Environmental Sustainability Council

Environmental Sustainability Council Energy Transition Subcommittee Thursday, June 1st, 2017; 7:30 - 9:30 p.m.; Dogwood Room, City Hall Minutes 1. Call to Order: Members Tim Stevens (Chair), Chris McCloud, Jon Ward, Tom Cash, Dan Sze 2. Public Comments: No public comments were received. 3. Approval of Minutes: Minutes of the ETS April 6, 2017 meeting were approved. 4. New Business - Student projects: ideas suggested for projects for the ESC’s six high school student members included involvement in the next Solarize campaign, setting up an LED lightbulb lending program at the library and gathering additional data on green power use in the community for our EPA Green Power Community membership. - Solar fund: Tom offered to investigate the possibility of setting up a community fund for solar projects in the City as a more locally effective alternative to buying green power generated remotely. 5. Ongoing Business - Solarize campaign: The Solarize campaign will end at the end of June. Although we are not “winning” the competition between jurisdictions, expansion to Fairfax County has resulted in nearly 1000 signs-ups. Outreach at the Farmers’ Market engages many Fairfax and Arlington residents in addition to our own. A trash can hanger publicizing the campaign will be distributed to all curbside trash pickup customers in June. Members are asked to continue individual outreach efforts. - Schools campus: The proposed designs for the new high school are very pleasing from an environmental point of view, including energy from both solar and geothermal sources. The Perkins Eastman feasibility study will be presented to City Council on June 5th. ETS members are encouraged to attend the public meeting on June 10th. - City Hall renovation: Plans for improvements to City Hall were modified considerably to meet the available budget of $13M. The new proposal does not include a response to our request for a menu of energy efficiency improvements. ETS members are encouraged to attend the public meeting on June 8th to ask about energy and environmental issues, - GHG inventory & emissions reduction plan: Kate, Tim and Nisha met this week, and will work with MWCOG to refine their community inventory for the City. - Assessment of ETS: Members are pleased with the momentum of both ETS and ESC. It was suggested that we should ask to report earlier in the ESC meetings. The City of Falls Church is committed to the letter and spirit of the Americans with Disabilities Act. To request a reasonable accommodation for any type of disability call (703) 248-5456, (TTY 711).  - PPAs: Solar City believes they can now beat VEPGA rates in solar PPA agreements. They will present to NVRC later this month. 6. Information Items - State legislation for solar - VW settlement funds: In looking for shovel-ready EV charging station projects, it was suggested that we could reach out through the Chamber of Commerce to ensure that commercial developers are aware of the potential opportunities. - PACE: we are still waiting for Arlington to implement first. - Railroad Cottages: Chris talked to some opponents of the proposed Railroad Cottages development. On the topic of energy, they expressed some concern that the adjacent house would shade solar panels on the carport and decrease their production. 7. Next Meeting - Thursday, July 6th, 2017 The City of Falls Church is committed to the letter and spirit of the Americans with Disabilities Act. To request a reasonable accommodation for any type of disability call (703) 248-5456, (TTY 711).