In 2008 the State Legislature passed legislation setting a goal of reducing the use of fossil fuels in state-owned buildings by 25% by the year 2025, when compared to the (baseline) usage in fiscal year 2005.
In 2010, Senate Bill 73 was passed and went into effect in 2011. This bill resulted in New Hampshire law (RSA 155-A:13), which requires any state owned building that is newly constructed, reconstructed, altered or renovated must meet a high performance design standard. The incremental costs related to any energy efficiency and sustainable design features must be recouped within a 10-year period.
Later in 2011, Governor John Lynch issued Executive Order 2011-1. The order established a goal of reducing fossil-fuel use in state facilities by 25 percent over 2005 levels by 2025 as measured on a square-foot basis in accordance with RSA 21-I:14-c. That executive order also required agencies to comply with a Clean Fleet Program as established by the State’s energy efficiency committee to improve the operation of state vehicles and improve overall fuel economy of the state fleet.
Further, this Executive order reinforced the state legislature’s July 2010 amendment of RSA 21-I:14, which required agencies to develop energy conservation plans that identify cost effective energy efficiency and onsite energy generation measures that will lead to the 25% reduction goal. It defined Cost effectiveness as “a return on investment based on energy savings and reduced operational costs within the expected lifetime of the measure.”
Several years later, In FY2016, Governor Maggie Hassan issued Executive Order (EO) 2016-3. This order set a three-tiered goal of reducing fossil-fuel use in state facilities by 30, 40, and 50 percent as compared to FY2005 levels by 2020, 2025, and 2030 respectively. Reductions are to be measured on a square-foot basis in accordance with RSA 21-I:14-c. The order formally established the State Government Energy Committee (SGEC, formally); and defined the role and duties of the Energy Coordinators. Each agency is required to have an Energy Coordinator. The SEM has continued to meet with Energy Coordinators individually and as a group to develop energy management strategies to use within their agencies.
The (SEM) Office within the Department of Administrative Services (DAS) has grown from a single State Energy Manager in 2005 to a team of two and a half employees, adding an energy project manager in 2009 and a part-time data analyst in 2015. In addition, with the help of the State Energy Program grant money, the SEM Office was able to hire a temporary part-time energy education and outreach position for the remainder of FY2019. The SEM Office is not yet able to manage the volume of work to be done, and therefore relies on additional, critical support from other state agencies.