For Immediate Release
March 14, 2005
Contact: Joanne Morin
jmorin@des.state.nh.us
Department of Environmental Services
603-271-5552

New Hampshire Joins Energy Star 10 Percent Challenge

CONCORD - Gov. John Lynch announced today that New Hampshire has joined a national challenge to improve the energy efficiency of state buildings by 10 percent or more.

"State government is the largest energy user in New Hampshire with heating, cooling, and electricity costs greater than $18 million per year for our 1,200 state buildings," Gov. Lynch said. "By improving energy efficiency, we will improve public health and the environment, save money, and reduce air pollution."

In his proposed budget, Gov. Lynch has funded the position of a state energy manager to identify ways the state can reduce its energy use.

The ENERGY STAR Challenge is a US Environmental Protection Agency initiative to encourage owners of commercial and institutional buildings across the country to reduce energy consumption and to capitalize on the resulting environmental benefits and cost savings.

The ENERGY STAR Challenge calls for three important actions: assessing how much energy each building is using, establishing efficiency improvement goals of 10 percent or more, and making efficiency improvements where cost-effective.

Significant improvements to New Hampshire state buildings have already occurred since 1997 through the Building Energy Conservation Initiative (BECI). This program analyzes state buildings for energy and resource conservation opportunities. It uses a " paid from savings " procedure that allows agencies to use energy savings from energy retrofits and building upgrades to pay back the capital costs of those improvements. BECI has resulted in energy improvements in 74 state buildings and more than $1.2 million dollars in projected annual energy savings.

"By taking on this challenge, New Hampshire continues its commitment to lead by example," Gov. Lynch said. "We are happy to join EPA and over 20 leading associations, states and businesses nationwide and we encourage other businesses and organizations in New Hampshire to take the same challenge and improve their energy efficiency by 10 percent or more."