Vital Communities is involved in the NH Municipal Energy Assistance Program (MEAP) aimed at saving towns money and reducing municipal energy footprints. The statewide MEAP project will try to do this through energy inventories, building audits, renovations and energy consumption awareness at the municipal level.

Of the 48 total participating NH towns, those in the upper valley include Cornish, Danbury, Enfield, Grafton, Lebanon and New London.

MEAP is funded through the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. Vital Communities is joined by several statewide and regional partners, including Clean Air – Cool Planet, Jeffrey Taylor and Associates, Thetford based Sustainable Energy Resource Group (SERG), and SDES Group.

Towns participating in the MEAP will begin with an Energy Consumption Inventory. Each town’s data will be entered into Clean Air-Cool Planet’s Small Town Carbon Calculator (STOCC) and the EPA’s Energy Star Portfolio Manager Program. These two programs calculate and benchmark the energy consumption of all town owned buildings, vehicles, and street lights. Next, SDES Group will work with the data gathered and conduct a comprehensive Building Efficiency Audit on the least performing building.

For a select six towns statewide, Jeffrey Taylor & Associates will conduct a Policy Audit to highlight places in the town’s Master Plan that may unnecessarily contribute to green house gas emissions and other energy inefficiencies.

Once the audits are completed and the recommendations are produced, the project team will assist towns with implementation. The goal is to reduce the energy costs of one building in each town by 50%.

For more information contact gabe@vitalcommunities.org.