HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - Climate Action Plan Task Force - 06/29/2022 Climate Action Plan Task Force
180 Market Street
South Burlington, VT 05403
(802) 846-4106
www.sbvt.gov
Meeting Wednesday, June 29, 2022
City Hall, 180 Market Street, Room 301 and Online
7:00 pm
This meeting will be held both in person and digitally via Zoom. Participation Options:
In person: South Burlington City Hall Room 301, 180 Market Street
Assisted Listening Service Available; reach out to staff before meeting begins
Interactive Online (audio & video): https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84728545621
Telephone (audio only): (929) 205 6099; Meeting ID: 847 2854 5621
AGENDA:
1. Instructions on existing building in case of emergency and review of technology options (7:00 pm)
2. Agenda: Additions, deletions or changes in order of agenda items (7:02 pm)
3. Open to the public for items not related to the agenda (7:05 pm)
4. *Communicating possible Task Force recommendations to Council on new construction thermal and
existing building retrofits (7:10 pm)
5. Public outreach for July / August and schedule for draft CAP (7:50 pm)
6. Minutes: June 9, 2022 (8:15 pm)
7. Other Business (8:20 pm)
8. Adjourn (8:25 pm)
*Item has attachments
Respectfully submitted,
Paul Conner, AICP,
Paul Conner, AICP
Director of Planning & Zoning
Chief Sustainability Officer
180 Market Street South Burlington, VT 05403 tel 802.846.4106 fax 802.846.4101 www.sb vt.gov
MEMORANDUM
TO: South Burlington Climate Action Plan Task Force
FROM: Paul Conner, Director of Planning & Zoning & Chief Sustainability Officer
SUBJECT: June 29, 2022 Task Force Meeting Cover memo
Hi folks. Enclosed is this week’s packet.
1. Instructions on existing building in case of emergency and review of technology options (7:00 pm)
2. Agenda: Additions, deletions or changes in order of agenda items (7:02 pm)
3. Open to the public for items not related to the agenda (7:05 pm)
4. *Communicating possible Task Force recommendations to Council on new construction thermal and
existing building retrofits (7:10 pm)
As discussed on June 9th, Andrew Chalnick has prepared a powerpoint deck for the Task Force’s discussion at
this meeting, and for the Task Force to discuss possible first priority recommendation(s) to the City Council.
The Task Force may elect to advance these recommendations first, before the full Climate Action Plan, or
together with the full plan in September.
5. Public outreach for July / August and schedule for draft CAP (7:50 pm)
This item is to discuss outreach on the work to date. Specifically:
- Materials for tabling at summer events
- Schedule of summer events the City is hosting, plus other groups the Task Force may recommend at this
stage
- Task Force members’ capacity to table at these events (alongside volunteers from the Energy
Committee)
- Preparing for longer-term outreach over the fall, winter, and beyond on the contents of the Plan
- A first draft of the Plan itself will be provided to the Task Force at your next meeting, July 14th, with the
public comment period to begin that same week.
- Whether the Task Force would like to host a more formal public meeting to share the draft plan and
gather feedback in late August / early August
6. Minutes: June 9, 2022
Draft Minutes to be provided
7. Other Business
8. Adjourn
Climate Action
South Burlington Climate Action Task Force (CATF)
presentation to
South Burlington City Council
DRAFT
Interim Recommendation of the CATF
•The Climate Action Task Force has been hard at work developing actions that
we would recommend be taken by the City to address the climate crisis.
•As we have learned and will provide some detail on below, meeting the City’s
climate change goals will require tremendous –and quite possibly
unreachable –measures to be successful.
•One pillar of the draft plan is that all new homes in South Burlington will be net
zero. Delaying moving to a future where this is the case will make our very
difficult to attain goals even that much more unattainable.
•As such, while our work is ongoing, we are of the view that the City Council
should immediately pass an ordinance similar to an ordinance passed by our
neighboring City of Burlington requiring that all new construction utilize
renewable energy sources as the primary heat source. We also recommend
requiring hot water heat pumps.
•We believe requiring this for new construction is compelled by the science,
is economical and is practical, and thus is fairly “low hanging fruit”.
DRAFT
Local Climate Change Impacts*
•Average annual temperatures in Vermont have risen about 2°F since the beginning of the 20th century.
•As climate change worsens, 70 bird species of Vermont, including the common loon and hermit thrush,
are expected to disappear from the landscape within the next 25 years.
•Vermont’s freeze-free period has lengthened by three weeks since 1960. On average, lakes and ponds
are thawing one to three days earlier per decade.
•Annual average precipitation has increased nearly 7.5 inches since the 1900s.
•Heavy precipitation events, defined as more than one inch of precipitation in a day, have grown at a
rate of 0.26 days per decade since the early 1900s and 0.5 days per decade since the 1960s. Increases
in heavy precipitation produce large runoff events that contribute to erosion and nutrient loading.
Combined with warm temperatures, this creates favorable conditions for cyanobacteria blooms.
•Climate change is expected to continue exacerbating the threats that invasive plants, insects, and
diseases already pose to the health of Vermont’s forests.
•While warmer temperatures provide some agricultural benefits, the changing climate also brings
agricultural setbacks, such as negative impacts on fruit-bearing species like apple trees that require a
sufficient over-wintering period for success in the next growing season. The maple syrup industry is also at
risk due to variations in winter temperatures.
•VT highest per capita rate of Lyme disease in US in 2017, compared to almost none in 1990s
________________
*Vermont Climate Assessment, 2021 (https://site.uvm.edu/vtclimateassessment/)
DRAFT
The release of the latest IPPC report “Climate Change 2022:Impacts,
Adaptation and Vulnerability”*-approved February 27 2022 by 195 member
governments of the IPCC -was a watershed.
•The Chair of the IPCC remarked:“This report is a dire warning about the
consequences of inaction…It shows that climate change is a grave and
mounting threat to our well being and a healthy planet.”
•The IPCC Working Group II Co-Chair remarked “Climate change is a threat to
human well-being and planetary health.Any further delay in concerted
anticipatory global action on adaptation and mitigation will miss a brief and
rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a livable and sustainable
future for all.”
__________
*https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/
Global Climate Change Impacts
--Vermont is not an Island --
DRAFT
Climate Polling Results –Survey of 786
Vermont Voters
Conducted by Vermont Conservation Voters and Vermont Public Interest Research Group
DRAFT
Climate Polling Results –VPR-Vermont PBS
58% of Vermonters think climate change will have a major impact on life here in 30 years
DRAFT
-25%
-20%
-15%
-10%
-5%
0%
5%
10%
15%
Massachusetts New Hampshire New York Vermont Quebec
1990-2016: CO2 Emissions from Fossil Fuel
Combustion
Million Metric Tons CO2 (MMTCO2)
Sources: EPA, Environment and Climate Change DRAFT
VT now has highest per capita emissions in the region
(metric tons CO2e per person)
US VT ME CT NH MA NY RI QC
DRAFT
SB Climate Change Commitments
•In 2014, the City Council adopted an Energy Efficiency Resolution to reduce energy
usage 20% by 2020 (from 2008 baseline), develop an energy efficiency plan and report
results to City Council on annual basis.
•In August of 2017, the City Council resolved for the City to join the Vermont Climate
Pledge Coalition and commit to meet or exceed the US obligations under the Paris
Climate Agreement to reduce GHGs by 26-28% below 2005 levels by 2025.
•In July of 2021, the City Council:
•acknowledged the “implication of CO2 emissions and their effect on climate change
and its consequent effects on its citizens’ quality of life, health, safety and economic
well being”
•resolved that “the reduction of South Burlington’s carbon footprint is an extremely
important effort”
•tasked a committee to “participate in creating a Plan with specific actions for South
Burlington that conform to the current science in support of the City’s commitments”
and
•resolved to “take actions based on the Climate Action Plan”.
DRAFT
SB’s Climate Action Plan
•The full climate action plan will be presented to the City Council in
September
•As a preview, to meet SB’s climate change commitments the draft
plan requires:
•500 housing units to be electrified each year
•600 homes to be weatherized each year
•8% of all commercial space (by square foot) to be electrified each year
•A 10% annual reduction in fossil fuel heating by industrial spaces
•37.5% of all vehicles on the road to be electric by 2030
•2.5% annual reductions in vehicle miles traveled (VMT)
•All new construction to be net zero
•The final plan is very unlikely to differ materially from above
DRAFT
Burlington’s Ordinance
•As of September of 2021, the City of Burlington requires all new buildings
(residential and commercial) to utilize a “renewable primary heating
system”.
•A “renewable primary heating system” is a heating system that meets at
least eighty-five percent of the buildings design heating load and is fueled
by either electricity, wood pellets or other renewable fuel (including
renewable gas and biofuels).
•A waiver from this requirement may be granted if an applicant demonstrates
that utilizing a renewable primary heating system in a new building would be
uneconomical, factoring in a carbon price of $100 per ton (adjusted for
inflation) of carbon emitted.
•The Burlington ordinance can be found here:
https://www.burlingtonelectric.com/wp-content/uploads/Signed-CC-
Ordinance-Chapter-8.-Building-And-Building-Construction-Addition-of-Article-
V.-Heating-Systems-Signed.pdf
DRAFT
•The movement to restrict fossil fuels in new construction began in 2019.
•The first natural gas ban was enacted in Berkeley, California, in July 2019.
The ordinance requires all new, single-family homes and small apartment
buildings to have all electric infrastructure.
•Since then, 77 cities and towns across the US have banned or discouraged
new natural gas hookups.
•Bans are in effect (or will take effect soon), for instance, in New York City,
Ithaca (NY), Boulder and Denver (CO), Dozens of Cities in California,
Richmond (VA), the State of Washington and Washington, D.C. Montreal
requires all-electric new construction by 2024-2025 and Quebec prohibits
oil-powered heating in new construction.
•See https://www.buildingdecarb.org/zeb-ordinances.html for a current list.
•Burlington’s ordinance is short of a full ban.
Net Zero New Construction Requirements
DRAFT
Economics of Electrification/
Renewable Heat
•The RMI study modeled ducted multi-zone air source heat pumps, heat pump hot water
heaters and induction cooktop stoves.
•The study can be found here: https://rmi.org/insight/the-new-economics-of-electrifying-
buildings?submitted=1983dhtw8
•In 2020 the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) analyzed the economics of fossil -fuel free homes in
cities across the US. One of those cities –Minneapolis –has a colder climate than Vermont. For
Minneapolis, RMI concluded that –compared to a home that relies on natural gas -the average
all-electric home has 9% lower annual utility costs resulting in net savings of $1,900 over a 15 -year
period. Note that fossil fuel costs have risen since the date of the study.
DRAFT
Renewable Heat –Definitions*
•What is a heat pump?
•Heat pumps are an energy-efficient alternative to furnaces and air conditioners for all
climates, including Vermont’s. Like your refrigerator, heat pumps use electricity to
transfer heat from a cool space to a warm space, making the cool space cooler and the
warm space warmer. Because they transfer heat rather than generate heat, heat pumps can
efficiently provide comfortable temperatures year round.
•There are two main types of heat pumps: air-to-air and geothermal (ground or water).
•Air Source Heat Pump. The most common type of heat pump is the air-source heat pump,
which transfers heat between your house and the outside air. Today's heat pump can reduce
your electricity use for heating by approximately 50% compared to electric resistance heating
such as furnaces and baseboard heaters. For homes without ducts, air-source heat pumps
are available in a ductless version called a mini-split heat pump.Cold climate air source heat
pumps available today work efficiently down to -20F.
•Geothermal Heat Pump.Geothermal (ground-source or water-source) heat pumps achieve
higher efficiencies by transferring heat between your house and the ground or a nearby
water source. Although they cost more to install, geothermal heat pumps have low operating
costs because they take advantage of relatively constant ground or water temperatures.
_______________
*https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/heat-pump-systemsDRAFT
•The Vermont Public Service Department prepared an extensive study of clean heating and
cooling (CH&C) in Vermont. The study can be found here:
https://publicservice.vermont.gov/sites/dps/files/documents/A%20Vermonter%27s%20Guide%
20to%20Residential%20Clean%20Heating%20and%20Cooling%20%282021%29.pdf
Economics of
Electrification/Renewable Heat
•The DPS concluded that
•new homes in Vermont can be
constructed to require relatively
little heat with high levels of
insulation, passive solar gain and
air, exchange/ventilation systems
•CH&C technologies can meet the
low heat needs of these building
•air source heat pumps are
especially well suited for meeting
these heating demands.
DRAFT
•We observe that homes with all electric heat are practical in South Burlington.
•We know of several all electric net-zero homes in South Burlington.
•A developer has signaled an intent to build 36 net zero homes at 600 Spear
Street without bringing in fossil fuel infrastructure.The developer stated at a
City Council meeting on 10/19/20 in response to an inquiry regarding the
applicant’s stated intention for the project to be “net-zero” that "It's more
than an intention. Designing a project with those goals in mind makes it much
easier to achieve the goal than trying to retrofit later…Generating enough
power on site to meet all of the energy needs of the housing is our goal... We
think we can generate enough power on site to serve all of the electrical
needs. That means heating systems that are air to air heat pumps, on demand
hot water heaters that are located near the fixtures.“
•GMP has generous incentive programs for the installation of heat pumps and
heat pump hot water heaters that can be found at
https://greenmountainpower.com/rebates-programs/home-and-yard/
Economics of
Electrification/Renewable Heat
DRAFT
•The City’s attorney has opined that the City has the authority to adopt an ordinance
similar to Burlington’s.
•We recommend that South Burlington adopt, as soon as possible, an ordinance
requiring that, with immediate effect, all new buildings have a “renewable primary
heating system” as defined by the City of Burlington as a condition to permitting. We
recommend adopting a waiver from this requirement consistent with what Burlington
has adopted.
•We also recommend requiring new homes to use heat pump hot water heaters for hot
water needs. An exemption could be made to the extent an applicant can
demonstrate that heat pump hot water heaters cannot reasonably service the needs
of the relevant building (for instance, possibly, in the case of a hotel).
•The CATF notes that the City currently does not have an inspection system for many
items relevant to new owner occupied single family homes (including compliance,
more generally, with the residential building energy stretch code that SB has adopted).
We recommend that over time the City consider adopting such an inspection system,
which should then include the renewable primary heating system requirement.
•The City may wish to consider developing some expertise in renewable heating systems
to help builders that may have questions about this requirement.
Recommendations of the CATF
DRAFT
Climate Action
...making South Burlington cleaner,
more affordable,
healthier,
and better prepared for the future.
DRAFT