The Political Climate: an ongoing commentary on the NH Primary and Climate Change

John McCain kicked off his ‘No Surrender’ rallies yesterday in East Rochester before heading west to Franklin and Concord.  The McCain campaign is holding ’No Surrender’ rallies in VFW and American Legion posts around the state to defend the ’surge’ in Iraq and show support for the troops by collecting care packages at the door.  Not surprisingly there was little talk of anything else in Rochester and Concord other than military action and the Iraq war.

McCain did not draw the parallel between our nation’s addiction to fossil fuels and our involvement in the Middle East, a favorite theme of Republican and Democratic candidates alike.  We hope to see Senator McCain again in the granite state, especially at the Clean Air-Cool Planet Global Warming & Energy Solutions conference scheduled for October 12-13 in Manchester.

The upcoming Global Warming & Energy Solutions conference is the major climate event in NH on the road to the primary, but there are other opportunities to learn about local solutions to climate change in the near future.  This Sunday the Greener Hopkinton’s ECO-FAIR at Hopkinton High School will take place from 2-4pm. 

Jim MerKel will give the keynote address for the first hour of the event.  Merkel is the author of Radical Simplicity: Small Footprints on a Finite Earth and will speak on sustainable living in the United States.  Various eco-friendly exhibitors, including the Carbon Coalition, will be sharing their ideas, actions, and products for the second hour of the eco-fair.  The event is free and open to the public.

One of the most promising results of the New Hampshire Town Meeting Resolution that passed in 164 New Hampshire towns this March is the formation of numerous local energy committees.  The concluding sentence of the Climate Change Resolution: “We ask our selectmen to consider the appointment of a voluntary energy committee to recommend local steps to save energy and reduce emissions,” lead to an explosion of action on the local level that is a true indication of public sentiment in the Granite State. 

The Rockingham/Strafford Local Energy Committee Alliance, an alliance of the various energy committees in Rockingham and Strafford Counties, is holding a workshop on September 25, 6-8:30pm at the UNH Alumni Center in Durham.  This FREE meeting and workshop aims at forming cooperation, sharing lessons learned and resources on energy solutions between the various town energy committees.  This workshop is an essential tool for the members of existing and emerging energy committees.

The Alliance and the Carbon Coalition have invited staff members from each of the presidential campaigns to attend the meeting and hear first hand how local New Hampshire citizens are taking action into their own hands to reduce their carbon footprint, lower energy costs, and save money.  Many of the campaigns have reached out to hear how citizens are personally working to conserve and reduce carbon emissions in their own lives and communities and this is the perfect opportunity in New Hampshire.

Click for more information about the Rockingham/Strafford Energy Committee Alliance Workshop.

A few reports and articles have recently brought the viability of grain-based or corn ethanol as an alternative to fossil fuels into question.  Grain based ethanol is a fuel that a majority of the Presidential candidates highlight as they list off the various clean alternative energy sources they support.

There has been concern for some time about the “energy ratio” of producing fuel from corn, because so much fuel goes into the creation of the corn itself, including in fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides made from petrochemicals.  Add to that the fossil fuels used to transport the stuff “out East,” and you’ve got a product likely to create more CO2 than it will save.

Now that ethanol has gained favor and subsidies, we’re beginning to see another issue cropping up (pun intended).  In last week’s issue of the agribusiness newspaper Feedstuffs, Tom Elam lists “10 inconvenient facts” about grain-based ethanol.  Elam notes that total ethanol production in 2007 equaled 1.6 billion gallons of gas, the equivalent of only three days of Saudi Arabian oil production and only 1.1% of U.S. gasoline consumption.  Elam concludes that if this small level of production is already increasing the global costs of food production, ethanol should not be subsidized as it is today, it should be taxed.

Another critique came in a recent report in the journal Science.  The report found that to replace 10% of petroleum consumption with grain-based biofuels it would require 43% of current cropland in the U.S. and 38% in Europe.  The feasibility of replacing such large percentages of crop land for ethanol is dubious.  The authors conclude that the “up front emissions cost” caused by clearing of more forests would nullify the benefit of any long term reductions.

The Science report is not entirely bleak.  They also suggest that the “conversion of woody biomass into fuel” an industry with potential in New Hampshire, “may be ‘compatible’ with retaining forest carbon stocks.” 

There is an interesting opportunity to learn more about wood as a renewable energy source in New Hampshire this Saturday.  New England Wood Pellet is hosting a Wood Energy Day at their Jaffrey manufacturing plant to teach citizens about this cutting edge technology. Candidates interested in learning more about making renewable fuels the New Hampshire way might want to stop by.

On August 1 The Littleton Courier (subscription required) reported on the formation and mission of the Bethlehem Energy Committee, one of the many local energy committees organized after the Town Meeting Resolution around the state.

Bethlehem was one of the first North Country towns to organize their energy committee which consists of eight dedicated members.  According to a statement from the committee, their mission is to “promote energy conservation and to investigate renewable energy sources and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions for the town and its constituents.”  The Courier story recognizes the two mutually beneficial reasons that New Hampshire towns are beginning to organize energy committees: addressing climate change and saving energy dollars. 

The Bethlehem committee is working with PSNH.  First efforts include installing a simple measure that the town could take to improve their energy efficiency, possibly energy saving water heater timers.  In the future the committee wants to pursue funding and support for energy conservation and efficiency upgrades through federal and state programs.

The seven new members of the Bethlehem energy committee listed in the article are a testament to how these energy committees are growing.  In June when Toby Ball left the Carbon Coalition, there was only one committee member in Bethlehem.  At that early point there were over 80 energy committee volunteers representing 50 towns.  The Courier story is an indication that those numbers have only grown.

The Community-Toolkit on Local Energy Committee website is an important source of knowledge to help you organize an Energy Committee in your town.

The Local Energy Committee working group, chaired thankfully by now volunteer Toby Ball, is planning regional workshops for September and October.  Check in for more information on the Energy Committee website as more details are released or email Toby Ball at ccenergycomm@gmail.com.