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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Energy Committee - 10/01/2015 South Burlington Energy Committee 575 Dorset Street South Burlington, VT 05403 (802) 846-4106 www.sburl.com facebook.com/SouthBurlington Thursday, October 1, 2015 Approved Meeting Minutes Public Works 2nd floor conference room 104 Landfill Road, South Burlington (off Patchen Road) Committee members present: Keith Epstein (Chair), Marcy Murray, Patty Tashiro, Sam Swanson, Thor Vue, Wayne Maceyka Committee members absent: Don Cummings, Fred Kosnitsky, Karen Mckenny, Linda McGinnis, Community members present: Ava Jordan, Connor Banfield City staff present: None Initial Business The meeting began before 7 p.m., Marcy volunteered to scribe, and the committee approved the September minutes. Thor suggested—and others agreed—that future agendas more clearly communicate the address of the Public Works meeting location (see heading above). Public input Ava Jordan and Connor Banfield, two seniors from UVM’s Sustainable Community Development course, talked abut their studies and reasons for attending the meeting. New member Committee members enthusiastically welcomed Wayne Maceyka, our newest member! South Burlington Energy Prize updates – Committee members · Treasurer’s report: Marcy reported that we’ve spent $11,725.72 to date and have $23,198.81 on hand ($1,983.92 in the City of South Burlington General Fund and $21,214.89 in the Energy Prize Reserve Fund). An additional $4,483.89 in spending has been authorized but not yet spent. · Members shared key accomplishments, next steps, and requests for assistance as Keith scrolled through the pre-meeting written project update summary. · Related discussions: The Committee observed gratefully that Vermont's new Renewable Portfolio Standard statute offers a clear pathway for ensuring that renewable energy benefits associated with community solar projects remain in Vermont. In the name of logic and effectiveness, Keith is continuing to work with South Burlington legislator Helen Head to correct the Vermont Statutes’ definition of affordability for new homes to include the cost of energy-related utilities. Comprehensive Plan South Burlington Energy Committee 575 Dorset Street South Burlington, VT 05403 (802) 846-4106 www.sburl.com facebook.com/SouthBurlington While sharing input on the latest draft, several members emphasized that the committee is interpreting both Objective 23 on page 2-75 and Section 3.2 D on page 3-39 as not representing a hard exclusion of siting renewable energy in such areas. Members agreed to submit the following comments on the 9/10/15 Draft Comprehensive Plan to the Planning Commission: 1. (page 11) Change the second Green & Clean goal to "Reduce energy consumption and increase renewable energy production." Inclusion of the words "where appropriate" seems like an attempt to minimize the importance of increasing renewable energy production compared to the other goals. The appropriateness of a proposed renewable energy installation will be determined at the time of permitting regardless of whether the comprehensive plan contains the words "where appropriate." Locations where renewable energy are encouraged are already defined in Objective 23 on page 2-75. 2. (page 12) The General Description of the city does not contain anything related to energy. We feel it is important to add a brief summary of the energy infrastructure in addition to the rest of the description. Our suggestion is to insert the following after the third paragraph: Energy in South Burlington is provided primarily by imported gasoline, diesel, and heating oil from many independent suppliers; imported natural gas from Vermont Gas Systems; and electricity from Green Mountain Power. Most of the electricity used in South Burlington is generated outside the city, however an increasing number of rooftop and field-deployed solar generation facilities improve the resilience of our energy service system by providing generation capacity that serves the city directly. 3. (page 39) Strategy 12 in the housing section is very good. "Promote the construction of new homes—particularly affordable and moderate-income units—that are highly energy efficient, and upgrades to existing homes to make them more energy efficient, which will reduce residents’ overall cost of living and contribute to housing affordability.” 4. (page 43) Add an energy discussion to the "Economic Vitality and Quality of Life" section of the economy analysis and challenges. We suggest this be done as follows: a. Change "Notably among them are community services, public infrastructure, and housing affordability" to "Notably among them are community services, public infrastructure, housing affordability, energy-efficiency, and renewable energy.” b. Before the last sentence of that paragraph, add "Since the majority of the money we spend on energy leaves South Burlington, using less non-renewable energy results in a stronger South Burlington economy." 5. (page 95) Energy Conservation and Efficiency section: Add the following sentence to the beginning to explain why this section only discusses transportation: Recognizing that transportation is the largest use of energy in South Burlington, transportation energy efficiency and conservation are important. South Burlington Energy Committee 575 Dorset Street South Burlington, VT 05403 (802) 846-4106 www.sburl.com facebook.com/SouthBurlington 6. (page 97) In the energy section, future needs and trends, the last sentence does not make sense. Change the last sentence to the following: Local renewable energy provides clean energy at predictable costs for decades to come. 7. (page 97) In the energy section, future needs and trends, second to last sentence, people should be changed to people’s. 8. (page 97) Strategy 48: add the word “or" before the word "Leadership". Motions MOTION: Sam moved and Keith seconded a motion to approve the September minutes. Approved unanimously. MOTION: Sam moved and Patty seconded a motion to authorize Keith to draft a letter to the Planning Commission with the committee’s comments on the latest draft of the Comprehensive Plan. Approved unanimously. Adjournment The meeting adjourned at 8:47 p.m. Draft minutes SBEC October 2015.docx South Burlington Energy Prize monthly update for October 1st 2015    Outreach/Events, by Karen Mckenny  Accomplishments:  Facebook 612 likes, more engagement with posts  Twitter­­28 followers, 36 tweets­­I'll try to get more active with this  Newsletter­ 271 subscribers. October newsletter ready to go out  House Party with Maida­approx 20 guests  Solar House Party­­Keith ­ gave away 2 nests (1 to host and 1 to the only guest)  SBBA with Patty  Block party for Spear Street residents at BTC  Workshop with VGS and nest give away  Meeting with Paul Markowitz at VEIC re house parties  Help needed:  house party leads  Plans:  Workshop for October Home Energy Reports with Efficiency VT 10/26  Workshop for November VT Energy Coop ­­heat pumps  Caption Contest­­­for ad. Caption contest is up at energyprize.org/contest  Series of tips on Facebook for weatherization  Presentation for Young at Heart Group 10/14  New ideas on contacting contractors for potential house party hosts (patty can speak to this)    Marketing, by Keith Epstein  Accomplishments: Brainstormed and planned a few new advertisements, and developed  and published one (Picking low hanging fruit). Ideas for future ads include slaying vampire loads  with a power strip for Halloween, programmable thermostat confusion with link to programming  instructions, Big savings for black Friday.  Help needed: Ideas for action ads to encourage people to do something to reduce their  energy usage at home.  Plans: Develop the next few advertisements. Develop an ad to run at Palace 9 movie  theater.    EVT & GMP Targeted Marketing, by Keith Epstein  Accomplishments: Don has been communicating with the project stakeholders to  encourage action, and Keith had a phone conference with Paul and Kristan of EVT on Monday  9/28/15. EVT is working to define the scope, calculate how many participants there are in each  of the 3 Vermont GUEP communities, define clearly the messaging to participants, reach out to  GMP to work with them on identification of participants, then work with the 3 Vermont GUEP  communities to implement.  Help needed: None  Plans: Continue to work with stakeholders to define the scope and plan the  implementation.  Page 1 of 4  Neighborhood Energy Mapping, by Keith Epstein  Accomplishments: Phone call with EVT on 9/28 and they'll review my requests and get  back to me.  Help needed: None.  Plans: Review the next version of the map when it is released, and possibly publish it.    Utility Data Reporting, by Keith Epstein  Accomplishments: None. No data to submit this month and GUEP dashboard has not  been released as of 9/29  Help needed: None  Plans: Review the dashboard and our ranking when it is released.    Fundraising for Marketing Outreach, by Patty Tashiro and Marcy Murray  Accomplishments: Marcy has begun the draft of the Ben and Jerry’s grant. Registered,  gathered info from SBEC colleagues, and began to fill out application.  Help needed: Interested members will be able to sign in and make changes to the first  draft of our application.  Plans: After receiving final SBEC colleague input, give application to Ilona to submit  early in October.    Hardware store out­reach, by Patty Tashiro  Accomplishments: Lowes agreed to hang the SBEP banner over DIY weatherization  display. Asking it it could be over LED lighting display, as it is in a more high­traffic part of the  store.   Help needed: None  Plans: See if we can do the same at other hardware stores.     Treasurer­related work, by Marcy Murray  Accomplishments: As needed.  Help needed: None  Plans: As needed.    Property­Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) program, by Marcy Murray  Accomplishments: Learned from Ilona the steps needed to add an item to the March 3,  2016, ballot. Gathered more info from VEIC's Mark Kelley and requested that Resource Library  PACE summary be updated/corrected (expected this week) to support clear communication with  staff and council members.  Help needed: None  Plans: Schedule October meeting (via Ilona) with city staff and Mark Kelley to seek staff  approval for moving forward.        Page 2 of 4  Annual Report SBEC Summary, by Marcy Murray  Accomplishments: None  Help needed: None  Plans: Begin gathering key information.    Watts Up? Electricity Meters, by Marcy Murray  Accomplishments: Created a promotional handout to be used at workshops and other  events. Gathered borrowing history for August.  Help needed: Promotion of meter borrowing where/when possible.  Plans: Request borrowing history for September.    Solar, by Linda McGinnis  Accomplishments:  1. SBEP Materials drafted and sent (along with trifold) to Suncommon for their fall canvass effort  and Healthy Living table.  2. Completed story on Tanya Stone for The Other Paper Story on Energy Heroes  Help Needed:  ­ Can Wayne to pick up trifolds and let us know if he will follow up on printing solar lawn signs  ­ Ask who has completed solar testimonials from Energy Committee and ask each member to  ask at least one friend to complete tiny.cc/sbsolar  ­ Can Fred interview Steve Roy on his nearly net Zero home for The Other Paper energy  heroes?  ­ Can Sam Swanson advise on how best to reach out to religious institutions in SB to see who  might want to go solar?  Plans:  1. third quarter update on solar installs (Steve Roy)  2. Print solar lawn signs and begin distribution (Wayne Maceyka and Catie Michael)  3. Create "Meet Your Neighbors" handout to show SB residents who their neighbors are who  have gone solar (HS Project?)  4. Reach out to religious institutions to see who might be interested in going solar (Sam  Swanson to advise?)  5. Complete story on Steve Roy's nearly net zero home for The Other Paper (Fred)  6. Find volunteers for House parties on solar    Schools, by Linda McGinnis  Accomplishments:  1. Solar Landfill ­ awaiting city  2. Efficiency ­ met with Commons Energy team (Tim Perrin, Account Manager and Craig  Simmons, Engineer) to restart efficiency support in HS and MS. They will pull together a list of  school priorities to prepare a meeting with Bart Micelli and John Stewart. They will also contact  VT Gas to see if an audit is possible. Need capital improvement plan and water utility bills.  3. Elementary ­ no update  Page 3 of 4  4. Middle School ­ Green Team established! with three committees: (1) School Energy  Reduction by 10% (Deb Paul and Amelia Lutz); (2) Solar Mapping and Testimonials (Steve  Webster); and (3) Trash/Composting (Paul Yoon and Christie Nold). Tuttle applied for Green  School Energy Challenge with VEEP. They were accepted and VEEP has started projects with  8th grade Why Not Team. Linda and Patty presented the SB Energy Prize to 100 8th graders,  and Patty will follow up with another presentation on specific home efficiency actions. MS  interested in pursuing small solar demonstration project on school grounds.  5. High School: Green Team formed and met for the first time (Matt Dransfield) to outline  priorities.  Help needed:  ­ Need someone to coordinate actions/updates at elementary level  ­ Need someone (Wayne?) to follow up on solar lawn signs (Paw Print and Mail), and establish  with schools how the money will be received.  ­ Need short write up on community service possibilities for High Schoolers  Plans:  1. Solar Landfill ­ City to FINALIZE???  2. Efficiency ­ Commons team to meet with John Stewart and Bart Micelli  3. Elementary ­ get update from Carol McQuillen. Find a coordinator for elementary (also to  meet with Central and Chamberlin)  4. MS ­ Patty to present to Why Not team. Green team to identify projects  5. HS ­ Catie Michael to provide full update. SBEC to provide at least 3 community service  possibilities to Nancy Lavarnway.    Landfill Solar Array, by Ilona Blanchard  Accomplishments: Encore has briefed the City on a strong potential partner that they are  advancing discussions with.  Help needed: None at this time.  Plans: Review any material provided by Encore.  Page 4 of 4