Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Energy Committee - 12/06/2012Meeting Notes – December 6, 2012 South Burlington Energy Committee meeting minutes Members: PRESENT ABSENT Marc Companion X Don Cummings X Keith Epstein X Marcy Murray X Sam Swanson X Peter Tousley X Laura Waters X Meeting Start Time: 7:00PM Date: December 3, 2012 Meeting Location: S. Burlington City Hall City Staff: None in attendance Members of Public: None in attendance For all motions, including previous month’s minutes approval and adjournment, record what the motion was, who moved it, who seconded it, and whether or not it was approved. Review draft meeting minutes Consideration of the draft minutes for the November 17, 2012 meeting (prepared by Sam). Sam moved and Don seconded a motion to approve minutes as submitted. The Committee voted unanimously to approve the minutes as presented (currently posted on the Committee web site). 7:05 Election of Chair and Vice Chair Keith Epstein was nominated as Chair for the upcoming 4 months by Laura Waters. Don Cummings seconded. The Committee voted unanimously to elect Keith as Chair. Don Cummings was nominated as Vice Chair by Keith. Marc seconded the nomination. The Committee voted unanimously to elect Don as Vice Chair. 7:10 Invite Public to Speak – No one appeared to speak; no visitors were present. 7:15 City Staff Updates – written report by Ilona  Renewable Energy Partners Contract -I have no additional information on the 500kW project or the other projects. I will be talking to Don Lorraine about the rates.  LED street lamp project – The LED street lamps may be back on track with a pre-change out inventory – they are getting back to me on that.  Municipal office energy upgrades during construction - The Municipal office energy upgrades are still in the budget for FY14. I have placed additional improvements into FY15.  City Capital Planning & energy budget line items - The City manager will likely present the draft budget including FY 14 in January.  Site Planning, Zero Carbon & City Zoning - Dec 13 meeting. If committee members are interested in the updates to the zoning code which will affect site planning and building massing (but not codes), then folks are strongly encouraged to attend the Dec 13 meeting. The Committee had a conversation concerning the lack of progress on replacement of the street lamps. The City has requested an audit of the lamps prior to GMP replacing them because there are about 30 lamps in dispute on the current inventory for which the City has been paying. The committee questioned why GMP could not go ahead with the audit, count and replacement now. The disputed lamps could be addressed with the City as they were identified. Don Cummings stated that as there has been no progress on this project, the City is spending at least an extra $1,000/month for the lights, not to mention the increased CO2 emissions especially with the additional time the lamps are on during the winter months. The committee strongly urges the City to request that GMP initiate this project and would like to partner with the City if there is any way to facilitate the process including drafting a letter for the City to submit a formal complaint to the PSB if GMP continues to procrastinate. Concerning the City’s capital planning and energy budget, Don and Sam met with City representatives to discuss undertaking downsizing the HVAC system for city hall based upon projected energy savings from weatherization efforts. The City is committed to purchasing an HVAC system that meets the building’s current energy needs because of the suspected imminent failure of the system. Plus, downsizing of the system would be difficult because it would not meet standard HVAC system specs. The city’s 2014 budget includes hiring a contractor to perform air sealing in all of the City’s buildings. The 2015 Budget includes tuning, modifying controls, etc. of all HVAC systems. There was concern expressed among the committee members that our committee and energy conservation issues in general are not a priority with the City. A comment was made that perhaps we have not been presenting our proposals in the right way & that we need to develop a strategic relationship with a couple of city council members. Rosanne Greco and Sandy Dooley were suggested. Marcy will contact Rosanne to see if she would be amenable to attending our next meeting or to set up a meeting at another time to share our philosophy and to get their feedback on our concerns. 7:35 Project Updates – reports by Committee members School Solar Education grant update – Marcy stated that the school is working on an estimate and that they are very appreciative that the committee was trying to help. The Committee discussed ways to obtain any funding that may be required to enable these changes. Dynapower was suggested as a possible partner. Marcy will continue to monitor project progress. Residential Building Energy Code compliance – Marcy reported the progress on her investigation into compliance with the new state requirement that builders file a residential building energy certificate for new construction and renovations. She has found that only 14 certificates were filed in 2011 and 11 so far in 2012. Approximately 414 should have been filed. The committee discussed the Efficiency Vermont Community Engagement Plan. It was agreed that there was nothing in the plan that would really elevate participation to the desired (required) level. Marcy suggested that within S. Burlington the person issuing the building permit (Ray Belair) would ideally be trained to be able to discuss with each permit applicant the energy code requirements that pertain to their specific project. Sam stated that EFVT should be getting the zoning administrators educated. The committee agreed that we should ask the city council representatives how best to get the energy code implemented. It seems that between requiring involvement of the DRB and zoning in energy code implementation that most of the projects would be covered. Home weatherization program - condos – Mark reported that VGS has hired Shelter for 80 hours over approximately the next two months to continue their condo outreach. Shelter is currently getting testimonials from owners who have completed their weatherization projects and VGS is prioritizing which condo associations they would like contacted over the next couple of months. Once the details are worked out, there may be some part of the project that can be supported by the committee. Sam indicated that he was not happy with the outcome of the Shelter’s contract with the City in that only 15 contracts for weatherization were signed over a period of 5 months. A suggestion was made that perhaps Shelter could show people where their energy use ranks versus their neighbors’ to increase participation. There was discussion about VGS and privacy issues that might preclude using specific usage data to target condo owners. EVT Weatherization Challenge – Sam suggested that we invite Melanie Needle, Regional Planning Commission, to our next meeting to discuss the specifics of the challenge as she is promoting community involvement. The committee needs to assign a point of contact and attend a Jan 12 training meeting if we decide to participate. Don suggested that we wait until after the presentation on Jan. 3. Claire Solar Project update – Don and Sam met with Joe Larkin, their attorney, and Patrick Michael to discuss the project to reiterate that we hope the applicant will develop a proposal that addresses the concern for protecting natural values on this parcel raised by the Planning Commission comments. Suggestions such as planting native grasses on the site and small fruit tress and shrubs around the perimeter to attract wildlife were provided. They could get the site certified as a wildlife area by groups such as the National Wildlife Federation. It was suggested that Keith prepare a rebuttal to the email sent from Bill Stuono (vice chair, Planning Committee) to Paul Conner concerning their interest in emphasizing rooftop solar as a viable option to large projects such as the Claire Solar Project proposal. The committee will help draft a letter using Keith’s data. Affordable Housing Hearings – Don was unable to go to the hearing but sent his testimonial. He stated that in addition to new housing, we should focus on making our current housing more affordable. He stated that existing affordable homes probably have higher energy bills and owners probably can’t afford energy efficiency measures. Don requested that all members send their thoughts to the Affordable Housing Committee. ECOS Report – Don stated that the ECOS High Priority Strategies did not include any reference to climate change. Keith stated that if you click on a specific strategy that energy use is a subset of some of the strategies. Other updates Energy/carbon baseline – Sam stated that the carbon baseline final is due out in March. Adjourn meeting and plan next meeting At 8:30 Keith moved to adjourn the meeting; Don seconded the motion. The next meeting will convene on Thursday, January 3, 2013.