Sustainable Madison Advisory Committee

Sustainable Madison Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes December 15, 2020 Due to the coronavirus outbreak, this meeting is being conducted on Zoom. Chairperson Kathleen Caccavale called the meeting to order at 1:32 P.M. STATEMENT IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE OPEN MEETINGS ACT: “In compliance with the Open Public Meetings Act, adequate notice of this meeting of the Sustainable Madison Advisory Committee (SMAC) Meeting was provided by transmitting a copy of the meeting notice to the Madison Eagle and Morris County Daily Record, posting a copy on the bulletin board at the main entrance of the Hartley Dodge Memorial, and filing a copy in the office of the Clerk. This notice was made available to members of the general public.” The following members acknowledged their presence: Kathleen Caccavale, Chairperson/Regular Member Peter Fried, Resident/Regular Member Lisa Jordan, Resident/Regular Member Gene Cracovia, Resident/Regular Member Joan Maccari, MEC Representative/Secretary/Regular Member Marilyn Musielski, Resident/Regular Member Angelique Devost, Resident/Regular Member Steve Tindall, School Board Representative/Regular Member Absent members: Maureen Byrne, Borough Council Liaison/Regular Member Guest: Claire Whitcomb, Chair Madison Environmental Commission (MEC) Christian Wong, Sustainable Madison Intern Members of the Public: Paul D’Alto, ESG MetLife Real Estate Ernest Dorflinger, from Chatham, works on carbon footprints November minutes were unanimously approved. Minutes will be submitted to Rosenet. Kathi provided an update about her presentation to the Borough Council on Sustainable Madison accomplishments. Kathi also provided an update on a meeting held earlier this month with Bob Vogel and Claire Whitcomb to discuss the storm water ordinance. Bob incorporated some of the Watershed Institute recommendations. As of yesterday, Sustainable Madison had 820 points approved. Two actions are still outstanding: Health in all Policies and the Historic Preservation Element. Kathi has begun work on providing recommended updates to the Rosenet website content regarding Sustainable Madison materials. She will share a draft of the current website to invite updates and recommended revisions from Sustainable Madison members. Christian Wong provided an update on the Madison Community Carbon Footprint. Compared to 2018, there was a 1.3 percent emissions reduction. Madison’s overall emissions are equivalent to 191 thousand metric tons of CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent), 11.6 metric tons of CO2e per capita. The majority of emissions were from electricity (74.9 thousand), followed by transportation (66.9 thousand), then natural gas (53.8 thousand) in CO2e. Residential emissions were 39.1 thousand CO2e. There was a 3.5 percent decrease in electricity emissions between 2018 and 2019. Part of the decrease can be explained by the decline in the number of cooling degree days. There was a 5.2 percent decrease in natural gas emissions. This decrease was influenced by the decrease in heating degree days. Local government natural gas use increased (2.4 percent). Residential natural gas use declined (6.46 percent). Commercial use of natural gas and electricity use declined, as did local government electricity use and residential electricity use. Claire asked if it might be possible to demonstrate the contribution of electric vehicles to Madison’s electric usage. This was received as an interesting idea to consider moving forward. It was agreed that the town might predictively model the energy usage for Madison. There was mention of a Madison dashboard on sustainability issues that was agreed would be useful for future discussion. Steve Tindall provided an update on Madison Public Schools. Windows are open in schools to reduce spread of the virus, but meaning more energy usage. Long term facility planning continues. A new software “Thought Exchange,” is being used by the district. The public can put in comments: air quality has been demonstrated to be a high priority. Claire reported that council member Rachel Ehrlich suggested that green groups study the budget process, and work to embed climate programming into the process, by working through council liaisons. It may take all of us showing up to council meetings to make consistent change. Marilyn drew connections between this recommendation and Health in All Policies. We discussed ways to improve communications with the town. The energy aggregation group, in the multi-town meeting, is meeting on December 22nd, at 7:30. A public meeting on the Master Plan will be held tonight. The next SMAC meeting will be on January 19 at 1:30 P.M. The meeting was adjourned at 2:39 P.M. Minutes respectfully submitted by Lisa Jordan.