This is the home of the Portsmouth Economic Development Committee (PEDC) Sustainable Energy Initiative - your authoritative source of information on energy initiatives in Portsmouth.

What is “Sustainable Energy”?

“Sustainable Energy” means providing for our energy needs without depleting our planet’s natural resources (like oil). Another related term is “ renewable energy”. That means being able to generate energy with resources that are naturally regenerated (like wind).

Sustainable energy has two arms; one is energy generation from renewable sources and the other is energy conservation. Both are required to close the gap to our goal of “sustainment” in our energy needs.

Each potential process of helping us attain our goal has both positives and negatives. Solar power is great and uses the sun, but solar panels are expensive and create some waste and consume natural resources in the manufacturing processes. Nuclear power can provide significant power with the use of a small amount of uranium, but has obvious drawbacks. Even the use of fluorescent lamps, although they use less power may create additional mercury contamination if they are improperly disposed.

We have established a PEDC Sustainable Energy Subcommittee. Their charter is to continually look at “the next best thing” that can provide near-term energy payoff for the Town. As technology provides better alternatives, like affordable Light Emitting Diode (LED) lamps or tidal current energy systems, the subcommittee will review them for potential implementation.

For the past two years the Sustainable Energy Subcommittee has focused on Wind Power as the most promising near-term technology that will help us toward that “sustainable” energy goal. Go to our WIND POWER PAGE to see what we are doing now.

Please send any questions or comments on sustainable energy to questions@PortsmouthRIenergy.com