Energy Advisory Committee

Montpelier Energy Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes March 26, 2013 Those present: Bill Neuberger, Becky Wigg, Dan Jones, Dan Costin, Tim Shea, Ken Jones, Barry McPhee, Johanna Miller, Andrea Colnes, Drew DeVitis, Luke Rafferty Call to order at 7:05 pm Minutes were approved unanimously. Dan J informed the committee that Jim Stiles and Tim Shea were officially approved by city council to be members of the committee. Energy Fair Wrap Up Dan J. thanked everyone for organizing the event and estimated that turnout was around 220. Dan C. said that overall the committee has collected 300 pledge cards. The pledge can also be done online. The committee gave special thanks to Becky and Anne for organizing the fair. Becky said that with more planning time it would have been saner process, Anne also was benefited by having a student teacher in her classroom. Dan J. asked if it were to be done again, could some things be expedited. Becky said yes regarding the, letters, timeline, and contacts. Committee discussed sending out letters to all the vendors, sponsors, etc and include tax exemption from the city. Ken talked about funding status with New England Grassroots Fund. Dan J. asked if this is worth doing yearly or is this so much work it should be done ever couple of years. Ken said that the committee should evaluate after seeing how VHEC goes Bill thought it probably wouldn't be as well attended Andrea thought that the committee should think about what might be interesting and compelling next year and how we can build upon this year’s success. Barry asked about a central repository for all the info/documents and suggested use of the co-working site. Becky said everything was on Google Docs. Energy Action Network–Net Zero Montpelier Project Andrea said there was a team meeting where they talked about how to make the exciting concept real and needing a place to engage. It would be really useful to create an energy dashboard (at the residential, commercial, institutional, and community levels). I Idea is as an interactive portal that would make energy info real, visible, and engaging. Team led by Carrie is working on metrics, and Green Mountain Coffee and IBM have resources available.. Anne will serve as a link, with Dan to this group. Time frame of goals for 2050, with 2030 scenario worked into the portal. Andrea said that the goal is to bring in partners and work in tandem with other initiatives, but not duplicate the work that others are doing. Thinking on the transformative scale. Becky asked if we could create something like NYT budget interactive tool Andrea said that they’ve created a scenario at EAN that takes us to 2030, with assumptions and constraints, working with UVM and the state to create interactive tool, where one could turn the knobs. Ken informed the committee of talks he’s had with the High Meadows Fund and a potential for a guarantee program for weatherization work. Andrea thought that cost and confidence are the barriers, and such a guarantee program could give people more confidence to get the work done. Vermont Home Energy Challenge Barry said we're in the first round outreach phase, met and zeroed in on two approaches: a) phone-a-thon event b) two weekends of door-to-door outreach Next Wednesday will be the day for phone-a-thon; phone script and materials will be on the co-working site. Canvassing will be taking place on April 6th and 20th. Ken asked what is the bottom line of the phone call and Joey & Becky explained it is to connect them to information, gather information ourselves, and ask if they want to volunteer. Barry is finalizing a door-to-door canvassing checklist. Dan C. said there are currently ten people on the home energy visit list. Ken asked about the information gathered 4 years ago, There’s potential to give feedback fairly quickly if we ask amount of fuel used and compare to sq. feet of a home. Becky asked if there’s a push to do home energy visits with phone-a-thon? Barry asked if we should focus on weatherization jobs. Could we use infrared? Dan C. said it’s probably best with low tech. Becky said we should ask people to get their energy bills ready from the whole year Joey suggested the phone-a-thon goal would be to get home energy visit Barry thought we should go for audit question first Website: montpelierenergy.org Suggested that we should have compelling stats, stories about comfort and cost savings,. Ken suggested that the first 50 people that go through weatherization process; could be guaranteed savings of some sort. Motion for pizza expenditures for phone-a-thon. Discussion of Solar RFP Bill said S. Burlington had a vague proposal. There’s more uncertainty, less clear it is; we need to make sure ours is clear. Dan J. discussed the possibility of writing an RFI Bill said city of Rutland is leasing space for 2.2 MW of solar. Motion to thank Carrie for her service to the committee. Meeting adjourned at 9:05 pm.