New Hampshire recently joined EPA's national ENERGY STAR challenge to improve the energy efficiency of state buildings by 10 percent or more. Improving energy efficiency in state buildings results in savings of tax dollars, reductions of air pollution, and improvements to public health and the environment.

New Hampshire state government is the largest energy user in the state with heating, cooling, and electricity costs greater than $18 million per year for its 1,200 state buildings. New Hampshire has accepted the ENERGY STAR Challenge, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency initiative to encourage owners of commercial and institutional buildings across the country to reduce energy consumption and to capitalize on the resulting environmental benefits and cost savings. The ENERGY STAR Challenge calls for three important actions: assessing how much energy each building is using, establishing efficiency improvement goals of 10 percent or more, and making efficiency improvements where cost effective.

Governor Lynch, EPA Regional Administrator Varney and other officials celebrate Earth Day 2005 in Concord by recognizing the state's commitment to energy conservation.

One sign that the state is heading in the right direction is the recent announcement that the Department of Justice building on North State Street was awarded an ENERGY STAR label by EPA at an event held on Earth Day in Concord. The Energy Star label is awarded to buildings that demonstrate superior energy performance. Energy Star's national performance rating system ranks building energy performance on a one to 100 scale based on energy usage per square foot, normalized for weather, climate, occupancy and other factors. Buildings scoring 75 or higher that meet standards for indoor air quality, lighting, ventilation and thermal comfort are eligible for the label. The benefits of the NH Department of Justice Energy Star Building Project are significant.

Significant improvements to New Hampshire state buildings have already occurred since 1997 through the Building Energy Conservation Initiative (BECI) this program analyzes state buildings for energy and resource conservation opportunities. It uses a "paid from savings" procedure that allows agencies to use energy savings from energy retrofits and building upgrades to pay back the capital costs of those improvements. BECI has resulted in energy improvements in 74 state buildings and more than $1.2 million in projected annual energy savings.

Read more information on energy programs and climate change.