At the start of September the New Hampshire Office of Energy and Planning (NH OEP) released the State’s 10 year Energy Strategy. Mandated by the State legislature in 2013, the Strategy examines New Hampshire’s past and current trends in energy resources, demand, and generation to establish a forecast for what the state’s energy needs will be in 2025. That forecast was then compared with the ideal future energy landscape for New Hampshire, built from projected trends in international politics, economics, and environmental conditions. The Energy Strategy presents recommendations as to what needs to be done to steer New Hampshire towards its ideal future energy scenario in the coming decade.

As an intern working with the Energy Strategy team at OEP this past summer, I had the opportunity to contribute to the research, writing, and public input process that went into producing the Strategy. Issues of energy are closely tied to issues of environment, especially in a setting such as New Hampshire where forests, streams, lakes and mountains are central to communities’ cultural identity. Those natural resources are often implicated with the many facets of energy, and require careful consideration throughout the policy process. While issues of energy are not specifically within my research focus, they’re certainly within the same scope of climate adaptation and forward-looking policy that inform my work. This is especially evident in the Renewable Energy and Fuel Diversity chapter of the Strategy, where issues of emissions, nonrenewable resources, and need for resiliency to fluctuating global conditions drive the recommended policy actions. Graduate coursework I have under my belt, such as Environmental Law and Policy, are directly relevant to the work I was handed at OEP. I was able to synthesize discussion on New Hampshire’s renewable portfolio standard and energy facility siting laws, and in turn make contributions to the policy recommendations being made in the Strategy.  It was fulfilling to experience these concepts taking place outside the pages of a textbook, and to connect the dots from classroom to on-the-ground needs. It was also refreshing to spend time in the ‘big city’ of Concord this summer, while still returning to my little mountain town of Plymouth each day. Continue reading →