Dan Weed and Weed Automotive have been serving downtown Concord for more than 20 years. As a small business owner, Dan is always looking for ways to save money, lower costs and run his business more efficiently. Thankfully, New Hampshire participates in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a program that lowers carbon pollution emissions, and provides benefits to small businesses, while increasing jobs and state revenue by investing money back into communities in the form of clean energy, electricity bill assistance and energy efficiency programs.
Dan’s auto body shop was able to take advantage of one of those energy efficiency improvement programs, funded in part by RGGI. In 2013, he was able to update light fixtures, upgrade the building’s insulation and seal leaks in the building’s outer shell to decrease heating and cooling costs. Overall, the upgrades cost approximately $25,000, but thanks to RGGI grants, Dan only paid about $10,000 out of pocket.
Dan and Weed Automotive are living, working proof of the benefits the RGGI program provides for small businesses in New Hampshire and around the region. Not to mention, Granite State residents have seen $14.4 million in direct electricity bill assistance come from RGGI programs in 2014 alone. Along with clean energy growth and local job creation, the carbon pollution reductions from RGGI helps to reduce fossil fuel pollution that can lead to illnesses like respiratory disease and asthma.
But RGGI could be doing even more.
Currently, the states participating in the RGGI program are reviewing whether or not to increase carbon pollution reductions to five percent annually between 2020 and 2030. In a recent bipartisan study conducted by Hart Research Associates and Chesapeake Beach Consulting, 68 percent of Granite Staters support the stronger five percent carbon pollution limit and over 70 percent agree RGGI has a positive effect on people’s health and air quality. A stronger carbon pollution limit means more money invested into homes and businesses across the RGGI states and more money for smart energy efficiency programs like the one that helped Dan.
Weed Automotive has seen the long-term benefits of RGGI show up in their bills with reduced monthly electric usage and lower heating costs at the shop. Overall, Dan was able to upgrade and improve the efficiency of his business by paying a little over a third of the actual price of the renovations while saving, on average, about $50.00 a month or more in heating and electric costs.
If Governor Chris Sununu truly wants to support small businesses, he needs to support a five percent carbon pollution reduction in the RGGI planning process. It’s time to invest in our communities and small businesses and improve our families’ health by building on RGGI’s success in New Hampshire and across the region.