Environmental Sustainability Council

DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY COUNCIL ENERGY TRANSITION SUBCOMMITTEE Thursday, Jan 4, 2018 Oak Room, City Hall MINUTES CALL TO ORDER: Members: Tim Stevens (Chair), Thomas Cash, Jon Ward, City Staff Liaison: Kate Reich (City Arborist), City Council Liaison: Dan Sze (via phone) Public Comments: No public comments were received. New Business GMHS Project Update (Dan Sze): Dan described the campus coordinating committee (CC) that is being established to manage construction of both the new high school and economic development at the 34 acre campus site. Specific names of participants are still being determined. The CC will be advisory, in scope, and address higher level issues. Various task groups are being formed as part of this process that will address issues in more detail. Their format will be less formal. Dan wants to add a task group that would address environmental/energy issues, including resilience and potential advantages of the high elevation of the site. Ongoing Business Large Scale Renewable Energy: Discussion continued from the last meeting. Tim shared a flow diagram with hypothetical prices to explain this concept, and help focus on risks and rewards. ETS anticipates that it will soon provide an assessment to City Council, although key questions remain (are long term PPA payments considered capital or expense; how significant is the risk that payments from PJM could dip below the required PPA payments to the project developer, are there better methods for the City to meet its long term GHG emission reduction goals, etc.) NVRC is leading a regional procurement effort, but their meetings are not open to the public, which hampers efforts to gain additional information. The next (closed) NVRC meeting is scheduled for Jan. 23. LED streetlight conversion: Kate attended a meeting at NVRC on Dec. 19 (closed to the public). Dominion Virginia Energy apparently committed to developing new pricing and equipment proposals, but information available to ETS is limited at this time. Tesla/EV charging stations: No new information at this time. Greenhouse Gas Inventory: Nisha shared before the meeting that she has completed calculations for the City’s portion of the total emissions calculated by COG. ETS will look for the right opportunity to present and discuss the results with city council. Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy for GHMS: Tim shared that COG has agreed (verbally) to share the cost of a geothermal conductivity test at the GMHS site. We are not sure at this point who on the school design/construction team is looking into this issue, although ETS is willing to assist, if needed. PACE: Tim shared that a work plan from Kate is needed regarding next steps to develop and present a proposed ordinance to City Council. A meeting with Jody Acosta has to be rescheduled. Next meeting: Thursday, February 1, 2018.