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NH Energy Week to tout cleaner solutions
Keene’s Filtrine Manufacturing Co. spent more than $300,000 last year to install a wood-chip boiler that will reduce its oil consumption by 90 percent to heat its 100,000-square-foot building.
The new boiler will pay for itself in six to seven years, thanks partly with help from a state grant.
“It’s not so much as a cost savings,” co-owner Peter Hansel said Friday. “We wanted to invest in something that did not involve fossil fuels.”
Hansel will speak Monday about his company’s energy improvements as part of NH Energy Week. Events will bring together policymakers, businesses and energy advocates to discuss how clean energy programs can build the local economy.
Gov. Chris Sununu will headline a breakfast Thursday.
More than 60 Granite State businesses, including Coca-Cola Bottling Co. of Northern New England, Velcro and Autodesk, have signed on to a set of “clean energy principles” urging clean energy proposals.
“New Hampshire businesses are telling policymakers about the value of clean energy for their businesses,” said Michelle Veasey, executive director of New Hampshire Businesses for Social Responsibility.
On Monday, an energy round table is slated at Scores Sports Bar & Grille in Keene from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., when Hansel will speak.
On Wednesday, another round table is set for The Seventh Settlement Brewery in Dover from 4:30 to 6 p.m. and will include representatives from Affinity LED Lighting.
On Thursday, the governor will speak at an 8 a.m. breakfast at the Grappone Conference Center in Concord followed by panel discussions on energy investment/infrastructure opportunities for New Hampshire, as well as workforce development opportunities in the clean-tech sector.
Filtrine, which employs about 90 people in Keene, provides custom engineering solutions for drinking water, purification and process chilling applications.
Nine years ago, the company received the city’s Green Business of the Year award.
The company previously replaced light fixtures throughout the building and put in some additional insulation on the roof.
Another project was installing a solar hot water heater to help defray some of the costs to heat water in our test area to test chillers, Hansel said.
For more information on NH Energy Week, click here.