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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Energy Committee - 01/10/2019 South Burlington Energy Committee Approved Meeting Minutes Thursday, January 10, 2019 Committee members present: Andrew Chalnick, Don Cummings, Keith Epstein, Linda McGinnis, Karen McKenny, Marcy Murray, Tim Perrin, Sam Swanson, Patty Tashiro Committee members absent: Fred Kosnitsky Community members present: none City Staff - Lou Bresee Meeting called to order by Chair Linda McGinnis at 6:32 pm. Linda announced that on Monday (January 7) the City Council approved three major proposals from the City related to energy to: · appoint Lou Bresee to serve as the new part-time City Energy Coordinator with responsibility for improving the energy performance of the City’s facilities · approve a budget amendment allowing for $90K of the solar reserve fund to be utilized to obtain a 10-year loan for approximately $760K for energy efficiency projects, and directing appx $20K (from the sustainability budget and the stewardship fund) to jumpstart the creation of an energy efficiency revolving loan fund. · Support the proposal to re-invest a substantial portion of the savings generated from efficiency projects back into the energy efficiency revolving loan fund. Keith moved that we accept the December 13th meeting minutes as proposed. Sam seconded. Motion passed unanimously. Updates on Ongoing Actions/Projects Project Update System - The Committee reviewed and discussed the project updates provided by the Committee members before the meeting. These project updates provide project status and accomplishments, plans for next steps and any requests for help from others on the Committee. Members update the reports before each meeting and the reports are reviewed during the meeting, as they were at this meeting. The Committee responded to the updates with these actions Outreach • Karen McKenny · Karen added that she got a very positive response from the prize winners in the Button Up contest when she notified them. ACTION: Karen will post profiles of individual EC Board members on the Committee’s Facebook page. She will contact the city to see when an announcement regarding the new Energy Coordinator and Energy Efficiency Investment funds could be released. Model Communities Program • Keith Epstein · The Committee supported Keith’s observation and recommendation that this was a program we may want to apply to participate in but that the deadline in two weeks was inadequate time to pursue this immediately. He will monitor the program and look for opportunities to engage later. Interim Zoning – Transferable Development Rights Committee • Andrew Chernick · The Committee supports the approach Andrew outlined to participating in the Transferable Development Rights proposal. Andrew reported he is investigating regulatory actions the City may adopt to achieve energy goals, a topic he addressed in more detail later in the meeting (see Regulatory Initiatives on Energy Efficiency agenda item below) SBEC Quarterly Meeting • Linda McGinnis · The Committee welcomed the good news Linda outlined in her report on the actions that have resulted from the consultations with City Manager Kevin Dorn. The appointment of a new part-time City Energy Coordinator, Lou Bresee, achieves an important Committee objective. The strong Council support for making this appointment and their decision to move up the start date from March to February 2 provides support the Committee hoped could materialize. The SB Energy Efficiency Priorities agenda item later in the meeting addressed Committee action steps that will support the work of the new Energy Coordinator and actualize our commitment to help him achieve success. ACTION: Next quarterly meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, March 12 (10-11:30) EVSE Charging Station Applications • Linda McGinnis · The Committee decided to await the decision on the applications by the School District and the City for ACCD round one funding for the installation of EV charging stations before considering how to approach the round two solicitation and to promote other EV station deployment by businesses in the city. ACTION: After these decisions are announced the Committee will consider developing multifaceted strategy that includes public education, possible incentives, and regulatory action to achieve EV charging station deployment in South Burlington. SBHS School Solar Project • Marcy Murray/Linda McGinnis · Don reminded the Committee that the SB Schools had reached the cap on net metering. Linda cited a St Albans school that had been able to address the cap by separate billing for individual facilities. ACTION: Linda, Sam and Tim will investigate whether it may be possible to increase the solar electricity supplies the South Burlington schools can acquire through net metering contracts by modifying the school district electricity billing practices. Potential City Efficiency Projects • Tim Perrin, Don Cummings, Jeremy King ACTION: Lou Bresee, the new City Energy Coordinator, will work with Tim and Don to consider a system to prioritize energy efficiency projects in developing an initial plan of action. Interim Zoning - Open Space Committee - Sam Swanson · The Energy Committee (EC) will consider an action strategy when more is known about the potential impacts of Open Space Committee actions on solar siting in the City. The EC supports preventing unjustified restrictions on solar siting and hopes the Open Space Committee may be able to break new ground on integrating solar siting in open space planning in ways that serve both open space and renewable energy goals. Regulatory Initiatives on Energy Efficiency – Lessons from other Cities and Towns • Andrew Chernick · Andrew presented a list of 8 initiatives taken by other municipalities that he suggested may deserve serious consideration by this Committee as action steps to increase investments in effective energy efficiency in South Burlington. ACTION: The Committee recommended he give priority to four of the eight: o a California requirement that residential home under three stories install solar panels o a Boulder, CO energy efficiency code that requires owners of qualifying commercial buildins to take action to improve the energy performance of their buildings. o a Boulder, CO program requires landlords to meet energy efficiency standards in their rental properties o a New York City law requiring businesses to keep doors shut when their air conditioning systems are operating. · With respect to the Boulder, CO regulations requiring EV station deployment by private property developers and some existing property owners. ACTION: the Committee will consider this within the earlier discussed plan to develop an overall strategy for increasing the deployment of EV charging stations in South Burlington. · The Committee identified the City of Burlington and the American Council on an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) as resources for more information on these and other potential municipal regulatory initiatives. ACTION: The Committee will post this initial list on its Google drive so that members would have ready access to the information Andrew has assembled and will continue to assemble. SB Energy Efficiency Priorities Discussion with Lou Bresee, Energy Coordinator · The Committee invited Lou Bresee to let us know how we can help him · The Committee voiced a commitment to help Lou Bresee to achieve the City’s energy efficiency goals and thanked him for attending this meeting. A wide ranging discussion of possible way to work together followed that include the following key points. · The Committee invited Lou to attend our monthly meetings. · Don introduced the Committee’s approach over the last several years and the immediate objectives the Committee has been pursuing. He pointed to the City energy efficiency and climate policies the Committee sponsored and the Council adopted and described our efforts to see that the goals of these policies are achieved. He observed that progress had been made on increasing energy in homes, businesses and other non-government organizations throughout South Burlington and continuing these improvements remains an important Committee goal. · Don recommended that we develop evaluation criteria to guide the allocation of the limited resources over the many candidate investment opportunities that the City will want to choose among. · Linda emphasized the importance of developing clear defined revolving fund program to recapture a share of savings these investments produce. · Tim suggested investigating taking steps to capture for the revolving fund Linda described a share of the investment incentives paid to the City by Efficiency Vermont, Vermont Gas, and any other public efficiency incentive programs the City may tap. · The Committee supports Lou’s desire to initiate energy efficiency improvements immediately and asked that reasons for selecting candidate actions as immediate first priority actions be supported by objective criteria. The Committee seeks a prioritized energy efficiency action list based on a review of already identified list of candidate actions that briefly describes where each stands and summarizes the prospective benefits each can provide. · The Committee observed that it supports immediate action but we want the list of immediate next steps to have a sound foundation based on prospective benefits and costs. SB Climate Action Plan – Linda McGinnis · Linda conveyed Paul Conner’s request for the Energy Committee support and advice. · Andrew urged we update the 2009 carbon footprint study to provide an updated framework for measuring what change is required and what progress has already been made. ACTION: Linda suggested that we discuss with the CCRPC how they are tracking the carbon footprint for Chittenden County. She and Andrew will contact CCRPC’s Melanie Needle to consider how to relate the 2009 South Burlington study to the CCRPC work in this area. The Committee will discuss this further at the next meeting. Next Meeting. The Committee decided not to meet next on Valentine’s Day evening, the second Thursday in February, and to consider meeting the night before, February 13. Linda will poll the Committee to decide on an alternative date at 6:30 pm at the South Burlington Police Station’s 2nd floor conference room at 19 Gregory Drive (middle entrance). Adjournment. The meeting adjourned at 8:35 pm.