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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Energy Committee - 01/11/2023Energy Committee Meeting Minutes 2023-01-11 Committee Members: Ethan Goldman, Carrie McLaughlin, MJ Reale, Ahmed Abdel-Fattah, Rob Meader, Keith Epstein, Tim Perrin, Steve Crowley, Frans Van Boden Other: Ilona Blanchard (Committee Staff), Lou Bresee (Energy Project Manager), Tim Barritt (Council Liaison), Marcy Murray Tim called the meeting to order at 6:37 pm A group of four students from SBHS were interested in attending but didn’t respond to Steve’s invitation. Currently working as a group at SBEC on climate action. Maybe they will join us next time. Minutes from Dec 14 were approved unanimously. Steve moved, and Rob seconded. Discussed the chair term schedule and decided there is no need to shift it from the calendar year schedule it’s on now. Tim P was nominated for chair by Ahmed, Steve seconded the motion. Approved unanimously. Keith nominated MJ for Vice Chair, Rob seconded; it was approved unanimously. Discussion of the CAP implementation. MJ talked to Paul Conner, who submitted an article to the Other Paper describing the CAP. Ilona pointed out that there is a listening session for the public to share thoughts about CAP and local energy issues. She suggested that we promote the event and encourage the public to attend. Ilona also mentioned that the city budget is in development (FY ‘24) and there is a public hearing this coming Tuesday. Council proposed to use ARPA funds over the next several years (transitioning to the regular budget over the next 3 years), but doesn’t want to decide with the current Council but wants the newly elected Council to decide in March. It would pay for two employees plus consultants to help with planning and outreach. We riffed on ideas for public outreach to engage community members in the CAP. This could include students at the school and other populations. Steve suggested some public outreach sessions. Ethan suggested starting with research on how other communities have done this. Steve suggested “Transition Towns” is an organization that could help with a playbook. Hartland has “BALE” (Building a Local Economy). Bennington has “Earth Matters”. MJ likes those ideas but wonders if it’s beyond the scope of our committee. She suggested that we might have better results if we focused our outreach on specific tasks rather than the whole CAP. Keith suggested that we could survey the public on what they want to work on. Ilona pointed out that the VT Council on Rural Economic Development uses a similar model. We discussed the challenges of communicating the content of the CAP to the public. Most people haven’t read it. It’s very long. Ilona referenced the city’s budget proposal for hiring staff and consultants to support CAP implementation as a possible solution to this challenge. Rob shared a diagram illustrating a process for socializing and implementing new policies. We discussed energy disclosure rules at the time of sale; Tim says that Montpelier passed this ordinance. It went into effect in July ‘22. Tim suggests that we dedicate a meeting to discussing the CAP and look for places to dive in and make progress, as well as things that we could share with other committees and local groups to get them interested in working on some priority actions. Keith suggests that we can develop a framework for evaluating prospective actions. We discussed the renewable heating ordinance (the new construction ordinance regarding heating and hot water, with phase-in for commercial hot water). Colin McNeil is looking into the city’s ability to regulate heating systems in existing homes (presumable on replacement of a system that is reaching end-of-life). Right now there is no requirement to get a permit when replacing a heating system, which would limit the effectiveness of this approach. Tim B learned about a VT Geothermal group; Steve says Debbie Neuw (?) is the leader and lives in SB. VGS is involved (Richard Donnelly). We need to find a time to digest the information from the listening session and provide feedback. Tim P will send out a Doodle poll. One option is to stay after the listening session. Also, Ilona needs to find a time to give us a presentation on the bond vote; could be done right before the listening session. Lou will send a powerpoint with information about the financial models of the landfill solar. Original models didn’t consider the sunsetting of the adder, but also didn’t anticipate the increase in retail electric rates that are the base value. That increase in base rate has compensated for the loss of the adder. Needs to add inverter failure and PV degradation into the model. This model is intended to help the city decide whether to buy out the PPA. We don’t currently have any maintenance records from Altus; Lou will request them. Lou will send the draft model to committee members later this week and requests feedback. The deadline for a Council decision is still more than a year in the future. Ilona talked to the Staff person from the energy committee of Williston as they are interested in starting a Window Dressers program. Ilona also talked to Damon Lane (who is organizing the BTV chapter) and learned that it is an involved activity that requires a secured location and getting volunteers to measure windows in (10? 20? 50?) homes. The local team must volunteer in other communities to learn how to build the frames. This is a major commitment. The energy committee doesn’t necessarily have to supply all the volunteer labor, but we would need to find others to fill those seats if not. Note that the recipients also volunteer to help build, but there also need to be volunteer organizers who measure the windows and herd the cats. There is some concern about the level of effort. Tim P will reach out to the Williston EC chair to discuss their plans. We will also think about possible sources for additional volunteers that we can recruit to lead this effort: 350.org, HS students, the Affordable Housing Committee, etc.