Oh! The weather outside [can be] frightful, which is why Stephen Chu of the U.S. Department of Energy announced Monday that 7 states (Arkansas, Iowa, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, and New Hampshire) will be the recipients of more than $288 million dollars, which will be put toward weatherization projects.

The funds will go toward weatherization projects benefiting more than 91,000 homes. And with the money and subsequent weatherization comes lower energy costs for low-income families that need it, reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, and creation of green jobs across the country - all part of the Obama administration’s green vision.

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According to the Princeton Review’s new Green Ratings for institutions of higher learning, 11 colleges stood out from the national field of 534. All 11 earned a rating of 99, the highest score possible in the Princeton Review’s new tally.

So which schools are tops in all things green?

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Higher fuel prices means more than taking a beating at the pump—it also affects the prices of the foodstuffs you buy. From Brazilian bananas to Moroccan couscous, the price of food is directly related to the energy it takes to cultivate, harvest and transport it.

In an attempt to cut out unneeded costs and pollution, the University of New Hampshire is exploring energy independence with a large grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Sustainable Agricultural Research and Education (SARE) program.

The $380,000 grant is intended to help discover whether a closed agroecosystem approach to organic dairy farming can help struggling dairy farmers stay in business and keep profits up.

“In a closed system, the only thing leaving the farm is the milk,” says John Aber, professor of natural resources at UNH and the principal investigator on the grant. “The goal is to see whether we can have a closed-nutrient-cycle and energy-independent organic dairy.”

Examples of operating a closed system dairy farm include using cow manure fertilizer in the fields on which the herd grazes and placing sawdust from woodlands on UNH’s 300-acre farm in barns for animal bedding (which is becoming increasingly expensive). Woodland resources could provide fuel for small cogeneration plants. Methane digestion could produce usable methane from manure.

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Students in a horticultural technology class at the University of New Hampshire’s Thompson School for Applied Science completed a final project for last week’s Earth Day celebration that brings learning outside of the conventional classroom.

Associate professor Dana Sansom’s grounds management course installed sustainable landscaping around the university’s Putnam Hall, designed to provide low-maintenance beauty throughout the year. Additionally, the landscaped area will be used as a living classroom for the school’s future horticulture students.

Thompson School student Jim Lynn, who designed the landscape with students Henry Hess and Katie Leipold worked with nine other students over the course of the past year to develop and implement the project. The site, which had been largely neglected for a decade, was overgrown and unkempt.

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Senator Clinton has been the perceived front-runner in the Democratic primary since she entered the race. Although, even in New Hampshire where support among registered Democrats remains high for both her and the former President, the race is tightening as we approach the January 8th primary.

She has been to the Granite State on many occasions, and she has brought Bill with her on many of her trips. Her political campaign in NH is heavily populated with Democratic activists and party officials who supported her husband and now support her.

In May, I met Senator Clinton in Manchester and asked her about the role of clean energy in her Administration. Clinton said, “I want to invest in clean energy technologies, and to establish a national program to reduce global warming and increase our fuel efficiency.”

When I followed up with a question about energy independence, she answered instead about climate change, “The United States must be a leader in international efforts to address the problem of climate change.”

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