2022 Foam Collection Day in Lebanon

For Immediate Release

Media Contact: Liane Avery, L99Liane@aol.com, 860-556-3114

Date of Release: March 1, 2022

Event Details: Saturday, April 16, 2022, 9-11 am behind Jake’s Coffee, 227 Mechanic Street, Lebanon, NH

2022 Foam Collection Day in Lebanon

Lebanon, NH

Sustainable Lebanon is once again partnering with the Lebanon Rotary Club to offer a polystyrene (styrofoam) collection day on Saturday, April 16, from 9 – 11 am at 227 Mechanic Street in Lebanon (behind Jake’s Coffee). The event will take place rain or shine.

Various types of foam will be collected for recycling, including polystyrene #6 (EPS), polyethylene #4 (EPE), and #6 XPS insulation board foam which will be driven to a recycling facility in Massachusetts. This includes packaging foam used for TVs, computers, and appliances, as well as foam coolers. Food service foam, including clean food containers and egg cartons will be recycled via Terracycle. We ask that all tape and labels be removed and all foam is clean, dry, and free of food residue or other debris.

PLEASE NOTE: Foam peanuts should be brought directly to the UPS Store at True Value Hardware in Hanover.

There is no fee to participate, but donations are welcome to support the costs associated with this event. To cover transportation and recycling costs, we need to raise $500. Donations can be made at the event via cash or check (payable to Sustainable Lebanon). Thanks in advance for considering a donation! For more information and to volunteer, please contact Liane Avery at L99Liane@aol.com, 860-556-3114.

Lebanon Volunteers Needed For Community Energy Project

Introduction
The City of Lebanon, in conjunction with research teams from the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth, MIT, and UNH, is applying for a grant from the National Science Foundation’s Smart and Connected Communities program. This grant will be used to fund the Lebanon Transactive Energy Community (LEBTEC) project, which seeks to investigate both the social and technical issues around implementing Real-Time Pricing (RTP) and Transactive Energy Services (TES) within Community Power Aggregations (CPA’s). This grant is expected to fully fund all City expenses for this project. We are currently looking for Lebanon residents and businesses willing to help in this early data-gathering research project. The research, and local participant’s data, will help with the development of Lebanon Community Power (LCP), Lebanon’s CPA.
Definitions

• As defined by the Community Power Coalition of New Hampshire (CPCNH), a Community Power Aggregation is a program, authorized under NH RSA 53-E, that “enables local governments to become the default electricity providers for their residents and businesses. Utility companies continue to own and operate the electric distribution and transmission grids.” (from the CPCNH FAQ). For more information, see http://www.communitypowernh.org/
  
• Transactive Energy Services enable direct producer-to-consumer sales of electric power. This helps facilitate the market for increased renewable energy at the local level.
  
• Real-Time Pricing is planned as an optional component of Lebanon Community Power. While we are used to paying a fixed rate for electricity at the retail level, the wholesale price for electricity varies on an hourly basis, but on average is lower than the fixed retail rate. LCP plans to offer participants real-time pricing on an optional basis.
  
• RTP-TES is a shorthand for Real-Time Pricing coupled with Transactive Energy Services. RTP-TES can be thought of as an “Uber for Energy,” a sharing economy energy market that exchanges electricity directly between retail customers and power producers, be they large generation companies or your next-door neighbor with rooftop solar.

Why Is This Important?
RTP-TES has long been recognized as necessary to decarbonize the electric power grid and drive the sustainable energy transition. RTP-TES offers several advantages:

• Real-time pricing will offer substantial savings to members who can shift power usage to off-peak, low-demand times (such as night-time electric vehicle charging) when power is cheapest.
• Power produced during low demand times is generally cleaner, with a lower CO2/kWh than power produced by dirty fossil fuel peaker plants.
• It may offer increased value to local solar producers (small and large) who are selling power on hot sunny summer days, when electric demand is at its peak, improving the return on investment for local solar projects.
• The latest research shows that RTP-TES can help make communities resilient to supply shortages, extreme weather, and natural disasters.
• RTP-TES have been shown to reduce electricity prices on average relative to traditional flat electric utility rates.

What Can You Do to Help?
At this time, the project is actively looking for potential participants within Lebanon who are willing to sign up on a non-binding basis. Demonstrated interest within the community is needed to improve the quality of our grant application.  Participants in the program will have energy monitoring equipment installed in their home at no cost to either the participant or the City. All participant data will be stored securely and may be viewed by the participant at any time. Participation does not impact net metering or alternate power supplier contracts.  You may sign up by filling out the Google Form here: https://bit.ly/LebTECVolunteerSignup
Assuming we receive the NSF grant, we expect the project to begin in late summer or early fall. We will reconnect then with further information and to confirm your interest in participating.

Questions?
Please contact Greg Ames, tga@tga3.com or 603-277-2914 with any question, comments, or concerns.

Action Needed to Save Community Power Aggregation

For more than a year now,  officials and volunteers from Hanover, Lebanon, Nashua, Cheshire County and other communities have spent hundreds of hours  to create an entity which will allow local municipalities to purchase power in bulk to save money and buy cleaner power than what Liberty and Eversource now use.  

This can move us  from the current model of an electric utility as a monopoly to a version with local control and choice of where and what kind of power to purchase.   In an effort to create the opportunity for every citizen in NH to access cheaper and cleaner energy, they are working to make ‘community power aggregation” a reality. 

However, a new bill presented in Concord, which  if passed, would destroy all the work that these town and county leaders have been doing for more than a year. 

Please sign the petition asking our State representatives to vote NO on HB 315:
https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/to-nh-house-ste-vote-no-on-hb-315

More on this topic by NH Consumer Advocate Don Kries:
http://indepthnh.org/2021/01/28/ye-olde-electric-utility-fights-the-paradigm-shift/

Dinner Party Box Now Available at Kilton Library

Interested in being more green at your next dinner party or meeting? Hoping to eliminate plastic, styrofoam, and paper goods? There is a new Dinner Party Box available for checkout in the Cool Stuff Collection at the Kilton Library. The box contains 12 dinner plates, 12 bowls, 12 glasses that can be used for either hot or cold drinks and flatware for 12. You only need your library card!

***********************************************************

Get a yard sign!

It’s easy to ignore the climate crisis somewhere as beautiful as the Upper Valley, but we’re already feeling its effects. Until that impact becomes more obvious, we’ve created red yard signs that are much harder to ignore. We have run out of time to kick this problem down the road. We are asking our neighbors, our elected officials and anyone who sees our signs to recognize the emergency.

Want one? They’re available for pickup, or we can arrange to get one to you.

We would very much appreciate a donation of $5 per sign to cover the cost. However, we mostly we want to get the signs up around the city or in neighboring towns. We will provide a sign free of charge to anyone who wants one and is unable to donate.

We borrowed the idea and sign design from our friends in the Thetford Climate Alliance – when you’re done exploring our website, take a look at theirs at https://www.thetfordclimatealliance.org/

Thank you!
Sustainable Lebanon

Upper Valley Electric Vehicle Expo Sep. 14

The 5^th annual Upper Valley Electric Vehicle Expo will take place Saturday, September 14,from 11 am to 3 pm (rain or shine) at the Dothan Brook School in White River Junction, Vt. as part of National Drive Electric Week. The Expo is free and open to the public. Attendees are encouraged to pre-register online at UVEVExpo.org for a chance to win $250.

Electric car, bicycle, motorcycle and lawn equipment dealers and owners from across the region will bring the latest all-electric and plug-in hybrid models for visitors to explore, with some offering free test rides. Vehicles will include the popular Nissan Leaf and Chevy Bolt, as well as the Tesla Models 3 and S, BMW i3, Jaguar I-Pace and others. Advance Transit will bring information about the new all-electric buses they will soon acquire and the Dartmouth Racing Team will also bring their electric racecar.

The first 375 families to arrive will receive a free King Arthur Flour baking mix. There will be free refreshments contributed by Hanover Food COOP, King Arthur Flour and others, including King Arthur Flour cookies baked on site in Solaflect’s solar powered oven, and The Box and Taco’s Tacos food trucks will be on hand throughout the event. Attendees are encouraged to bring cups, plates and utensils to help minimize waste. 

Starting at noon, multiple workshops will explain the technology, economics and charging of electric vehicles and incentives to make them more affordable for everyone, and provide information on e-bike features and how to use them, choosing the right e-bike, and e-bike maintenance, storage & battery care. 

Event sponsors include Sierra Club Upper Valley Group, Vital Communities, Advance Transit, Local Motion, Two Rivers Ottauquechee Regional Commission, Catamount Solar, Cyclewise, Eco Equipment, Green Mountain Power, Key Chevy of White River, Lyme Green Heat, Norwich Solar Technologies, Omer and Bob’s, ReVision Energy, Solaflect Energy, SunCommon, Team Nissan North and White River Toyota. The Expo is part of National Drive Electric Week, which is organized by the national Sierra Club, the Electric Automobile Association, and Plug in America

This event is free and open to everyone. Please share this info with others who might be interested. For more information contact 802-785-4126 or WhyPumpGas@gmail.com.

Lebanon Upgraded to “SolSmart Silver” Award

Very recently the city was awarded a SolSmart Bronze designation, but after reconsideration it has been awarded the SolSmart Silver designation. Read more here: https://lebanonnh.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=895

 

 

 

---

 

Lebanon Awarded “SolSmart Bronze” for Advancing Solar Energy Growth

Lebanon is the first municipality in New Hampshire, and only the second in northern New England, to receive a Bronze designation from the U.S. Department of Energy’s SolSmart program. This designation recognizes Lebanon for taking steps to encourage solar energy and remove obstacles to solar development. A SolSmart Bronze designation is a signal that Lebanon is “open for solar business” and actively supporting renewable energy.
SolSmart is led by The Solar Foundation and the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) and funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office. More than 200 cities, counties, and towns have achieved SolSmart designation since the program launched in 2016. Burlington, VT is the only other municipality to receive SolSmart designation in Northern New England.

…
Continue reading here: https://lebanonnh.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=874

********************************************************************

Update on Lebanon’s Energy Initiatives

Tad Mongomery, Lebanon Energy & Facilities Manager

On Friday evening, the newly formed “Sustainable Lebanon” group invited Tad Montgomery, Lebanon’s Energy and Facilities Manager, to talk about Lebanon’s current energy and sustainability initiatives at Kilton Library: Energy efficiency of City buildings, conversion of Lebanon Landfill methane to energy project , proposed solar installations at Lebanon Airport,  municipal aggregation of electricity with net metering and real-time pricing,  home-power battery pilot project through Liberty Utilities, and upgrading the City’s lighting to high-efficiency LED units are some of those initiatives.

If you missed this meeting, Tad will present again at Kilton Library, Friday April 27th, 7-8:30 pm. Ideas are welcome!