OIT Times: New Hampshire Signs MOU, Several Roadmaps Underway

September 22, 2001

We tend to have very high energy costs in New Hampshire, and it a major business issue here,said Jim Taylor of the Governor Office of Energy and Community Services. o when OIT explained the opportunities available through States IOF, we were very interested./p>

Indeed, New Hampshire Governor Jeanne Shaheen got involved early and signed a Memorandum of Understanding with OIT. State university researchers and more than a dozen CEOs from local manufacturing companies also signed up.

New Hampshire State IOF effort is run by WasteCap, a nonprofit organization affiliated with the Business and Industry Association of New Hampshire. Together with the Governor Office, they have begun to build intrastate alliances for the state aluminum, steel, metal casting, chemical, forest products industries.

ost of New Hampshire manufacturing firms are very small,said Barbara Bernstein of WasteCap. tate IOF is especially well-suited to our needs because it brings a lot of smaller entities together to create a critical mass./p>

Most of the industry consortia have participated in roadmap sessions, and are drafting state-specific documents. The program active listserv and its interactive website help maximize participation. According to Bernstein, a symposium in October will bring together industry representatives and researchers from the Univ. of New Hampshire to discuss roadmapping and how they can best work together.

ew Hampshire is very environmentally conscious. Many of our companies see that States IOF can play a critical role in helping them employ environmental management practices and achieve and maintain ISO 14000 certification,said Taylor.

The State IOF program also contributed to a partnership between New Hampshire and nearby Massachusetts. The Industrial Assessment Center at Univ. of Massachusetts is planning a number of assessments at New Hampshire sawmills which need to improve operating methods.