HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Energy Committee - 12/01/2016
South Burlington Energy Committee
575 Dorset Street
South Burlington, VT 05403
(802) 846-4106
www.sburl.com
facebook.com/SouthBurlington
Approved Meeting Minutes
December 1, 2016
Committee members present: Don Cummings, James Mount, Karen Mckenny, Keith
Epstein (Chair), Marcy Murray, Sam Swanson
Committee members absent: Fred Kosnitsky, Jeremy King, Linda McGinnis, Patty Tashiro
Community members present: Kyle Hutchins
City staff present: None
Initial business
Members agreed on agenda items to be discussed, asked Marcy to scribe, and reviewed the
November minutes.
Input from the public
Kyle Hutchins shared his background and expressed his interest in helping with the committee’s
work.
Motions
MOTION: Karen moved and James seconded a motion to approve the November 3rd
minutes. Approved unanimously.
MOTION: Keith moved and Don seconded a motion to authorize spending of up to $350
for energy efficiency and tabling materials to be funded through the Efficiency Vermont
Button-Up reimbursement grant and, then, the Energy Prize Reserve Fund. Approved
unanimously.
MOTION: Don moved and Keith seconded a motion to authorize spending of $1,000 for
ad design and media placement and $150 for social media and placement. Approved
unanimously.
MOTION: Keith moved and Don seconded a motion to spend $950 to cover 40% of the
cost of 100 additional energy kits purchased by Vermont Gas. Approved unanimously.
MOTION: Keith moved and Don seconded a motion to nominate Vice Chair Karen for a
four-month term as Chair. Approved unanimously.
MOTION: Keith moved and Karen seconded a motion to nominate Marcy for a four-
month term as Vice Chair. Approved unanimously.
South Burlington Energy Committee
575 Dorset Street
South Burlington, VT 05403
(802) 846-4106
www.sburl.com
facebook.com/SouthBurlington
South Burlington Energy Prize updates
Members shared key accomplishments, next steps, and requests for assistance as Keith scrolled
through the pre-meeting written project update summary. Marcy shared the Treasurer’s report,
and there was a discussion about potentially creating a new account to track post-Energy-Prize
non-city-sourced revenue and expenses.
Keith reported that he and Karen had recently met with representatives of other city committees
to connect and share agendas. Keith expects to hold similar meetings quarterly or biannually to
maximize project collaboration opportunities with the Bicycle & Pedestrian, Natural Resources,
and Recreation & Parks committees.
Energy conservation kit discussion
Committee members agreed to accommodate Vermont Gas Systems’ inquiry about our interest
in paying 40% of the cost of VGS’ recent purchase of 100 additional energy conservation kits.
Identical kits were very popular at our Election Day Button-Up event. Given the importance of
getting the kits into the hands of residents before winter weather settles in, one option would be
to use the contact information collected during the Button-Up event to offer the kits to voters
who arrived after all of the kits had been distributed.
Ideally, future recipients of the 100 new kits will be able to pick them up at VGS headquarters.
Linda recently shared plans to eventually contact the original 200 energy kit recipients to gather
installation, usage and other information needed to assess the success of the kit distribution
program—ideally the recipients of the 100 new kits will also participate in that assessment.
Post-Energy-Prize planning
Don led a discussion to help define the work we’ll do after the Georgetown University Energy
Prize (GUEP) contest ends. He plans to distribute the detailed lists of potential projects so
members can select, for example, the top four projects on which they would be willing to work.
Based on input from Grant Taylor, members discussed the need to publicly acknowledge the
upcoming end of the Georgetown University Energy Prize contest period. Members discussed
the pros and cons of re-branding the “prize” effort. Members want to build on our past prize-
related outreach efforts and motivate community members to achieve ever-greater energy-related
awareness and results. We could rename or redefine our goal, potentially using the same logo
graphic and fonts while changing the words to inspire post-GUEP action. Don will seek Ara
Hagan’s input.
Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 9 p.m.
Next scheduled meeting: Thursday, January 5th, at 6:30 p.m. in the upstairs meeting room at
the South Burlington Police Station (19 Gregory Drive • middle entrance)
South Burlington Energy Prize monthly update for December 1 2016
Outreach, by Karen McKenny
Accomplishments:
New Button Up Bingo designed and sent to Amelia Lutz at the middle school.
Pot Luck SB committee networking dinner
newsletter out Dec 1
facebook 854 followers
Help needed: None
Plans: Facebook and Newsletter
Button Up Day, by Keith Epstein and Linda McGinnis
Accomplishments:
Gave away 199 energy conservation kits and about 200 LED lights on election day. People were
very excited to receive the kits and light bulbs, and actively participated by filling out the
checklist and asking good questions. Many people came with the checklist clipped out of the
newspaper or printed out from Front Porch Forum/Web/Facebook/Email. It was a great
collaboration between SBEC, VGS, EVT, EAN, school volunteers, and the Other Paper.
Definitely a model to be replicated. We ran out of energy kits by about 9am (polls opened at
7:30), so we probably could have distributed 600-1000 kits if we had enough materials and
volunteers to be there all day. EAN registered over 300 people for the VT community energy
dashboard and will be following up with them to see if the kits were useful and if they want to do
more. VGS will check whether the people who submitted checklists qualify for a free home
energy audit and will contact them if they do. Thanks to everyone who helped!
Help needed:
We need to authorize spending for up to $330 for energy efficiency materials and tabling
supplies (LED bulbs, clipboards, pens, etc.)
Plans:
Keith will write up the final report for EVT when they ask for it, and will submit the reimbursement
forms to EVT to receive the $2,500 grant money that we have already spent.
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Sharing sunshine test with CVOEO, by Marcy Murray
Accomplishments: Received CVOEO approval of program instructions. Received GMP
input on instructions and spreadsheets including the helpful comment that the new net-metering
tariff that will be implemented 1/1/17 will include significant solar-credit-related and
GMP-billing-rate-related changes--GMP is still figuring out the details of the latter. (FYI, starting
1/1/17, siting and renewable energy credit adjustments will replace the solar incentive credit,
and PAST excess credits will not be allowed to be transferred to another GMP account holder
unless there is a transfer of ownership of the net-metering-system.) Updated CVOEO on
tariff-related delay.
Help needed: None at this time
Plans: Once GMP shares the details of how the tariff changes will affect customer bills,
determine whether to proceed with updating and posting the instructions and spreadsheets.
Treasurer-related work, by Marcy Murray
Accomplishments: Updated spreadsheets.
Help needed: None
Plans: As needed
Electricity meters for library lending, by Marcy Murray
Accomplishments: Contacted EVT to determine post-GUEP borrowing options.
Requested library's November lending numbers.
Help needed: None.
Plans: Follow up with EVT and library regarding 2017 options.
Library lending of infrared camera, by Marcy Murray
Accomplishments: None--waiting for significantly colder weather.
Help needed: Jeremy plans to re-assess the usefulness of the camera once consistently
cold weather arrives.
Plans: Receive Jeremy's recommendation and determine next steps.
Neighborhood Energy Mapping/Other Paper, by Keith Epstein
Accomplishments: November 17th 2-page feature on the SBEP was published in the
Other Paper. Energy dashboard article, Adam Bortz article about home energy upgrades, and
municipal/residential energy usage data. Working with Kristan at EVT on the December feature.
Don is writing a wrap-up/thank you article to be included, and there will be another
neighborhood energy map.
Help needed: Other ideas for the 2-page section in December.
Plans: Work with EVT and the other paper team to get the December feature published.
Anyone who wants to help is welcome.
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Utility Data Reporting, by Keith Epstein
Accomplishments: Q3 2016 data was due to GUEP on 11/15, and both VGS and EVT
submitted on time. I have not heard anything from GUEP about the dashboard or rankings
Help needed: None.
Plans: None.
Combining airport noise insulation with energy efficiency, by Keith Epstein
Accomplishments: I had a phone call with the consultant from the Jones Payne group
who is managing the project. They have done several noise mitigation projects around the
country, and they do like to include energy efficiency where they can. The FAA places severe
restrictions on how their money can be spent, so they have to work within those confines
because it is an FAA funded project. For example, I asked about cold climate heat pumps, and
she said they can’t install them because the FAA has a buy American provision, and there are
no good cold climate heat pumps made in the USA. They are open to partnering with other
organizations and using partner funding to expand the scope to include energy efficiency
measures that might not be able to be included with solely FAA funding. The consultant will be
conducting community outreach over the next 18th months to define the project scope, so I’ll
stay involved during this time. The main message I got was that they are open to including
energy efficiency because it will help make the project have more community benefits, but it is
an FAA project so must follow very strict rules that were not written with energy efficiency in
mind.
Help needed: Ideas for how to make this successful
Plans: Schedule a meeting with the consultant next time she is in Burlington (they are
based in Boston). Will invite people from VGS, EVT, and GMP to discuss how they can be
involved and create mutual benefits.
Marketing, by Marketing Team
Accomplishments:
· Revised 2 ads for November: “Shower with Power” and “Brrrr – it’s cold inside”
Plans:
· Ara is putting the December ad together.
EVT & GMP Targeted Marketing, by Don Cummings
Status: Have asked Paul Markowitz at EVT if they have seen any uptick in Heat Pump water
heater installations due to our joint promotion efforts earlier this year. No Reply – will ask again.
NO REPLY again!
City Solar, by Don Cummings
Status: CPG Approved!!!!!!! No appeal filed!.
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City Streetlights, by Don Cummings
Status:
· Initial inventory of non-LED streetlights complete. 104 own by GMP. Approx
320 by S.B. It’s a mix of traditional Cobra Heads streetlights and decorative (Town
and Country) lamps.
· Met with EVT and they have offered to pay part of cost for a lighting designer
to come up with upgrade plan. They will also pay $100 to $250 incentive per light
depending in wattage.
· Met with Justin and he will work with Tim Perrin to create a plan – perhaps this will be part
of Commons Energy project
· Have researched upgrade possibilities for simple and complex T&C (decorative)
streetlights
· Met with GMP
o Asked them to locate all of their remaining LED Streetlights
o They have done no work yet to identify LED replacements for their T&C. Perhaps they can
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