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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Energy Committee - 09/05/2014Thursday September 5, 2014 7:00 to 9:00PM Training Room, 19 Gregory Drive (Police Department) South Burlington Energy Committee Meeting Minutes Draft Present: Don Cummings, Karen Mckenny, Keith Epstein, Brendan Taylor, Sam Swanson Absent: Fred Kosnitsky, Marcy Murray, Marc Companion Staff Absent: Ilona Blanchard Public Present: Paul Wagenhofer, Patty Tashiro Don convened the meeting at 7:00 PM. Brendan volunteered to serve as scribe. Meeting Minutes: Keith moved to approve the minutes from the July 10 standard meeting, the July 30 special meeting, and the August 7 standard meeting, Karen seconded and all agreed unanimously. Public : Paul Wagenhofer introduced himself as an Energy Committee applicant recently relocated to South Burlington. Brendan announced his resignation from the Energy Committee due to a lack of time to meet the commitments of the committee’s work. City Staff Updates: • Ilona was absent from the meeting so Don and Sam updated what they knew about. • Don announced that the City has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Commons Energy, an energy services company (ESCo) to provide technical services, project management, and the opportunity for 7% financing for municipal efficiency improvement projects. They will take advantage of existing audit data, may perform more auditing as needed, and will guarantee energy savings. They will charge for labor and materials plus 15% for overhead and profit. Project Updates: • SB Energy Prize (GUEP) o Don reviewed the process for developing the GUEP program. o Keith reviewed the near-term schedule. There will be a presentation of the program plan to the City Council on October 20 so that there is adequate time to receive feedback and make adjustments for the submittal of the plan to GUEP on November 10. o Sam volunteered to draft a summary of the Efficiency Vermont and Vermont Gas programs to be included in the plan. o Don mentioned a very positive meeting with Jim Sinclair from Vermont Gas, who seems excited to collaborate with the committee on the Energy Prize. o Karen reviewed her work enlisting volunteers, gathering information about ways they are able to help, and gaining access to all the Front Porch Forums for South Burlington. o A recent informational meeting at Healthy Living was very productive, with 18 people in attendance. o Karen has asked for a small amount of money from the committee to purchase tabling materials. o Karen says the Energy Prize Facebook page will be complete and made public shortly. o Keith mentioned the New England Grass Roots Environmental Fund as a possible source of funding for developing outreach materials. o There was discussion of the pools of volunteers that may be available to us in the high school, UVM and Champlain College due to their volunteering requirements. o Keith described working with Val Esposito, a professor at Champlain College who teaches a course on environmental policy. She has agreed to make this semester’s course focused on the Energy Prize. Keith and Fred are working with the professor who is teaching the course this semester to enlist the help of the students and develop specific projects for them. o Keith described one such project proposal where the City would waive the building permit fee for projects that are directly related to energy efficiency or renewable energy projects. The students will have to make presentations to all the stakeholders, including the City Council, to make the case. o Another project involves designing games and activities for public outreach events for the Energy Prize. o Another project involves developing a list of 365 energy saving tips, to be used in a tip-of-the-day calendar that can be sold as a fund raising tool. o Sam described his group outreach activities with other committees in South Burlington. His intention is to progress down the list of committees, starting with the ones most closely related to our work, and organize meetings with them to enlist their help and support for the Energy Prize. o There was discussion about the effectiveness of recent notices that have been sent to residents of the City from oPower, who has been contracted by Efficiency Vermont, which describe a customer’s electricity use in relation to others in the City. o Keith described a project with Efficiency Vermont to develop a software tool that shows energy use by neighborhood so that citizens can view how their neighborhood compares to others, and inspire more action on conserving energy. o Don mentioned that no champion has been assigned for the Municipal Planning strategic focus area. He did meet with Ted Rhiele who may be able to help. o Don mentioned recent meetings with some of the City Councilors to update them on the status of the Energy Prize program development, and to request their help in providing leadership to the entire city for the Energy Prize. o Patty described what’s typically involved in asking companies for sponsorship. There was discussion about what’s still needed for us to be able to do that effectively. o We discussed the possibility of having a full day meeting to delve more deeply into the “nuts and bolts” of the Energy Prize program execution. Keith will send out a Doodle Poll to help identify a date. • Keith moved to adjourn the meeting at 9:15, members voted unanimously to adjourn.