Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire
NH lawmakers on electric vehicles: very pro, very con
This is the season for New Hampshire's vast lawmaking crowd (400 state representatives!) to propose bills in what are known as LSRs or legislative service requests. Basically they say "I'd like a law that does so-and-so" and then the staff tries to write a legal,...
Counties (wait – does NH have counties?) can get in the community power game
The most interesting energy thing happening in New Hampshire right now isn’t due to cool tech or federal money, it’s part of that terribly ho-hum tedious topic, local governance. Actually, it’s more ho-hum than that: It’s county governance. Compared to most states,...

N.H. rolls out latest attempt to get EV chargers on its highways
Developers who want to build fast-charging stations for electric vehicles along interstates and Route 202 are being invited to submit plans as part of New Hampshire’s belated efforts to join the EV bandwagon. The New Hampshire Department of...
NH patents through Oct. 15
(Links to each patent can be found here, using the patent number or inventor’s name.) By Targeted News Service WASHINGTON – The following federal patents were assigned in New Hampshire through Oct. 15. *** Crystalline Forms of Compounds for Preventing or Treating...
Spotting those gross algae blooms by drone
As more New Hampshire lakes suffer from blooms of toxic algae due to warming weather and increased development, two water bodies in Henniker were part of a study of a faster way to spot outbreaks, using drones. “With the (drone), a small lake might take as little as...
PSU students part of eclipse study
Students and researchers from Plymouth State University are participating in the Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project, in which universities sent atmospheric balloons aloft with sensing equipment during solar eclipses. They're currently involved in the annual eclipse...
Big electric truck stop coming to de-idle diesels
New Hampshire is getting a big electrified long-haul truck stop - but not for battery electric trucks. The idea, and it's an excellent one, is that truckers can plug in their big diesel rigs while taking their mandated rest periods, getting power (and cable TV!) in...
Fewer homes heat with wood in the Northeast than in the South (?!?!?!)
The U.S. Energy Information Agency releases an annual estimate of what fuels households will use to heat over the coming winter. The latest estimate guesses that the number of people heating primarily with wood in the Northeast will fall 6% this year from last year,...
A ‘passive house’ skycraper in Boston
An 812,000-square-foot area for offices at the Winthrop Center, a mixed-use commercial and residential building in Boston, has gotten Passive House certification, apparently the first in the U.S. Comparable buildings in Boston consume 150% more energy than Winthrop...
When GMO chestnut trees arrive, as they probably will, what should we do?
When local folks who have been working to return the glorious American chestnut tree to our forest gather Saturday in Lebanon to celebrate an anniversary, there will be a big question looming overhead. What should they do when the genetically modified trees arrive?...