Keene Energy & Agriculture Project

KEENE ENERGY AND AGRICULTURE PROJECT: SOWING THE SEEDS FOR A LOCAL SUSTAINABLE FOOD ECONOMY.

A ONE-ACRE CONTROLLED ENVIRONMENT GREENHOUSE PLUS PROCESSING CENTER OPERATED ON FREE RENEWABLE HEAT AND POWER RESOURCES. DISTRIBUTING PRODUCE AND FRESH FISH TO THE PREMIUM LOCAL NEW MARKET YEAR-ROUND.

The Keene Energy Agriculture Project (KEAP) is a unique concept in resource up-cycling — an economically, environmentally, and socially exceptional business model. Connecting established technologies and best-of-breed equipment, Integrated Food Energy Systems (IFES) solve a pressing and increasingly global need. The KEAP facility will capture and transform waste resources to build and power local food and energy systems.

In the summer of 2009, Don McCormick and the City of Keene, NH, began co-developing plans for an unprecedented integrated food and energy system that produces renewable heat and power from waste resources to sustainably grow food year-round, on a commercial scale, eliminating the need for fossil fuels and actually reducing greenhouse gasses – hence, a carbon negative facility.

The efficiency gained by maximizing the return on inputs, as well as eliminating waste, creates a scalable and replicable business model for local food and energy; a grass roots movement with the potential for worldwide application. In fact, KEAP was so forward thinking in its approach that it was awarded a $500,000 EPA grant from the prestigious Climate Showcase Communities Program.

Several years of development and demonstration of each operating element and design principal have led up to this moment. It is now time to bring the proven components and one-of-a kind design together in Keene, NH, in a public-private partnership that generates local food and energy security, environmental stewardship, and a variety of quality jobs to the entire community.

Critically, it will prove to be a rewarding business to the owners, investors, and operators of KEAP, an ideal model for communities across the country and around the world. This business plan and the correlative marketing plan, financial model, and site plan will serve to clearly define the project as well as the business opportunities, assuring KEAP’s viability and economic merit. We have set the stage for collective sustainability — stakeholders, owners, operators, and financial partners, working together to launch and successfully operate the Keene Energy and Agriculture Project.