The Office of Energy and Planning will soon be offering municipal planning grants through the Housing and Conservation Planning Program (HCPP). Grant funds from this new voluntary program will enable municipalities to purchase technical assistance related to planning for local housing and conservation needs in a unified manner. HCPP will award $400,000 in grants over the next two years. For more information visit the HCPP website or contact Jennifer Czysz at 271-2155 or jennifer.czysz@nh.gov.

Clay Mitchell was recently announced as the University of New Hampshire’s Climate Hero of the Month for July 2007. This was in recognition of Clay’s work with the Town of Epping to develop it’s Article 22, an ordinance requiring all new commercial buildings meet specific energy efficiency guidelines and providing incentives for installing renewable energy systems in those buildings. For more information visit: http://carbonchallenge.sr.unh.edu/heroes_archive.jsp.

Changes have been afoot in the RPCs – Christine Walker, formerly of North Country Council, was recently named the new executive director of the Upper Valley Lake Sunapee Regional Planning Commission. Greg Jones, a former Southern NH Planning Commission intern, was hired as an environmental planner in Laconia.