I really can’t think of much that he has done. He did buck his party when they got a little extreme on Covid. I am against the whole delicensing idea. Honestly what I have learned over the years living in NH is that State government does very little in general and that includes the Governor.

Would I prefer it if this project was not cutting down trees, absolutely. Ideally most large solar arrays in NH would be built in land that was already in “use”. However I also think about where our current power comes from and that is natural gas. Natural gas extraction can lead to contaminated water and is very carbon intensive. The same goes for oil. NH uses both but never has to deal with the environmental impact of these industries. Coal is even worse. If NH is going to start producing more of it’s own energy locally there will be some impact. Now the good thing about a solar project is that if it becomes obsolete in the future it can be disassembled and the land is not irreparably damaged. Today when you turn on your lights more than likely the power is coming from natural gas and sometimes coal. The communities where that gas and coal were extracted have been impacted by environmental damage that no one reading this will live long enough to see remediated.

The other reason to go with the CPC over a for profit alternative is that the CPC will be reinvesting in the towns and cities that it operates. The reinvestment will be in renewable energy projects and energy efficiency projects. I would rather have the money I pay for electricity stay in NH, where it will have a multiplier effect.

According to NOAA the ten year period from 2011-2021 is the warmest on record in Vermont. Overall in the last 123 years the average temperature in Vermont has increased 3 degrees. With an increase in temperatures it is likely that we will see increases in extreme weather events including snowstorms. I agree that looking at the number of days with snow coverage on the ground is a better datapoint. The other one is ice in and out on ponds and lakes. While none of the this directly relates to the OP question, I certainly remember in my lifetime that most Presidents Day weekends you had reliable downhill and Nordic skiing, and I am doubtful that will be true in the near future.

Who was the last democrat to win the NH primary and actually win the Presidency? (Not counting incumbents) Was it Carter? I will miss meeting the candidates in person but things change and NH is not entitled to FITN forever. Trump won the primary in 2016 but lost the state to Clinton who had lost the primary to Bernie.

Although 20,000 people (sounds small), it has a big impact in NH. Most of these people are concentrated in the 1 hour drive to Boston portion of the state. I know in the Seacoast region prices remain high because inventory is very low.

Cost avoidance vs. cost savings explained.

Avoided cost refers to a cost that is not present now, but which is certainly coming in the future. So for example if I maintain my homes heating and cooling systems with regular maintenance it will last longer and I will avoid the cost of replacing the system early but not entirely.

Cost savings like the work Vermont Efficiency does means the home that uses 1000kwh to heat it every month now only uses 750kwh to create the same amount of heat. This equates to real dollars saved that can be spent elsewhere or put in the bank.

I was wrong. Vermont Efficiency has saved Vermont ratepayers an estimated 3 Billion dollars since its inception, not a billion. As Amory Lovins stated many years ago the cheapest electricity is the kilowatts you don’t use. Oh and Vermonters have averaged .20 cents a kWh to NH’s .26 cents over the last two years while greatly increasing the amount of renewable energy produced electricity. Vermont actually has an energy plan and it’s working to decrease the cost of electricity for the ratepayers and make the source of that electricity more secure and environmentally friendly.

The key part of the article is the writer is EX-Planner for VT Dept of Energy. The most significant part of Vermont’s energy policy was creating a Utility for Energy Efficiency. It is estimated that Vermonters will save a billion dollars in energy they will not use because of the Utility’s work.

Doubt it is going anywhere in the near future but some day the bill will come due and it won’t be pretty. They are shutting down the Pilgrim plant and may have to release contaminated water into Cape Cod bay. When something is producing waste that is deadly and lasts 10k years, one can hope that it be contained until we know what to do with it.

If you have 30k array you are also generating power back to grid which you receive.07 KWH for. You can also sell your renewable energy credits for about $400 a year. If you get batteries and electrify everything in your home your payback is 4-6 years. If you add an electric car now you just put another 4k in your pocket.

Much of NH’s power comes from natural gas power plants. The kw price increase Eversource is looking to charge customers reflects the prior six months costs to generate power. Natural gas prices increased because demand increased because Russia cut off gas supplies to Europe. Policy wise the Biden administration has signed legislation that will increase investment in renewable energy. This will help decrease the cost of electricity as the decade passes. Solar plus storage is the cheapest form of electricity by far, that does not require a dam. The other thing NH residents need to do is find out if your town or city is part of the Community Power Coalition(CPC). The CPC is going to be a nonprofit energy provider that will be cheaper than the for profit utilities and the money ratepayers pay will stay in NH and be invested in renewable energy and energy sufficiency.

On the question of VT vs NH on power outages. Green Mountain power is better than Eversource on the whole. VT has better maintenance of its grid. NH had lots of suburban development but is still very forested. VT is more agricultural. People in NH prefer to manage there forests with a light touch. This leads to more natural selection and dead and dying trees that love to find power lines to fall onto.

The river was named after John Lamprey. There are Sea Lamprey that spawn in the river. The lamprey doesn’t feed while it is in the river. In fact spawning lamprey lose their teeth and eventually die after spawning. The juvenile lamprey migrate back to the sea. I have heard numerous people talk about their fear of lampreys.

The majority of people in the US do not own a gun and 56% live in a home with no guns at all. Homes with guns are more likely to have someone die from a gun accidentally or by suicide. Having lived in countries without the number of guns that we have in the US, gun control is a nonbrainer for me but I know we more likely to have Medicare for all before gun control.

Make sure your uninsured and underinsured auto coverage is good. Many drivers do not carry insurance because it is not required. The state of NH does nothing when you are hit by an uninsured driver, you will be on your own.

It is great to see the candidates up close in smaller settings, so I would miss it. I can also see why the Dems would move on from NH and IA neither state really are representative of the current DP. None of the last three Dems to win the WH won the NH primary so it is not much of a bellwether either. Still I will miss getting to see the candidates up close and personal.

Several towns and cities on the Seacoast are looking at making it easier to build accessory dwelling units on single family lots. This is an attempt to try and provide some additional housing in area that desperately needs it. The areas that have the most space for additional housing on the Seacoast are Pease and Fox Run Mall but Newington refuses to allow any housing to be built because it would mean increasing costs in services and schools.

The state court in NY then appointed a special master that created 4 districts more favorable to R’s this is why they just one 4 seats in NY.

Gerrymandering actual leads to more candidates on the fringe. Although the Republicans have struggled to attract good candidates. The last R-elected Senator was Ayotte who was a Centrist. She was relentlessly attacked for being a RINO and had a far right third party candidate get 2k votes in the election that she lost by 500 votes. So yes NH is evenly split but prefers Centrists like Sununu and Hassan to extremists like Bolduc and Mesner.

Birch are one of the most common trees to grow back when an area is clear cut in NH. Since much of Northern and central NH had been cleared of trees by timber companies in the early 20th and late 19th centuries, it was understandable when the state tree was chosen around 1900 it was the birch.