CITY-COUNTY ADVISORY BOARD ON CLIMATE AND ECONOMIC EQUITY

200 E. Wells Street City of Milwaukee Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202 Meeting Minutes CITY-COUNTY TASK FORCE ON CLIMATE AND ECONOMIC EQUITY Ald. Nik Kovac and Sup. Marcelia Nicholson, Co-Chairs Pam Fendt, Linda Frank, Julie Kerksick, Ted Kraig, Janet Meissner Pritchard, Supreme Moore Omokunde, Pamela Ritger, Erick Shambarger, Rafael Smith, and Freida Webb Staff Assistant: Linda Elmer, lelmer@milwaukee.gov, 414-286-2231 Legislative Liason: Luke Knapp, luke.knapp@milwaukee.gov, 414-286-8637 Google documents for this body can be found at : http://bit.ly/CCTFCEE Wednesday, April 14, 2021 10:00 AM Virtual Green Buildings Work Group Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87156655349?pwd=Vi9tbStvL0ZqRGJGSFVrZUhIcXdEdz09 Meeting ID: 871 5665 5349 Passcode: 622331 One tap mobile +13126266799,,87156655349# US (Chicago) +16465588656,,87156655349# US (New York) 1. Minute taker for this meeting. Following info to be recorded: • Call to order time. • Roll call • Actions (with votes) if appropriate (including approval of prior meeting minutes) • Appearances • Adjournment time Call to order, roll call, minute taker; 10:05 Present, 30, (including guests and visitors): Pam Ritger (chair), Linda Frank, Erick Shambarger, Jennifer Evans, Anne White, Celaneese Landon, Dan Kalkman, Elizabeth Hittman, Glen Radford, Jill McClellan, Kathleen Ellis, Kimya Green, Cara Walls, Akira Mabon, Mark Keane, Gordie Bennett, Jermaine Alexander, Korrine Haeffel, Larry Kilmer, Mariela Paz, Michael Olen, Nathan Jurowski, Renee Clair, Rob Zimmerman, Ted Kraig, Warren Jones, Yvonne McCaskill, Victor Nino Absent: City of Milwaukee Page 1 CITY-COUNTY TASK FORCE ON Meeting Minutes April 14, 2021 CLIMATE AND ECONOMIC EQUITY Warren Jones, Joseph Peletis, Rock Ridolfi, Ted Wilinski, Maithilee Kanthi, Guests Mark Lessans (Johnson Controls), Larry Hoffman, Janet Pritchard (joined later) Visitors One person by phone .2. Approve meeting minutes from March 31st meeting. Small modification requested by Jennifer Evans; approval moved by Gordie Bennett, seconded by Celaneese Landon; No objections; minutes approved as modified. 3. Presentation on Building Electrification from Mark Lessans at Johnson Controls Progress has been made on decarbonization of buildings in terms of efficiency, especially through automation. Since 2005, coal as a source for electricity went from 52% to 28%; portion from renewables is expected to increase greatly by 2050. Lessans concentrates on the HVAC sector. Heat pumps could become the predominant method for delivering heat to buildings. Heat pumps can be used for heating and cooling. Managing the electric grid becomes critical. Peak load will shift from summer to winter in a climate like Wisconsin’s. Cold climates present an issue. Cold climate heat pumps have been improved, however. Dual fuel systems can also be used with a gas furnace for backup heat, providing greater efficiency. This can also be run with renewable natural gas. Both of these are residential solutions. Ground source/water source heat pump is used for residential and commercial applications. Low ambient VRF and heat pump chillers are additional applications for commercial buildings. Beneficial electrification saves consumers money, enables better grid management and reduces negative environmental impacts. Policy models are found in California and NY/New England. Utilities may offer incentives like rebates. State policies have been adopted and state funding provided. CA has municipal bans on gas in new buildings. In New England, some utilities and their PUC have imposed moratoriums on new gas hook ups. Lessans will be available to us as a resource. Erick asks about appropriate timing of adoption in view of high percentage of fossil fuels in the electric grid. We can look at the 20-year useful life and see that electrification would be beneficial. Also, look at efficiencies between demand for gas to generate heat versus electricity. Heat pump is less effective as temperatures get colder. Larry asked about social justice aspects of this. Lessans commented from his personal opinion that affordability and tenant versus homeowner access, indoor and outdoor air quality, disproportionate impacts must all be considered in developing a program. Pushback from the fossil fuel industry is strong, especially from utilities that provide gas and not electricity. Boiler application (as opposed to forced air) can better be addressed with a ductless system. This is more expensive. A midterm solution in New England is to place the ductless system in only one heavily used room of the house. This type of system has an outdoor unit. City of Milwaukee Page 2 CITY-COUNTY TASK FORCE ON Meeting Minutes April 14, 2021 CLIMATE AND ECONOMIC EQUITY Lessans confirmed that the heat pump and dual fuel systems provide both heat and air conditioning. UC-Davis did a study of the emissions reductions. Gordie suggests that the Green Buildings group consider advocating for adding a comparison of current costs on the utility bill to what those costs would be with a heat pump. Lessans could assist with analysis. Erick asks a question about the recommended HVAC application for new housing such as the Working Group will be proposing. Lessans suggests a dual fuel system as most likely the best choice, subject to further analysis. 4. Notification from Education and Outreach Work Group about opportunities to provide feedback and request feedback from your networks. Opportunity to provide feedback via interactive platform is also available: www.milwaukee.gov/climate-talk Jennifer Evans, co-chair of the Education/Outreach working group, shared a slide presentation on the efforts of that group. She stressed the importance of reaching out to the public early in the process. Help is needed from Green Buildings and other working group members by sharing the video survey with our organizations and our networks. A sample email invitation will be provided. A video invitations form is also to be completed for reporting the organizations we have contacted. Evans will send the information to Ritger for distribution to our members. Shambarger noted that only one person has completed and submitted the video survey. Evans also announced a City job listing for an Outreach intern. Bennett suggested approaching elected leaders to participate in the video but this may not be the objective. Shambarger will discuss this with him. Shambarger asked the Commercial team to focus today on their policy recommendations for the task force to take up this afternoon. He also noted for the Retrofits team that elected leaders are expressing interest and considering how the forthcoming federal emergency funds will be spent. 5. Continue discussing existing and add policy/project ideas in Break-Out Rooms for Commercial Buildings, Residential Retrofits and Residential New Housing Strategies. Janet Pritchard, chair of the Finance Working Group, presented an on-bill tariff proposal of interest to the Retrofits Team and meant for American Rescue Fund (ARP) funding. Over $400 Million in federal stimulus funds is expected for the City of Milwaukee. Under the proposal, high energy burden and energy debt would be addressed by the City and by We Energies through an on-bill tariff program for energy efficiency retrofits. The high energy burden households would be targeted for the program. Savings would be apportioned partly to reduce the utility bill, partly to pay the revolving loan and partly toward the customer’s energy bill arrearages. Funds would come from the City ARP funds and matched by the utility. The utility may be more amenable to this proposal despite a history of opposition to on-bill financing. This is partly in view of high existing debt levels that accrued during the disconnection moratorium and the need for a solution for that, as well as the targeted scope of this proposal. Kane agrees with this approach. He questions how this will land for customers who still lack the funds to pay their utility bills. Pritchard clarified that any household in the high City of Milwaukee Page 3 CITY-COUNTY TASK FORCE ON Meeting Minutes April 14, 2021 CLIMATE AND ECONOMIC EQUITY energy census tract would be automatically eligible without individually documenting high energy burden of difficulty in paying their energy bill. One aspect is that the debt would be frozen. An alternative approach is that the City use the federal funds through the ME2 program. Bennett comments that the County could not contribute its federal funds if the City operates the loan program. How might the County be involved? He also suggested allowing customers, residents and businesses, outside the targeted areas to opt in to contributing to the fund. Landon points out that the County runs the energy assistance program. She also wanted to know if middle-income customers would be included. Under this current proposal, they would not. Evans applauds the targeting of entire census tracts and gave the opinion that automatic eligibility is likely to improve participation. The issue of trust must be considered. Pritchard said that perhaps the program could be offered outside the targeted area as well, based on an eligibility screening. The program attaches to the meter, so customers who are tenants will have the opportunity to participate. 6. Report-out from Break-Out room discussions. Commercial Buildings Team report by Shambarger – 4 recommendations from the governor’s TF concerning commercial buildings are suggested for endorsement by Green Buildings; also, as well as advocating for an energy efficiency appointee on the buildings code council. Frank moved to approve; with no objections, the Green Buildings Working Group approved these recommendations to be submitted to the Task Force. New Residential Team report by Walls – they are interested in the recommendations by the commercial team; policies for reclaimed materials were also discussed Residential Retrofits Team report by Ritger – Janet Pritchard presented a targeted on-bill financing tariff proposal involving the City and the utility and utilizing anticipated federal funds; Ritgers will share Pritchard’s presentation with the working group 7. Future meeting agenda items. Shambarger stated that the Task Force is looking for detailed policies and proposals to be submitted for utilization of federal emergency funds. The Green Buildings group should get focused on this. Incorporate benchmarking. Alexander notes a need for focus on trades and green jobs opportunities. That must be planned out before the funding flows in for it. Shambarger is preparing a Green Jobs map. It will address where to go for training. Electricians and housing retrofits will be two of the job types. This map will be presented at a national conference. 8. Adjourn. City of Milwaukee Page 4 CITY-COUNTY TASK FORCE ON Meeting Minutes April 14, 2021 CLIMATE AND ECONOMIC EQUITY 11:32 Minutes provided by Pam Ritger. City of Milwaukee Page 5