Energy Advisory Committee

Montpelier Energy Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes December 11, 2012 MANDATORY MEETING TO DISCUSS TOWN FAIR ON JANUARY 15th Meeting called to order at 7:05 Those Present: Dan Jones, Becky Wigg, Anne Watson, Harold Garabedian, Gwen Hallsmith, Johanna Miller, Bill Neuburger, Carrie McLaughlin, Ken Jones, Paul Markowitz, Luke Rafferty, Drew DeVitis Dan Jones announced the resignation of Tim Heney. The committee discussed possible candidates for business manager. Carrie gave a brief update on the status of VEIC’s Net Zero Montpelier initiative. Anne said that Ken Jones wrote a draft of a grant for the Town Fair that she and Becky were reviewing Meetings were approved unanimously. Discussion about VECAN Conference. Becky said that she thought Community Based Social Marketing presentation was very informative and explained that traditional marketing will not bring about the kind of change we want to create. Dan said he went to a couple of transportation workshops, where he learned the biggest emissions category in Vermont is from transportation. He said that cities have been looking into smart/eco-driving training for municipal employees. Gwen talked about an anti-idling ordinance that was introduced a few years ago. The thought was that the city, through school buses and DPW trucks would serve as a model for vehicles commuting in the city. Joey thought it was rewarding to listen to what other energy committees are doing at the VECAN conference. Waterbury has very active committee, the Waterbury Local Energy Action Partnership. They have focused on various pieces of the puzzle and are looking at municipal based solar options and out into the community and have also run an energy fair. The Hardwick Energy Committee also partnered with the local ag community for a fair. Paul discussed the 2013 Vermont Home Energy Challenge. The idea is to get homes weatherized through comprehensive retrofits with certified contractor. The context is to get people to change their behavior through connecting people to one another (w/ anecdotes, personal stories). The target audience is those need that an extra kick to move people to weatherize. Montpelier has about 8% of its homes weatherized. This figure could be higher, as the data is attained through certified contractors sending in audit reports to Efficiency Vermont and homeowners following up with reports documenting completion of the weatherization work. Paul said the challenge stipulates that the work must be completed neighbor to neighbor, word of mouth. Has to be finished in calendar year 2013. It was clarified that participants must go through the Home Performance Program w/ Efficiency Vermont. It’s a straightforward way to count the number of houses with. The target is to get 3% of homes. Winner gets $10,000 grant toward efficiency projects. There are 5 regions. Montpelier is in Central Vermont region. The Challenge is a joint program between VECAN/Efficiency Vermont. The goal is to reach people where they are, and what they can possibly do/afford What Pledge cards will be used as way to track participation. Home efficiency kits may be available to communities. Joey said Vermontivate is being reactivated to support the Challenge. May be able to engage more people/reinforce what we are doing. She explained there will be points in two categories 1) number of jobs completed and 2) pledge cards mailed in. There is a guide that will be sent out to participants. Dan suggested it would be good to engage CAN and come to a meeting to talk about the Challenge Joey informed the committee of two upcoming dates that will kickstart the Challenge. January 12th: Summit for communities that have signed up for challenge 10-2; would be important to get involvement from Jackie Cassino & CVRPC. January 14th: Media event that will launch the challenge. Press event will be hosted at someone’s house in Montpelier who has gone through weatherization work. Gwen volunteered to host the press event. The legislature starts January 8th, so the goal is to raise awareness about the challenge at the beginning of the session. Ken and Dan said they have collected 10 anecdotal stories from folks about the benefits of weatherization. Joey explained that the state has set the goal to get 80,000 homes weatherized by 2020. Preliminary data about hard economic numbers about investing in thermal efficient shows that for every dollar of public investment, a $5.80 benefit will be reaped. Discussion about the status of PACE. Paul said that money won't be available before April and they are working on new sources of capital. Discussion about the status of support from the banking community and whether or not the Shumlin administration may be able to influence local banks. Harold raised the issue that pelletizing for home heating may cause a potential health problem with particulate matter. Joey said that this issue was just beginning to be investigated, and the American Lung Association may be a potential resource/partner. No one has really thought about it on a massive scale until now. Ken said that pelletizing could create NOx emissions. Anne showed a visualization of particulate matter associated with different sources of fuel and said high school students took some air quality data as a baseline. Joey said that Thermal Efficiency Task Force will lay out recommendations to the legislature for what programs, policy changes, funding and financing mechanisms state might want to get behind to support its weatherization goal. The highly preferred option is to levy an excise/directed tax on fossil heating fuels, by a volumetric basis. For clarification, it is considered a benefit charges, not a tax. Dan said that those that earn up to 100% of median income should be able to get assistance from a subsidized weatherization program. Ken expressed frustration that it makes sense economically, but there are mental hurdles that people have yet to get over to do this work. What is the tipping point? Paul said that currently 1% of homes are getting weatherization/home performance work done annually. Joey said that it will be important to lobby our representatives/senators, specifically Anne Cummings and Bill Doyle. She encouraged committee members to do so and said she could accompany them to talk about the goals of the Challenge. Discussion about the legality of New Hampshire fuel dealers supplying fuel to Vermont homes and the benefits of a push to force dealers to pay the taxes levied on Vermont dealers. Broad discussion on the Energy Fair. Organizations/individuals related to weatherization, biomass fuels, solar conversion, advocacy, and entertainment need to be contacted. The thought was to send out a letter and follow up with a phone call. Anne explained that she and Becky have been thinking about it as a fair with entertainment to draw people, such as Marko the Magician, face painting, high school performance groups, popcorn, live music, etc. Bill said he could borrow a popcorn machine. Gwen suggested that we could create some kind of contest (slogan/pitch, poem, video) through the schools and Dan said there could be different categories for grades/age groups. Anne said that we need a visual to display where we're at, some kind of indicator to show/chart our progress with weatherizing/solarizing/pelletizing. The visual, at City Hall, would come after March 4th. Becky said it might be useful to get live testimonials/anecdotes. Anne talked about the logistics of giving out lawn signs, which may be provided through the Challenge according to Paul. It was suggested that committee members should meet w/ folks for coffee: Matt McLane, Montpelier superintendent, Paul Zabriskie of CVCAC. Committee members volunteered to contact the various organization we intend to reach out to that we want at the fair. Resolution from Sean to list MEAC as a co-sponsor for an event on Central Vermont Transportation at Nation Life on January 31, 2013 approved. Adjournment 8:58 PM