up front capital. These are projects focused around Energy Efficiency and behavior changes. Here is a list of recommendations you could begin to implement if your town hasn't already. Behavior Change Project.
4. Building Efficiency and/or Retrofits
   After that, you might want to consider conducting a thorough building tour which would identify areas for improvement or retrofits.
   One of the easiest ways to achieve goals for energy efficiency is to make sure that buildings of all types are as energy efficient as possible. Committees can use energy audits and building performance assessments to provide information on cost-effective energy retrofits. Communities can also form their own Home Energy Assistance Teams of trained volunteers to implement simple weatherization measures in homes of those in need and community buildings.
   
5. Use Existing Organizations, Events and Campaigns
   Work with existing organizations that have events or networks you could participate in. The following are a few that many of the leading towns in NH have participated in:
   
   EPA Change a Light Campaign
   An excellent way to increase community awareness and achieve very cost-effective electric savings in your community is to sell compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) or to undertake a community-wide "change a light" campaign. CFLs use about 1/3 the electricity and last 8-10 times longer than incandescent bulbs at comparable light levels. Over its lifetime, each CFL will save users $40 to $70 in electric savings and release 1/3 to 1/2 fewer tons of CO2 to the atmosphere. The elimination of just 5 high-use bulbs for CFLs can keep an estimated 750 pounds of CO2 out of the atmosphere per year. New Hampshire's Core (electric) utilities offer an incentive program for lighting. For more information on organizing CFL sales, contact http://www.nhsaves.com/catalog/
   
   Clean Cities
   The Granite State Clean Cities Coalition is a collaborative of over 65 public and private interests from all regions in New Hampshire. Coalition members support the goals of reducing dependence on foreign oil, and improving air quality, through the use of domestically produced, cleaner burning alternative fuels and other fuel reduction strategies.
   
   Clean Cities is a program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, which is designed to encourage the use of Alternative Fuel Vehicles (AFV's) and their supporting infrastructure throughout the nation. By encouraging AFV use, the Clean cities program will help achieve energy security and environmental quality goals at both the national and local levels. Unlike traditional command-and-control programs, the Clean Cities program takes a unique, voluntary approach to AFV development, working with coalitions of local stakeholders to help develop the AFV industry and integrate this development into larger planning processes.
   
   The mission of the Clean Cities Program is to advance the nation's economic, environmental and energy security by supporting local decisions to adopt practices that contribute to the reduction of petroleum consumption.
   
   For a more detailed explanation regarding the Federal Clean Cities program and to find many more hyperlinks to other Alternative Fuel information sites, please click on or visit: http://www.eere.energy.gov/cleancities/
   
   State Electronic Challenge
   The State Electronics Challenge (SEC) is a voluntary program that encourages state, regional, and local governments, including schools and other public entities, to:
   • Purchase greener electronic products.
   • Reduce the impacts of electronic products during use.
   • Manage obsolete electronics in an environmentally safe way.
   The SEC provides resources to help state, local, and regional government and agencies to become leaders and face the new challenges posed by the electronics waste stream.