Clean energy jobs grow in New Hampshire

Energy leaders say there's 'room in the industry for just about everyone'

U.S. Sen Jeanne Shaheen, D-NH, recently lauded the growth of green energy jobs here and across the country.

“The clean energy sector plays a critical role in combating the ongoing climate crisis as well as promoting job creation and economic development in New Hampshire and across the nation,” said Shaheen.

Her comments in June came after a new U.S. Department of Energy study — the 2023 U.S. Energy and Employment Report (USEER) — that tracked the growth of green energy jobs across the country. The report summarized that clean energy jobs increased in every state. 

New Hampshire, according to that study, had 30,156 energy workers statewide in 2022, 650 more than it had in 2021.

Of these energy jobs, 5,842 were in electric power generation; 1,367 in fuels; 3,448 in transmission, distribution and storage; 11,299 in energy efficiency; and 8,199 in motor vehicles. From 2021 to 2022, energy jobs in the state increased 648 jobs, or 2.2%. The energy sector in New Hampshire represented 4.5% of total state employment.

Positive environmental impact

One example of this growing sector is Resilient Buildings Group (RGB) in Concord — a recent recipient of a 2023 Energy Excellence Award from Eversource, the state’s largest electric utility. The award acknowledges “the incredible work that our business partners complete every year to help customers reduce energy use and have a positive impact on the environment,” said Tilak Subrahmanian,  Eversource’s vice president of energy efficiency and electric mobility.

Resilient Buildings Group provides energy-centric construction management that helps reduce energy costs, maximizes efficiency of energy management systems, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. It also provides consultation for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification.

Eversource cited RBG for its work on a Portsmouth Housing Authority project to develop a LEED-Gold certified workforce housing project in the city’s historic downtown.

“The reaction has been overwhelmingly positive,” said Chase Pennoyer, vice president of operations for RGB. “It means so much to us to be called out by such a large player in the energy space. And we’re really happy that Eversource is so involved. It means a lot.”

RBG’s president is Dana Nute, who founded it in 2013 originally as a for-profit subsidiary of The Jordan Institute — a nonprofit organization that advanced public, environmental and economic health by improving energy performance and resiliency in how buildings are designed, built, renovated, operated and financed.

RGB, with Nute and a couple of employees at its onset, is now a standalone company, having just hired its 19th employee, according to Pennoyer.

A telling aspect of green energy jobs, according to Pennoyer, who’s been with RBG since 2015, is that they don’t necessarily require a specialized education or four-year degree.

“I think over 90% of the people we’ve hired come from no energy experience,” said Pennoyer. “I think that’s a big deal because, when people hear energy efficiency, I think they imagine someone who has gotten a specialized degree, whether it be an engineering or an energy-related field. But the reality is there’s so much room in the industry for just about everyone.”

The jobs, such as LEED consulting, require certification that RBG helps an individual train for and attain.

“We work with our employees to develop their technical expertise over time, but we definitely don’t expect employees to have the energy and expertise right out of the gate,” he said.

An opportunity ‘like never before’

The U.S. Department of Energy defines a clean energy job as “any occupation that is affected by activities such as conserving energy, developing alternative energy, reducing pollution or recycling.” It says these careers strengthen U.S. energy security, environmental quality and economic vitality.

On a micro level in New Hampshire, the clean energy jobs can help the region cope more efficiently and more sustainably with high energy costs, particularly during cold winters, according to Pennoyer. On a macro level with respect to climate change, he said, “cutting our greenhouse gasses is, as we’re finding out, more and more important, and it really should have happened yesterday. But because it’s been so delayed, I think it’s created more of an opportunity. There’s an opportunity like never before.”

According to Shaheen, the USEER began in 2016 to better track and understand employment within key energy sectors. The study combines surveys of businesses with public labor data to produce estimates of employment and workforce characteristics.

When the administration of President Donald Trump declined to administer the USEER, Shaheen said she worked with bipartisan colleagues to introduce the Promoting American Energy Jobs Act to restore the DOE’s role in collecting data and releasing this annual report to better inform lawmakers working on policy to grow the clean energy sector.

Shaheen said clean energy jobs increased in every state due to the increased investments from President Joe Biden’s sweeping infrastructure plan. Clean energy jobs grew 3.9%, adding 114,000 jobs nationally, increasing to over 40% of total energy jobs, according to Shaheen.

Clean energy jobs in New Hampshire are critical to growing a younger workforce here, commented Pennoyer. Environmental sustainability is a value held dear by many, particularly those who use it as a calculus in not only the type of job they do but where they do it.

For that reason, Pennoyer believes adoption by the NH Public Utilities Commission (PUC) of a three-year, statewide energy-efficiency plan for 2024-2026 is important to workforce development here.

Administered by NHSaves, the proposed plan says it will result in customer energy cost savings of more than $675 million over the lifetime of the measures installed under the program. For every $1 invested, it will reap $2.27 in savings to consumers.

In addition, the plan says numerous local contractors and vendors partner with NHSaves to deliver projects and that it will support 1,718 full-time jobs.

New Hampshire’s electric utilities, as directed by the Legislature, established the NHSaves Program, a statewide energy-efficiency program to provide New Hampshire customers with information, incentives and support designed to save energy, reduce costs and protect our environment statewide.

“We have a fraction of the trades people that our neighboring states do,” said Pennoyer. “So the New Hampshire state program is really a critical piece to the whole thing. The new three-year plan, which is being heard by the PUC and hopefully adopted, has a workforce development piece in it.”

The energy plan’s history is a tumultuous one in New Hampshire. The last time it came before the PUC, the result was a lot of controversy and lawsuits and a much scaled-down plan that some believed hurt the consumer more than it helped.

Hearings on the latest plan started on Wednesday, Oct. 25, and were expected to wrap up with a decision by the end of November.

The Portsmouth project that RBG was cited for — Ruth Lewin Griffin Place — is LEED-Gold Certified and was recognized by the U.S. Green Building Council New Hampshire Chapter as Building of the Year for achieving the highest LEED score in the state in 2022.

“Portsmouth Housing Authority is one of the most forward-thinking housing authorities in the state. They have really done an excellent job making sure that all of their properties are hitting the highest standards of energy efficiency,” said Pennoyer.

RBG is the recipient of the Equity Award, which recognizes projects that benefited underserved communities or otherwise represented efforts to provide more equitable access to Eversource programs. It was the one New Hampshire company among the seven awarded by Eversource to companies throughout New England.