A Promising New Initiative for Hanover’s Large Energy Users
Sustainable Hanover is excited to have launched a new initiative to bring together the largest energy users in Hanover to share ideas and solutions for a more sustainable future. This group includes representation from Dartmouth College, Kendal at Hanover, the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL), Hypertherm, Sheridan Printing, the Coop Food Stores, and the Town.
Extreme Weather
It is almost impossible to read or listen to the news without hearing about lives being disrupted and homes and businesses being destroyed by extreme weather events. Whatever one’s thoughts are about Climate Change there is no doubt that there is an increasing amount of extreme weather. Recently I heard an amazing statistic: In the last 20 years there have been 8 or 9 FEMA incidents in the Hanover area (FEMA is the Federal agency charged with responding to natural disasters), while in the prior 50 years there had been only 3.
Hanover Hygiene Heroes
There are many clubs at Hanover High School that focus on helping to save our environment. One of the more notable clubs is the Hanover Hygiene Heroes, who have made it their goal to “relieve Hanover of its pollution, one week at a time.” The club began when students were on a lunch trip to the Co-op.
The Mighty Oak
How prescient William Davies’ 1913 poem, "The Old Oak Tree," is when we look at the climate of our earth today! William Davies’ poem’s first stanza reads:
I sit beneath your leaves, old oak,
you mighty one of all the trees;
And his last stanza reads:
To lie by day in thy green shade,
and in thy hollow rest at night;
and through the open doorway see
The stars turn over leaves of light.
The “mighty” oak has in fact become one of the biggest heroes of today’s positive climate change strategies.
Successful Styrofoam Collection!
Thanks to everyone for contributing to the successful Hanover/Norwich Styrofoam/Lights collection on Saturday, January 25, 2025!
Intrepid volunteers including teens from Youth in Action and the Hanover High School Environmental Club, nonagenarians from Kendal, and all ages in-between braved the frigid temperature to get the job done! Through their efforts, they took in 253 loads brought by car and walk-ins.
Gail Gentes Appointed to Sustainable Hanover
At the February 10, 2025 meeting of the Town of Hanover’s Selectboard, Gail Gentes was appointed to a three year term on the Sustainable Hanover Committee.
Community Power Outperforms Expectations
Recent news from the Community Power Coalition of NH (CPCNH) contained some surprises. Community power programs, including our own Hanover Community Power (HCP), are surpassing expectations held in April 2023 when Hanover launched as one of ten communities in the first wave of CPCNH programs. Over the first 16 months, HCP customers saved $643,000 compared to what they would have spent for utility supplied electricity.
How to Make “Black Gold”
A Home Composting Workshop was held in the Mayer room at the Howe Library on September 19th. It featured Cat Buxton who runs the “Grow More Waste Less Organization” (website: https://www.growmorewasteless.com/) and was sponsored by the Upper Valley Lake Sunapee Regional Planning Commission (UVLSRPC) and hosted by Sustainable Hanover. Cat is an educator, community organizer and advocate for changes in the food system from food production to waste disposal.
EVs on Long Trips
If you are interested in getting an electric vehicle (EV) but apprehensive about how to charge it on a trip longer than the battery will supply, our recent trip to Maine might answer a few of your questions.
WHO KNEW Y-O-U Might NOT Know About Sustainable Hanover’s Many Interesting Articles With Info You Can Use?
One of Sustainable Hanover’s initiatives is to publish a short piece called a WHO KNEW every Tuesday in the Hanover listserv focusing on a wide range of topics that might be useful to you. Sustainable Hanover archives all these pieces accompanied by photos on its website.
Window Dressers Update
The Norwich/Hanover Windows Dresser Build finished its fourth year a day early! Scheduled September 29-October 2 at the Norwich Congregational Church, 115 volunteers built 237 inserts for 25 households and rewrapped 15 inserts for 6 households. Finishing a day early is likely due to having many more experienced volunteers.
Dartmouth Leads & Hanover Supports
Anyone driving through Hanover this summer has surely noticed the construction along East Wheelock, especially the once very deep and huge holes in front of the New Hampshire and Topliff dorms. “It looks like the College is building a subway system,” my husband commented.
Prominently displayed signs suggest otherwise. “Turning the corner from steam to hot water,” says one. “In the trenches to reach our goal,” says another. This construction is the initial stage of a $500m effort by Dartmouth to decarbonize.
Decarbonizing Concrete
Most people don’t realize that concrete accounts for 7 percent of all greenhouse emissions. It does so in two ways. First, the chemical transformation of limestone into cement, the main ingredient in most concrete, emits carbon dioxide. Second, this chemical process requires a very hot kiln, almost always using fuel that emits carbon dioxide. This is bad news given how widely concrete is used in our buildings and infrastructure. The good news is there are a growing number of ways to significantly reduce its carbon emissions and even use new mixtures of concrete to store carbon removed from the atmosphere.
Sustainable Hanover’s 15th Anniversary Celebration!
Hanover’s July 4th Independence Day Parade provided the perfect opportunity for the Sustainable Hanover Committee to celebrate the accomplishments achieved over the past 15 years.
Yard Sale 2024!
For the 13th year, dozens of local residents, having paid a small fee, gathered in the Dewey Lot to sell their excess stuff. In spite of an ominous weather forecast, the weather stayed fine. Many wonderful volunteers came together to help throughout the month, the few days before and especially on the big day.
Window Dressers Returns!
For the fourth year, Sustainable Hanover and the Norwich Energy Committee are collaborating with the Maine-based nonprofit, Window Dressers (www.windowdressers.org) to make window inserts for Norwich and Hanover residents. The inserts are easy to install, remove and reuse. They let light in, keep drafts out, and reduce heating costs (on average, about 10 gallons of heating fuel per insert per year).
Sustainable Hanover is Celebrating its 15th Anniversary!
Sustainable Hanover (SH) began in 2009 when the Hanover Select Board, citing “a growing body of evidence (that) suggests communities like Hanover must pay increasingly close attention to issues associated with climate change, peak oil consumption and sustainability”, decided to address this need by creating the Sustainable Hanover Committee (later renamed as SH). Hanover’s existing Recycling Committee was re-organized to become SH’s first task force. SH has grown tremendously over these 15 years.
The Co-op Has Big Goals for Reducing Its Carbon Footprint
Sustainable Hanover is always eager to hear about sustainability measures that local residents and businesses are planning and implementing.
Recently Nate Osheyack, Facilities Manager, and April Harkness, ESG Manager, for the Co-op Food Stores, spoke to the Sustainable Hanover Committee about the Co-op’s activities and plans to reduce consumption of fossil fuels, increase access to renewable energy, and reduce waste.
Center for Ecotechnology
At the April 4, 2024 meeting of the Sustainable Hanover Committee Abbey Massaro, Senior Waste Reduction Consultant representing the Center for Ecotechnology (CET), gave a presentation about a program developing sustainable practices for rural businesses and schools. CET, a non profit was founded in 1976 in Massachusetts with a focus on energy conservation. It has expanded its expertise and services to include waste related to food and deconstruction due to building projects and its geographical outreach to New England states.
Composting in Hanover
Hanover households have several options to avoid sending food waste to produce polluting gases in landfill. For residents with the space, backyard composting is an excellent way to recycle food scraps into a valuable soil resource. Interested in learning how to do this successfully?