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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - Energy Committee - 03/14/2019 South Burlington Energy Committee 575 Dorset Street South Burlington, VT 05403 (802) 846-4106 www.SouthBurlingtonVT.gov facebook.com/SouthBurlington Draft Meeting Minutes March 14, 2019 Committee members present: Andrew Chalnick, Karen Mckenny, Keith Epstein, Linda McGinnis (Chair), Marcy Murray, Patty Tashiro, Sam Swanson, Tim Perrin Committee members absent: Don Cummings, Fred Kosnitsky Community members present: Kate Desrochers of Packetized Energy City staff present: None Meeting minutes Marcy agreed to scribe. Karen moved and Andrew seconded a motion to approve the latest version of the January 10, 2019, meeting minutes. Approved unanimously. Project updates Committee members shared key points from their Monthly Project Update document entries. Selected information follows: • Andrew expressed confusion over our continued use of “South Burlington Energy Prize” in this post-GUEP era and emphasized the importance of consistent branding. Brief brainstorming produced potential alternatives including South Burlington Energy and South Burlington Energy Action. Action: After a discussion of the logic behind the current slogan, the group agreed to add this topic to a future agenda after Don returns. • Keith has been working to track down the former UVM professor who created the methodology for South Burlington’s 10-year-old baseline carbon study. The data in the latter differ significantly from the data that CCRPC has gathered for the same period. There was agreement that the change in SB’s energy usage is more important than the underlying numbers, and that using the CCRPC’s numbers for both baseline and annual assessments may be adequate in measuring the city’s progress toward its energy goals. Action: Andrew will contact Melanie Needle at CCRPC to assess the wisdom of using her data. • Sam and Andrew explained their energy-related goals and challenges related to their roles as members of the Interim Zoning Open Space Committee and the Interim Zoning Transfer Development Rights (TDR) Committee, respectively. Both were unsure of the effect that the recent ruling—that the city’s TDR zoning bylaw was in violation of the state law regulating TDRs and was unconstitutionally vague—will have on these committees’ work. On the Open Space Committee, Sam sees the benefit of assessing and ranking the natural resource value of each parcel and its compatibility with solar installations. Linda emphasized the importance of communicating the temporary and beneficial nature of solar, e.g., a solar installation with a 30-year lifespan and guaranteed decommissioning could—prior to removal—generate enough revenue to help the city purchase the underlying land. Action: Sam will invite Paul Connor to speak to us about the timing of preferred solar siting after the legislature’s expected upcoming related action. South Burlington Energy Committee 575 Dorset Street South Burlington, VT 05403 (802) 846-4106 www.SouthBurlingtonVT.gov facebook.com/SouthBurlington In the TDR Committee, Andrew sees increasing housing density (with the resulting reduction in transportation-related energy use) as the key energy-saving opportunity (in addition to preserving farmland as a carbon sink). He had digitally shared his recent paper entitled Revising the TDR Program to Further Conservation in South Burlington. Packetized Energy presentation • Kate Desrochers, Projects and Initiatives Manager Packetized Energy (PE) aggregates fleets of residential and small commercial smart devices (e.g., water heaters, HVAC systems, electric vehicle chargers, solar inverters, and distributed batteries) into single grid resources known as virtual batteries. Connected devices communicate over wireless networks to coordinate their energy usage. With Packetized Energy’s software and devices, utilities can provide cleaner, more affordable, and easier-to-use energy; consumers can better manage their energy costs; and the grid is better able to reliably run on renewable energy. Kate shared information about the operation and benefits of Packetized Energy’s virtual-battery offerings. She appreciated Karen’s previous Front Porch Forum posting about PE and plans to forward additional simplified content for future post(s). Quarterly Energy Meeting update Linda shared details of the “incredibly useful” meeting that she, Keith, Patty, Sam and Tim had with Kevin Dorn and Paul Conner earlier in the week. Selected information follows: • There was support for moving forward with the key projects identified for FY2019 without detailed ranking-related analysis. • EVT’s Michelle McCutcheon-Schour has taken over Tim’s job and will join VGS’ Mike Gifford in performing joint walk-throughs (that look across all technologies) of all municipal buildings/departments. Discussion centered on ways to identify and rank the resulting post-FY2019 project list after the walk-throughs are completed, e.g., in what is expected to be an iterative process, consider available data and work with Lou, Michelle and Mike to determine how to proceed and where contractors are needed to provide more information for a deeper evaluation—all while guarding against conflicts of interest that could influence projected expenses, revenue and hard and soft savings. There was agreement about the value of using both payback and sound net present value (NPV) analyses in project prioritization. While comprehensive cost-benefit analyses represent a responsible approach to making decisions that leverage taxpayer resources, Tim noted that it would be important not to let the desire for near-perfect estimates block analyses and actions that would likely be good enough. Action: Given the lack of clarity about who (i.e., city staff, VGS, EVT, SBEC) is qualified to consistently perform the necessary pre- and post-project analyses, this topic will be added to a future agenda. • Regarding potential ways to configure the formulas and processes related to the recently created Revolving Fund: o Various formula, duration and process options were discussed ranging from the complex South Burlington Energy Committee 575 Dorset Street South Burlington, VT 05403 (802) 846-4106 www.SouthBurlingtonVT.gov facebook.com/SouthBurlington (e.g., determining re-funding percentages on a project-by-project basis with an oversight group including SBEC members to adjust post-project-start-related calculations as needed) to the simplified (i.e., adopting a standard percentage of projected savings based on pre-project contractor estimates, e.g., 80% of expected savings return to the revolving fund and 20% return to the city for tax reduction or other uses). There will likely be a trade-off between precision and ease for city staff. o According to Linda, Montpelier uses the GRITS tool to track energy and financial savings over time for its revolving fund, and that city is not allowed to access the fund’s content for anything but the pre-defined types of energy projects. o Keith mentioned the importance of including non-energy benefits in determining the percentage of a project’s expected savings to be added to the fund (e.g., the appropriate hourly loaded labor rate multiplied by the number of hours per week that will no longer be needed to replace inefficient light bulbs in the Police Station). Tim said that EVT has a list of such benefits (i.e., through which projects could be screened). • Mike’s VGS meter feeds directly into Portfolio Manager (PM), while EVT is likely to stop such direct data transfers for the city’s electric usage. Action: Tim will contact EVT to determine the likelihood/timing of the data-transfer termination. Given the expected usefulness of PM in tracking project performance, Lou would likely need to input the data manually if the automated option ends. • Despite SBEC’s understanding that the city had adopted the stretch energy code several years ago, a Planning Commission (PC) representative recently stated that the LDRs don’t clearly communicate energy efficiency requirements. Action: Andrew will follow up with a PC representative regarding the status of the stretch energy code and her inquiry about adding visibly strong energy efficiency requirements to the LDRs. Committee officer elections Linda moved and Marcy seconded a motion to elect Keith as Chair for a 4-month term ending after the July meeting. Approved unanimously. Marcy moved and Sam seconded a motion to elect Tim as Vice Chair for a 4-month term ending after the July meeting. Approved unanimously. Members thanked Linda for the excellent work and leadership she contributed during her term as Chair. Next Meeting The next meeting will be on Thursday, April 11, at 6:30 p.m. in the South Burlington Police Station’s 2nd floor conference room at 19 Gregory Drive (middle entrance). Adjournment After starting at 6:30 p.m., the meeting adjourned at 8:34 p.m.