Bow News : energy

Curbing energy costs probed in Bow

Bow Editor — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 01:33:00 GMT

BY JENN McDOWELL

As energy and fuel costs remain at the highest levels they’ve seen in years, some Bow residents have come up with ways to reduce the town’s consumption of these valuable resources.

Members of the Bow Energy Conservation Committee presented the Board of Selectmen with numerous options for reducing their energy costs at their weekly meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 25.

“A lot of them are just behaviors that can be changed, or policies, and will cost the town no money,” said committee member Deborah DeMoulpied, who was accompanied at the meeting by fellow committee member and Bow Fire Capt. Dana Mosher.

Some other long-term solutions may be costly for one-time purchases, but the town will enjoy greater returns on their investment, DeMoulpied said. One suggestion was to make sure the tires on all town vehicles are properly inflated to get better gas mileage. Mosher said vehicles can get at least half a mile per gallon more from just this practice.

Town vehicles should also be regularly tuned up and driven at moderate speeds to save gas, and should be shut off instead of being left to idle, the list of recommendations said.

Better care should be taken in choosing the right vehicle to send out to an emergency or job site, and air-conditioning use should be limited as much as possible, the list said.

“If you drive at moderate speeds and have the windows down, air conditioning uses a lot more fuel because you’re using horsepower,” said Mosher.

Mosher and DeMoulpied also suggested to the board and Town Manager Jim Pitts that as many lights as possible be changed over to LED bulbs, which conserved a lot of energy and only need replacement every five to 10 years.

Unnecessary drains on the power, such as the light in the Coke machine at town hall, DeMoulpied said, can be turned off to realize even more energy and dollar savings.

Additional lights can be removed from some of the fluorescent light fixtures in town buildings, DeMoulpied said, further cutting costs.

The committee’s recommendations also include using programmable thermostats for heating town buildings, which would prevent the heat from pumping into buildings while they are not being used.

Still dark – Residents unhappy with lack of light

Bow Editor — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 22:13:00 GMT

BY MATT SCHOOLEY

After 222 street lights were shut off due to budget cuts in Bow, many of the town’s residents have spoken out against the decision.

“I think it’s kind of stupid,” said resident Jim Kelso. “It really isn’t a good decision. What’s going to come next? Are they going to shut down the playgrounds in town to save some money?”

Harvey Moody, a Grandview Road resident, was directly affected by the decision.

Moody’s home, which is just off Logging Hill Road and is within walking distance of I-89, had a street light directly in front of the yard, a luxury he no longer has.

“I miss it a lot. It’s pitch dark here at night now, and I don’t think it’s a good decision for me to leave my floodlight on all night,” he said. “It’s a bad spot to be in the dark here, because with the main roads nearby, I never know if I am going to see a hitchhiker or someone like that.”

Although he does worry about the people coming down the dark road, Moody doesn’t worry for his own safety.

“I don’t worry about the crime rates going up because of the street lights,” he said. “Besides, I have a shotgun in the house anyway.”

Not too far from Moody’s home is Deborah Moore’s Logging Hill Road property, where the street lights remain on. However, Moore supports the decision to turn off the lights.

“I am all for energy conservation, and in general I’m not too concerned about having the lights turned off,” she said. “Everybody wants everything, but nobody wants to pay for it.”

Selectman Tom Keane said nearly all of the feedback he has received has been negative.

“I have received a lot of calls and e-mails from people who really wanted to know why the lights were turned out and if alternative reductions were looked at first. I’d say from my experience it’s been about 80 percent of people who are upset,” said Keane.

“I’ve told people that the selectmen made a decision, and we encourage people to come to meetings and voice their opinions. I’ve been trying to do that since I began running. The up side to all of this is that maybe people will start showing up at meetings and letting themselves be heard.”

Despite the negative reaction in town, Keane hopes there will be some positives coming out of the decision.

“Is there a positive out of this? If people can also learn some more about energy conservation, then that is a good thing as well. Also, if we can get more public discussion about issues in town, it certainly is a good thing.”

Bow power plant emissions called safe

Bow Editor — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 20:31:00 GMT

BY NICHOLAS BROWN

After a two-year study in the Suncook Village area, the state Department of Environmental Services reported that a nearby coal power plant is not causing air pollution that would cause health problems.

The study was sparked by a 2001 petition submitted to the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry by a Suncook Village resident, and concluded that the area’s ambient air quality continuously met national quality standards.

Of concern was the Merrimack Station coal power plant in Bow, which sits in the western banks of the Merrimack River, about a mile away from the Suncook Village. The plant, which kicked off operations in 1968 and is now operated by Public Service of New Hampshire, is the largest of its kind in the state, the DES study said.

Based primarily on readings from an air monitoring point on Exchange Street, the DES concluded that the air in the village routinely had safe levels of three pollutants: sulfur dioxide, ozone and fine particulate matter.

This most recent study, released on Thursday, March 8, in a 74-page report, follows a 2003 study which determined that levels of sulfur dioxide and coarse particulate matter were “unlikely to result in significant adverse health effects.”

The recent study did find specific times when outdoor pollutants did reach levels that could affect asthmatics or other “sensitive groups.”

Sulfur dioxide levels were highest in the Village when strong northwest winds would blow in the winter months, and “ozone events” and fine particulates were most noticeable in the summer months during times of southerly winds.

When ozone levels are high, the DES study suggests, “Active children and adults, and people with lung disease, such as asthma, should reduce prolonged or heavy exertion outdoors.”