A new report out from the New Hampshire Energy and Climate Collaborative finds that the state may not be doing enough to make homes more energy efficient, according to New Hampshire Public Radio.
Three years ago Gov. John Lynch put forth his climate action plan, a roadmap for how to reduce the states carbon emissions. Number one on the list of strategies: maximize energy efficiency in buildings. But getting homeowners to invest in efficiency has been harder than policymakers had hoped.
It finds that New Hampshire is way behind where policy makers had hoped it would be in terms of making homes cheaper to heat or cool. That doesn't quite line up with what Governor Lynch has been saying for the past few years, like in his 2009 inaugural address, when Lynch said, "first we should expand our home weatherization program. This will help put people, including carpenters, plumbers and electricians to work, and help families cut their energy costs. The green jobs initiative will help create jobs for our people now, and make the New Hampshire economy stronger for the future."
Later in that same year, the Climate Change Task force that Lynch created called for renovating of 30,000 homes a year. According to the plan, after 17 years New Hampshire's aging housing stock would be spruced up use 60 percent less energy for heating, cooling, and lighting.
But the report shows that three years in, things haven't been going according to plan. Not only has the state not gotten anywhere near the 30,000 homes a year goal, but the houses that have been winterized haven't done the deep expensive changes hoped for. Instead they are only reducing energy consumption by around 20-25 percent.
Read more about energy-efficient heating and cooling.
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