HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Energy Committee - 04/19/2012South Burlington Energy Committee
April 19, 2012 Meeting Notes
Laura Waters, chair, convened the meeting at 7 PM.
Attendees: Laura Waters, Marcy Murray, Sam Swanson, Keith Epstein, Don Cummings, Ilona
Blanchard (S.B. Project Director), Clary Franko from Suncommon, David Keefe from VEIC,
Gabe McConkey from Building Energy Don volunteered to keep minutes. March 2012 minutes
were approved.
Invited the Public to Speak:
Clary Franko reported that SunCommon was planning a joint event in S. Burlington to publicize
the effort to install hundreds of roof top PV arrays in S. Burlington, This will occur at one of their
first solar PV installations in the city and other vendors will be invited as well as other energy
committees like Williston and Hinesburg. Date and location are TBD.
Presentation on Vermont Residential Energy Code:
The energy committee invited David KIeefe from VEIC to give us an update on the efforts to
improve residential building energy efficiency through the Residential Energy Code. The code
was enacted by the legislature and specifies energy efficiency requirements for new or
renovated/expanded residences. VEIC has been charged with promoting the code throughout
the state. When the building construction is complete, the builder is then required to complete a
certificate documenting compliance and it is to be recorded in the town’s records. The major
question is how effective is this code since there are no methods to ensure compliance or track
its use.
The discussion continued about the code, how builders and home owners learn about its
requirements and how these codes fit with other green certifications like energy star. The good
news is that 1/3 of all new homes in Vermont go through the energy star process and those
homes are inspected to ensure compliance to the building code and to energy star specific
requirements. The questions regard the remaining homes.
The committee discussed what steps might be taken to ensure that all new residential
construction work meets these codes. Several options that included communications to
homeowners at the outset of the project, finding a way to spot check on the level of compliance
for recent construction and to work with builders and realtors to get their ideas to ensure
compliance were discussed and will be evaluated. VEIC is very interested in any ways to
improve compliance and is interested in our conclusions.
City Staff Updates:
Condo Energy Project: A vendor has been selected (Shelter Analytics), a contract is being
developed and the project kickoff will occur as soon as possible.
Williston Road Diet/ EPA Energy Use Assessment/Municipal Building Energy Upgrade Grant:
No update
Route 7 Park & Ride: Property managers have been contacted but no response – Paul will
follow up with them again.
ICLEI Membership: Membership fee appears to have been paid.
Project Updates:
Residential Solar Challenge: The wording for our challenge to S. Burlington residents to install
Solar PV on their homes and the target of 300 homes by 2014 were agreed upon. A motion was
made and approved that this wording would become the official challenge to city residents (text
for the challenge follows this document in the wiki). Sam offered to hold a brainstorming session
to begin developing a promotion plan.
LED Streetlamp Project: Ilona Blanchard completed an analysis that concluded that it is better
to lease the new LED streetlamps from GMP rather than to purchase them. The city is working
on a Lighting Policy for lighting standards for various situations to ensure that lighting standards
are appropriate. Work continues with GMP to identify all of the lamps that are currently on the
city’s bill so a final list of those to be upgraded can be put together.
Meeting was adjourned at 8:45
South Burlington Energy Committee Announces Residential Solar Goal
April 2012
The South Burlington Energy Committee welcomes all South Burlington homeowners to
install solar electric and hot water systems on 300 South Burlington homes by the end
of 2014.
This is in addition to the 4,200kW solar capacity currently installed at numerous South
Burlington locations, including
the 2,130 kW South Burlington Solar Farm off Dubois Drive,
the 150 kW array at the Farm at South Village off Spear Street,
the University of Vermont-USDA solar farm near Spear Street,
the Dynapower Corporation site,
the Heritage Flight solar facility,
the 1,450 kW solar facility at the Vermont National Guard,
and many individual homes in South Burlington.
The continuing initiative to install additional solar systems in the City represents an
important step toward significantly increasing renewable energy production in South
Burlington – a goal stated in the City’s draft Long Range Plan. The Energy Committee
encourages South Burlington’s 4,800 homeowners and hundreds of businesses to join the
growing number of people who are using solar energy to meet both their electricity and hot
water needs.
A list of contractors can be found by phoning Renewable Energy Vermont at 802-229-0099
, or viewing their website:
Photovoltaic contractors:
http://www.revermont.org/main/categories/16/search_type/and/order/default/
Solar Hot Water
Contractors: http://www.revermont.org/main/categories/15/search_type/and/order/default/