Towns, the state and individuals all need to make commitments to cleaner energy systems to move towards greater green energy usage, panelists at Saturday’s Community Conversations said.
The Community Conversation, part of the line-up for Peterborough’s annual Greenerborough fair, held at ConVal Regional High School Saturday, focused on strategies for the region and state to increase its green energy portfolio.
Steve Walker, who founded New England Wood Pellet, and is now working on a new technology that will heat and cool homes more efficiently, said about 40 percent of the energy usage is put towards heating, cooling and electricity for buildings, and making them more efficient will go a long ways towards reducing energy consumption.
Dan Weeks, the director of market development for ReVision Energy, a solar company, said while some people are resistant to commercial-sized energy installations, it wouldn’t take as much space as people think to make New Hampshire a completely green-energy state.
In order for New Hampshire to be completely powered by a combination of solar and wind energy, Weeks said, it would require systems to use less than 2.5 percent of the state’s land mass – and solar farms can be combined with other uses such as agriculture and grazing fields.
Weeks said New Hampshire is falling behind its New England neighbors when it comes to solar energy usage. The state gets less than .7 percent of its energy from solar, while Vermont and Massachusetts are at about 11 percent.
“We’re seeing it happen other places,” Weeks said.
It may just take individual communities making the commitment to get that number rising, another panelist said.
Peter Wotowiec, a member of Monadnock Progressive Alliance, has been working on the Ready for 100 Percent campaign, which is working with communities to make resolutions to commit to 100 percent green energy.
In January, Keene joined five other New Hampshire towns to commit to transitioning the city to 100 percent renewable energy for electricity by 2030, and other sectors, such as heat and transportation by 2050.
“Making a declaration is one thing, carrying it out is another,” said moderator and Peterborough Selectwoman Karen Hatcher.
She said she wouldn’t be opposed to adopting such a resolution, but wanted to have a plan in place on how Peterborough would achieve those goals.
Wotowiec said in Keene’s case, that work is happening now, and the same can be true for Peterborough. It’s important first to have the “will of the community” behind the idea, and the plan can come together after that, he said.
Weeks said there were some “low-hanging fruit” opportunities in Peterborough, including using solar to power the ConVal Regional High School, a large building with a flat roof that would be suitable for solar panels.
The panel also discussed the need to not only work regionally but to address energy infrastructure with lawmakers to encourage green energy.
“Large countries are already doing this,” Weeks said, referencing Germany, which has renewables as it’s primary energy source, making about 40 percent of Germany’s electricity as of this year. “We can do this.”
Ashley Saari can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.