The Necessity of Reliable, Cheap Energy

Hanover's arctic winter would be lethal without it.

On Saturday, February 4th, Hanover, New Hampshire witnessed an average temperature of -2F, with a frightening low -14F and a balmy high of 11F. At the summit of Mount Washington, New Hampshire set the all-time lowest temperature in the US of, get this, -108F. Without energy to power heating systems, these temperatures are quite literally unsurvivable.

The Energy Department of the State of New Hampshire reports that, according to the 2019 American Community Survey from the US Census Bureau, “42% of New Hampshire citizens [use] oil as their primary source of heat,” with an additional “6% of New Hampshire households also rely[ing] on wood as a primary source of home heating.” In short, approximately half of NH households rely on hydrocarbon energy sources—the kind that emit the greenhouse gas CO2—for heat.

What about electric heating alternatives? Unfortunately, the average New Hampshire resident spends a whopping $4,078 (2019) on energy: “the fifth-highest among the Lower 48 states.” To call for an immediate transition away from energy-dense, easily-transportable, low-cost hydrocarbon fuel sources in favor of electric heating, even excluding the fixed costs of replacing oil-based home-heating infrastructure, would be terribly regressive.

But the analysis doesn’t stop here; we need to look a level lower to determine how the electricity is generated. “Over half of New Hampshire’s electricity generation is from nuclear energy,” “7%… by hydropower,” “3% [from] wind,” and “1% from solar,” making a total of over 61% from non-carbon-emitting sources. Still, “25% is generated by natural gas” (a relatively clean hydrocarbon energy source), “6% is produced by biomass… and 1.6% coal.”

Although most of New Hampshire’s energy is generated in a “green” manner, electricity costs remain some of the highest in the nation. To mandate a transition to 100% electric heating then, while greener than the current arrangement, would foist insupportable costs on New Hampshire’s population.

As a New Hampshire resident in the dead of winter, I, for one, am happy that such a transition is not mandated. While I don’t pay for energy prices directly, such a transition would undoubtedly raise the already sky-high cost of Dartmouth tuition in the form of increased room costs.