Transportation, Energy, and Utilities Committee

Regular Meeting

Burlington, VT · August 19, 2025

Minutes

CITY OF BURLINGTON, VERMONT CITY COUNCIL TRANSPORTATION, ENERGY & UTILITIES COMMITTEE c/o Department of Public Works 802.863.9094 VOX 645 Pine Street, Suite A 802.863.0466 FAX Post Office Box 849 802.863.0450 TTY Burlington, VT 05402-0849 www.burlingtonvt.gov Councilor Mark Barlow, Chair, North District Inquiries: Councilor Gene Bergman, Ward 2 Rob Goulding Councilor Evan Litwin, Ward 7 802.881-2278 Councilor Marek Broderick, Ward 8 rgoulding@burlingtonvt.gov Transportation, Energy and Utilities Committee of the City Council Tuesday, August 19, 2025 – 5:00PM --DRAFT MINUTES— See video for full meeting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoouA3m8o_w Councilors absent: Councilor McKnight Councilors Present: Chair Barlow, Councilor Broderick, Councilor Bergman via Zoom Chair Barlow calls meeting to order at 5:00 PM 1. Agenda Councilor Broderick moves to approve the agenda as posted. Councilor Bergman seconds. All in favor, Unanimous approval 2. Minutes of 7/24/25 Councilor Bergman moves to adopt the minutes as presented. Councilor Broderick seconds. Councilor Bergman would like more detailed minutes All in favor, Unanimous approval 3. Public Forum Quinton Zanderan - Policy Director from One on Climate - Online 4. Deliberative Agenda 4.1 GMT Assessment Methodology Study Peter Plume & Michele Hobbs, of Reframe Lab and Clayton from GMT presented information. Zoom AI Summary: Strategizing GMT's Sustainable Future The meeting focused on evaluating GMT's current municipal assessment methodology and strategic path forward to ensure sustainability of transit service in the region, equity across municipalities, and fiscal stability. Participants discussed the value and future role of GMT in Burlington, highlighting its importance in providing transportation options, reducing private auto use, and supporting economic development. They also explored GMT's funding model, considering regional funding options and barriers, and emphasized the need for more frequent service and route adjustments to accommodate future development. The study is in its initial phase, with several months remaining for further input and planning. Public Transit Funding and Governance The meeting focused on discussing funding models and governance structures for public transit, particularly Green Mountain Transit (GMT). Gene and DPW expressed uncertainty about the current funding model's intricacies and called for more detailed information to improve proposals for innovation. They emphasized the need for regional collaboration and suggested convening a larger roundtable to exchange ideas. Gene highlighted affordability concerns and the importance of engaging communities deeply in transit planning. DPW advocated for a regional approach to funding and governance, suggesting collaboration with existing county-level structures. The group discussed potential barriers to changing the funding approach, including perceived threats to Burlington's dominance and the current assessment methodology. They agreed on the need for better education about transit's value to build public support. 4.2 BED Synapse & Building Electrification Institute Presentation Darren Springer, General Manager of BED, Shelley Kwok & Philip Eash-Gates Of Synapse Energy & Caytie Campbell – Orrock of Building Electrification Institute presented information. Zoom AI Summary: The meeting focused on two main topics: a regional transit study and building electrification policies. For the transit study, DPW announced that municipal meetings would be completed by early September, with proposed recommendations and a strategic roadmap to be developed by mid to late October, and a full report expected by year-end. Regarding building electrification, Shelley and Philip from Synapse presented analysis of three Burlington buildings, showing that while electrification measures reduced energy use intensity across all buildings, the economics varied significantly depending on building type and system age. The analysis found that gas heated buildings with rooftop units could electrify with minimal incremental costs, while high- temperature central boiler systems faced more challenges. The presentation concluded that Burlington would be the smallest community in the country to adopt such a policy, presenting both opportunities and administrative challenges. Transit and Building Electrification Updates The meeting focused on two main topics: a regional transit study and building electrification policies. For the transit study, DPW announced that municipal meetings would be completed by early September, with proposed recommendations and a strategic roadmap to be developed by mid to late October, and a full report expected by year-end. Regarding building electrification, Shelley and Philip from Synapse presented analysis of three Burlington buildings, showing that while electrification measures reduced energy use intensity across all buildings, the economics varied significantly depending on building type and system age. The analysis found that gas heated buildings with rooftop units could electrify with minimal incremental costs, while high- temperature central boiler systems faced more challenges. The presentation concluded that Burlington would be the smallest community in the country to adopt such a policy, presenting both opportunities and administrative challenges. Weatherization Cost Analysis and Trends The meeting focused on a presentation about weatherization and energy efficiency measures, with Shelley explaining the cost calculations for different building systems. Gene raised questions about the cost breakdowns, which Shelley clarified by explaining the methodology for calculating levelized costs over a 15-year period. Darren and Chris discussed the current incentive landscape for heat pumps, noting uncertainty about future rebates due to ongoing regulatory processes. Philip presented a national perspective on air-source heat pump costs and trends, suggesting that while costs are slowly decreasing, performance is improving. The group agreed that more data is needed to inform future policy decisions, particularly regarding the affordability of air-to- water heat pump technology for commercial buildings. Burlington's Building Performance Standards Caytie presented on building performance standards, explaining that Burlington would be the smallest city to implement such a policy and emphasizing the importance of pairing it with technical support and job requirements. She outlined key components including benchmarking data management, compliance pathways, and the need for clear guidance and support for building owners. Caytie recommended finalizing the benchmarking ordinance, engaging stakeholders, and ensuring adequate time for policy design and implementation, while acknowledging Burlington's existing climate policies and the need to balance multiple requirements. Energy Performance Standards Policy Discussion The committee discussed policy approaches for building energy performance standards, with Caytie presenting options including individual percentage reductions and cohort targets. The group explored how these approaches could be implemented in a bureau ordinance, with Philip and Caytie noting that Boston uses both methods while Cambridge successfully employs percentage reductions. The discussion concluded with agreement that Burlington should gather benchmarking data before determining the best approach, and John Bryant provided a brief update on the forestry study which is expected to be completed in September. 4.3 BED Forestry Study Update John Bryan owner of K2QC Consulting presented information. Zoom AI Summary: John Bryan provided an update on his forestry assessment analysis for the McNeil Generating Station, highlighting his observations and progress over the past six weeks. He visited 12 logging sites in Vermont and New York, reviewed BED documents, and found the logging contractors to be diverse and passionate about maximizing wood value. John plans to complete his report by September 30th and aims to present it at a future meeting. The committee expressed appreciation for his work and discussed scheduling the next meeting to accommodate John's presentation. 4.4 Downtown Parking Item Jackie Esperti, Parking Services Operation Manager presented information. Zoom AI Summary: The meeting explored the possibility of public-private parking partnerships in Burlington, with Jackie presenting examples of existing arrangements and discussing revenue sharing options. Gene and other counselors expressed concerns about potential conflicts with private property owners and the need to avoid subsidizing parking, while Jackie emphasized that the initiative is aimed at preparing for future parking shortages due to new hotels and developments. The committee agreed to continue discussions and gather more data on parking projections and private lot usage before making recommendations. 5. Director’s Report Stormwater Agreements and Union Contract Zoom AI Summary: The meeting covered several key updates and decisions. The group approved stormwater agreements with homeowners' associations, including a minor tweak for Strathmore HOA regarding stormwater facility responsibility, which will be presented to City Council on September 8th or 9th. The Board approved a 3–4-year collective bargaining agreement for urban drivers that provides financial stability but may lead to service cuts being evaluated by GMT in November 2026. 6. Councilor Items None 7. Next Meeting September 30, 2025 at 645 Pine St at 5:00 pm 8. Adjournment Chair Barlow adjourns meeting at 7:28 pm.

Agenda

Packet

City Council - Transportation, Energy and Utilities Committee Tuesday, August 19, 2025, 5:00 PM, Spark Space Conference Room, Burlington Electric Department, 585 Pine St, Burlington, Vt Join via Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/84603122855 To call into the meeting, including to speak during public comment: Phone: 312-626-6799, Webinar ID: 846 0312 2855 1. Agenda 1.1. Motion to adopt/amend 2. Adopt Minutes 2.1. Minutes of 7/24/25 3. Public Forum 3.1. Public Comments - 15 min Written public forum comment received before 8/19 will be included with the meeting agenda. Send comments to rgoulding@burlingtonvt.gov 4. Deliberative Agenda 4.1. GMT Assessment Methodology Study - Information - 20 min 4.2. BED Synapse & Building Electrification Institute Presentation - Information - 60 min 4.3. BED Forestry Study Update - Information - 10 min 4.4. Downtown Parking Item - Information - 30 min 5. Director's Report 6. Councilor Items 7. Next Meeting Page 1 of 17 7.1. Tentative - 9/23/25, time TBD 8. Agenda 9. Adjournment Page 2 of 17 Weatherization and Electrification Case Study Analysis Prepared for Burlington Electric Department August 19, 2025 Shelley Kwok, Philip Eash-Gates www.synapse-energy.com | ©2025 Synapse Energy Economics Inc. All rights reserved. Page 3 of 17 Synapse Energy Economics • Founded in 1996 by Bruce Biewald and Jean Ann Ramey • Leader for public interest and government clients in providing rigorous analysis of the electric power and natural gas sectors • Staff of 40+ includes experts in energy, economic, and environmental topics • Has provided support for the development and implementation of building performance standards to multiple municipalities in Massachusetts, including Boston, Newton, and Cambridge • Was involved in the development of Burlington’s Net Zero Energy Roadmap in 2019 and subsequent updates. www.synapse-energy.com | ©2025 Synapse Energy Economics Inc. All rights reserved. 2 Page 4 of 17 Project Goal • Burlington Electric Department (BED) engaged Synapse to conduct a net-present-value cost analysis of three sample buildings in Burlington if they were to install energy efficiency measures to decrease their energy use intensity (EUI), with a focus on reducing energy used for space heating. • EUI is defined as the amount of energy consumed per square foot of building floor area. • The goal of the analysis is to help inform future policy that would impact buildings between 25,000 and 49,999 square feet. • For purpose of the analysis, we chose to model two office buildings of different vintages, as well as a retail building. • Synapse created an Excel model to calculate the difference in capital costs and electricity/fuel costs between a fossil-fuel space heating system and the existing building envelope versus an electrified space heating system with a tighter building envelope if applicable. www.synapse-energy.com | ©2025 Synapse Energy Economics Inc. All rights reserved. 3 Page 5 of 17 Analysis Overview • Synapse used NREL’s ComStock model to estimate the energy savings from installing upgrade measures in BED’s selected buildings. • ComStock is a highly granular model that uses multiple data sources, statistical sampling methods, and advanced building energy simulations to estimate the annual energy consumption of the commercial building stock across the United States. • We used electric and gas rate forecasts as supplied by BED and VGS, accounting for rate class changes as a result of electrification. • We relied on publicly available equipment cost data from sources such as the U.S. Energy Information Administration, as well as California and Massachusetts energy efficiency programs with locational adjustment factors for Vermont from RSMeans. • BED provided estimates of the incentives that would be available for these case studies. www.synapse-energy.com | ©2025 Synapse Energy Economics Inc. All rights reserved. 4 Page 6 of 17 Analysis Overview • Assumptions: • The base case assumes a one-for-one replacement and the retrofit case assumes an all-electric replacement. Full system replacement would occur upon failure of existing system. In this analysis, we assume the full system is replaced at once. In reality, some buildings are more likely to use a phased replacement approach. • The analysis timeframe starts in 2030 and extends for 15 years. • Caveats: • Capital costs for electrification and weatherization can vary wildly from project to project. Cost inputs used in this analysis are very high-level estimates that are not Burlington-specific or project-specific. • The ComStock model estimates savings based on buildings with similar characteristics as those selected by BED and is not an exact replica of the particular building selected. www.synapse-energy.com | ©2025 Synapse Energy Economics Inc. All rights reserved. 5 Page 7 of 17 Summary • Our analysis showed that showed that space heating decarbonization decreased energy use intensity by up to 70 percent (see Table 1 below). • Cost impacts on total utility bills were relatively small. • Capital costs for electrification tended to be higher than installing baseline equipment, particularly for buildings currently using water-based systems like boilers. • Note: we present the impact of available incentives from BED that could decrease electrification costs Table 1: EUI Summary Case Study EUI Improvement Newer office building ~45 percent reduction Older office building ~65 to 70 percent reduction Retail building ~50 percent reduction www.synapse-energy.com | ©2025 Synapse Energy Economics Inc. All rights reserved. 6 Page 8 of 17 Results Page 9 of 17 Retail Building Overview • Existing building characteristics: • Square footage: 23,000 square feet • Built in the 1920’s • Very little wall insulation • Heated by natural gas rooftop units • Wooden siding • Retrofits: • All-electric, heat pump rooftop units with electric resistance backup • 3” of exterior wall insulation (optional) Image description: Example of rooftop units www.synapse-energy.com | ©2025 Synapse Energy Economics Inc. All rights reserved. 8 Page 10 of 17 Retail Building Energy and Cost Breakdown • Original thermal EUI: 18.3 kBTU/SF • Post-retrofit thermal EUI: 9.2 kBTU/SF (49 percent reduction) without envelope upgrades • This results in a total cost increase of 1 to 3 percent over a 15-year period • Baseline upfront capital cost, heating system: $20,000 • Retrofit upfront capital cost, heating system: $22,000. Potential for BED incentives up to $7,800. Figure 1: EUI results Figure 2: Annual Utility Costs, 2030 Figure 3: 15-year net present value results www.synapse-energy.com | ©2025 Synapse Energy Economics Inc. All rights reserved. 9 Page 11 of 17 Retail Building Energy and Cost Breakdown (cont.) • Original thermal EUI: 18.3 kBTU/SF • Post-retrofit thermal EUI: 8.7 kBTU/SF (52 percent reduction) including envelope upgrades. • The upgrade assumes that rigid exterior insulation would be installed at the same time siding needs to be replaced naturally. • This results in cost increase of 8 to 14 percent over a 15-year period. • Retrofit upfront capital costs, envelope: $60,000. Potential for BED incentives up to $20,000. Figure 1: EUI results Figure 2: Annual Utility Costs, 2030 Figure 3: 15-year net present value results Note: if siding costs are included as incremental costs, the cost differential increases to 25-40%. We recommend pairing the insulation upgrade when doing re-siding. www.synapse-energy.com | ©2025 Synapse Energy Economics Inc. All rights reserved. 10 Page 12 of 17 Newer Office Building Overview • Existing building characteristics: • Square footage: 27,000 square feet • Built in the 2010s • Relatively good wall and roof insulation • Heated by natural gas water source heat pumps • Glass facade • Retrofits: • All-electric, heat pump boiler units www.synapse-energy.com | ©2025 Synapse Energy Economics Inc. All rights reserved. 11 Page 13 of 17 Newer Office Building Energy and Cost Breakdown • Original thermal EUI: 22.4 kBTU/SF • Post-retrofit thermal EUI: 12.0 kBTU/SF (46 percent reduction) • This results in a cost increase of 123 to 144 percent over a 15-year period. • Air-to-water heat pumps are still relatively newer to the market compared to air-to-air heat pumps and are more expensive as a result. • Baseline upfront capital cost, heating system: $200,000 • Retrofit upfront capital cost, heating system: $1,336,000. Potential for incentives up to $175,000. Figure 1: EUI results Figure 2: Annual Utility Costs, 2030 Figure 3: 15-year net present value results www.synapse-energy.com | ©2025 Synapse Energy Economics Inc. All rights reserved. 12 Page 14 of 17 Older Office Building Overview • Existing building characteristics: • Square footage: 40,000 square feet • Built around 1900 • Very little wall insulation • Heated by natural gas rooftop units • Brick exterior • Retrofits: • All-electric, heat pump rooftop units • Electrical panel and wiring upgrade • Wall insulation (optional) www.synapse-energy.com | ©2025 Synapse Energy Economics Inc. All rights reserved. 13 Page 15 of 17 Older Office Building Energy and Cost Breakdown • Original thermal EUI: 28.7 kBTU/SF • Post-retrofit thermal EUI: 10.7 kBTU/SF (63 percent reduction) without envelope upgrades. • This results in cost increase of 1 to 5 percent over a 15-year period. • Baseline upfront capital cost, heating system: $52,000 • Retrofit upfront capital cost, heating system: $57,000. Potential for up to $20,000 in incentives. Figure 1: EUI results Figure 2: Annual Utility Costs, 2030 Figure 3: 15-year net present value results www.synapse-energy.com | ©2025 Synapse Energy Economics Inc. All rights reserved. 14 Page 16 of 17 Older Office Building Energy and Cost Breakdown (cont.) • Original thermal EUI: 28.7 kBTU/SF • Post-retrofit thermal EUI: 8.4 kBTU/SF (71 percent reduction) including envelope upgrades. • Caveats on envelope upgrades: • To improve the building envelope, air sealing may be the most suitable option for this case and other historic and/or brick buildings. • ComStock currently does not model the impact of air sealing in its energy model. Below, we show the impact of installing exterior wall insulation as a proxy to estimate energy savings. • Given the brick walls, it is likely not feasible or cost-effective to add exterior wall insulation to this building. Figure 1: EUI results Figure 2: Annual Utility Costs, 2030 www.synapse-energy.com | ©2025 Synapse Energy Economics Inc. 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