Inching Forward with LEAP!
Dartmouth Students associated with the Cook Engineering Design Center’s LEAP Program (Learn Engineering Through Applied Projects) recently completed a two-term project looking at the feasibility of decarbonizing residential energy use through geo-exchange microgrids. Under the supervision of Professor Emily Monroe, freshmen Eden Gray, Caleb Frank, and Declan Schilling and senior Nathan McAllister concluded that this form of low emissions heating could be a viable alternative to furnaces fueled by oil or propane.
Hanover Kicks Off Shared Streets Vision Planning
On May 12th, Hanover kicked off Shared Streets Vision Planning to design a multimodal network for all ages and abilities. How we design our streets, intersections and paths determines who can get where they need to go and how. And our choices have a massive impact on our community’s carbon footprint...
But how do our choices in street design impact the community’s emissions and health? What does it mean to envision Hanover streets that are inviting and accessible to people of all ages and abilities? How can we do it?
SUSTAINABLE LANDSCAPING
Sustainable landscaping is an innovative and environmentally responsible way to think about yards, gardens, outdoor areas. Adopting this approach, you’ll create beautiful, functional yards and gardens while reducing water usage, supporting local pollinators and wildlife minimizing maintenance.
Earth Day Fair
“Aye, ’twas a cold and rainy day” or at least the threat of one for the Earth Day Fair and celebration sponsored by Sustainable Hanover and Dartmouth College’s Sustainability Department on Saturday, April 26. Nevertheless, seventeen exhibitor and vendor tables were crowded together, receiving between 60 and 70 attendees in Richmond Middle School gymnasium.
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.
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.
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.
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?
Styrofoam Recycling
In collaboration with the The Norwich Solid Waste Committee, Sustainable Hanover’s Waste Reduction/Recycling Team held its second annual Styrofoam Collection on January 27, 2024 at the Richmond Middle School. It was, by many measures, a great success.
Better Bin Recycling App
Thanks to its Waste Reduction/Recycling team Sustainable Hanover has launched a new app to help residents stay informed and recycle more effectively. . The Hanover Betterbin app is specially designed for Town residents to provide up-to-date information on both of the local recycling options available to them: having Casella pick up their recyclables curbside on the prescribed weekday for their neighborhood, or dropping off their recycling at the Lebanon Solid Waste and Recycling Facility. When unsure whether a particular item can be recycled or is considered trash, app users can scan a photo of the UPC code on the item and get handling information.
School Street Sustainability Park
Sustainable Hanover’s Landscape Committee is pleased to announce that Hanover’s School Street Sustainability Park has grown into the inviting, open, natural green space that we had envisioned over six years ago! You will find it between #6 School Street and the parking lot behind Molly’s Restaurant and Town Hall.
EV Expo Coming to the Upper Valley
Thinking about getting an EV? Or switching to a different one? The Upper Valley EV Expo is coming to Lebanon, Saturday, September 30, 10 am - 3:00 pm. It will be held in the parking lot behind City Hall. This is a chance to see a wide variety of EV’s, talk with the owners and perhaps go for a test ride. There will also be presentations by panels of experts, ebikes, food, raffle prizes, and maybe Advance Transit’s new electric bus.