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.

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. 

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.

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. 

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 (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.

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.

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.

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?

It is with great sadness and gratitude that Sustainable Hanover bids farewell to April Salas as the first Director of Sustainability for the Town of Hanover.

Hanover Community Power (HCP) customers saved more than $300,000 by switching their electricity purchases last year from regulated utilities.

Sustainable Hanover’s first meeting of the new year featured an important update on Dartmouth College’s sustainability developments and plans. Rosi Kerr (Sustainability Director), Josh Keniston (Senior VP for Capital Planning & Campus Operations) and Abbe Bjorkund (Director of Engineering & Utilities) joined together to present a wide-ranging review of what has transpired in the immediate past and what they foresee for the future.

The Inflation Reduction Act that extended federal incentives for Electric Vehicles (EVs) until 2032 included a number of changes, some of which went into effect in January 2024. They include some great benefits, but also some restrictions.

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.

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.

More and more people are driving EVs and need to charge them. Charging is most efficient when the car is parked for more than a few hours, so charging at home and at work are the best options. Some employees may not be able to charge at home, or the range of their EV may not cover both directions of their commute, so workplace charging is important.

Installing chargers will help meet your sustainability goals and may help recruit and retain employees.

Twenty-five Sustainable Hanover volunteers gathered at the home of Robin Kaiser and Peter Gish on Wed, October 18th to learn more about Hanover’s Sustainability Master Plan and share ideas as to how Sustainable Hanover can support that plan moving forward. Ably facilitated by our good friend, Sarah Brock of Vital Communities, this group included volunteers from the official Sustainable Hanover Town Committee as well as representatives from its several initiatives (energy, waste reduction/recycling, sustainable landscaping, energy, transportation, communications, 3C). Chris Kennedy who serves on both Sustainable Hanover and the Master Plan Advisory Committee introduced the main points in the draft of the Master Plan which was being released for community input that same day. Volunteers then broke up into subgroups to discuss first five year, then one year priorities for Sustainable Hanover moving forward.

Every Tuesday members of the SHC Community Climate Connections post a “Who Knew” article on the Hanover listserve (vitalcommunities.org/community-discussion-lists/.) These brief but informative features are a means by which all of us can take individual actions to address climate issues. Ultimately they are all published on the SHC website. Here are some examples

The third Norwich/Hanover Window Dressers Build is now complete! This year the Norwich Congregational Church was host. 268 window inserts were made by 115 volunteers for forty-one households between September 29 and October 5. According to Window Dressers, one medium pine insert may save an average of 8.5 gallons of heating oil every year, for an estimated savings of $15 – $43 per year, depending on variations in fuel price.

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.

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.

We at Kendal began participating last year in the Styrofoam collection events conducted by Sustainable Lebanon and Lebanon Rotary, and by Sustainable Hanover.

That worked out well for those first three foam collection events, but we soon discovered that the word was out, and deposits kept coming.

We had become a victim of our own success!

Since 2010, 12 giant community yard sales have taken place in Dartmouth’s Dewey Parking Lot in Hanover. The Sale is held on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend, this year September 2nd from 10 AM to 2 PM.

Apparel Impact and Hanover have recently placed some of their bins around town so that you can clear out your textile waste and feel good about it. Look for the white bins located at the Hanover Co-op on Lebanon Street, the plaza at 45 Lyme Road and the Department of Public Works. For more information see https://sustainablehanovernh.org/whoknew.

Have you been keeping track of all the solar activity in Hanover? All told, solar systems in Hanover represent more than 5 megawatts of solar capacity. This includes 300 households that are using electricity generated by local PV panels. The Town’s rooftop and ground mounted panels meet just about all of its current municipal electricity needs. Dartmouth College has 16 systems, and more are on their way. How much do you know about all these renewable energy systems? Take this quiz for your Solarize IQ status!

In July Sustainable Hanover announced that the utilities and HCP would be lowering rates for the 6 month period beginning August 1, with HCP’s default rate still cheaper that Liberty or Eversource. Please consider opting up now by clicking here and then scrolling down to the section “Electricity Supply Choices.

For the third 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).

Hanover led toward renewables as community power successfully took on the responsibility to buy electricity for more than 75,000 customers in ten cities and towns across New Hampshire.

In Mid-March, Advance Transit introduced two new electric buses into their fleet. These buses serve the Upper Valley in both Vermont and New Hampshire, and were funded by a $3 million grant from the Vermont Agency of Transportation and the US Department of Transportation as well as financial incentives from Green Mountain Power. Two more are on the way next year.

If you have an electronic vehicle (EV) or are planning on purchasing one, you will have more than a passing interest in where you are going to find EV chargers, particularly when traveling. As EVs become more and more popular, the demand for chargers of all types is going to dramatically increase.

Senior Stewards Acting for the Environment (SSAFE) (ssafe.org) was formed in 2019 to encourage those over the age of 60 to become involved in climate issues. SSAFE recognizes the value this age group can bring to influence action to meet national climate goals – years of experience, a larger share of society’s financial worth and they vote.

Community power is a way to purchase electric power that is more renewable and/or less expensive, while also providing community control. Hanover Community Power is coming soon!

The New Hampshire Electric Coop (NHEC) is looking to use Electric Vehicles in very imaginative ways to add alternative energy to the grid.

Over twenty volunteers, including six from Hanover’s Rotary Club, helped collect a whole lot of styrofoam at Hanover’s first styrofoam recycling event.