Exeter Energy Committee Does a Wonderful Job

Exeter Energy Committee Does a Wonderful Job Making the Town More Sustainable 

by Camille Webber 

The Energy Committee is a group of volunteers who spend the second Wednesday of every month addressing how Exeter should become more energy efficient. In an interview with Chair Renay Allen, she said, “The three E’s of what our committee does are clean energy, efficiency, and education for the public.” Renay also said that the volunteers are very important to making the committee run well: “Citizens can really help by giving their volunteer hours, energy, expertise, and research.” These volunteers work on many different projects with the goal of the three E’s always prominent in their decision-making process. 

At the moment they are working on many projects including the solar array at the landfill, Community Choice Power, electric vehicle charging stations, and education on heat pumps. 

The solar array was recently approved in the March vote by a large majority, which was a very exciting success for the Energy Committee. Community Choice Power is always an agenda item because it would help the town to reduce its fossil fuel usage. There were some New Hampshire State House bills that could have stopped Community Choice Power, but this program is looking promising and Renay wants the members of the town to keep an eye and ear out for news about this project. 

Another big project that could help the citizens of the town and the town itself greatly is the electric vehicle charging stations in town. Right now, this project is at a bit of a lull because of legislators needing to work on issues related to COVID 19, but this is another project the committee is hoping to get back to work on. 

Recently, Renay Allen and committee member Amy Farnham, who works for ReVision Energy, conducted some heat pump seminars to educate the public on installing heat pumps and how the pumps can help homeowners reach their energy efficiency goals. These seminars have concluded, but they may be back later in the year and next year as well. 

The committee recently voted to bring Exeter High School freshman, Camille Webber, on board as the first-ever student liaison. Renay says, “The committee knows that climate change is affecting the younger generation; it’s very important for them, and so that’s why we wanted to bring on a younger member so we know exactly what your concerns are. We can start to address them and maybe do some joint projects with the kids at the high school.” 

If you ever want to look into what the Energy Committee is working on, check out the committee’s page on the Exeter town website. On the committee’s page, you can find their charge, a list of members, links to informational videos the committee has made, and other projects the committee is pursuing.