Energy Advisory Committee

Montpelier Energy Advisory Committee Meeting 09/17/13 Attending: Dan Jones, Barry McPhee, Dan Costin, Johanna Miller, Tim Shea, Anne Watson, Justin McCabe, Ken Jones, Alex Prolman, Hannah Reckhow Meeting started 7:06 Last meeting’s minutes were approved – 7:09 Barry and Johanna gave an update on the Energy Challenge and Button Up Day (October 5): It’s going slowly. There is planned outreach at Farmers’ Market and Aubuchon but they will need more support to get the word out. Ken reminded the committee that it’s also Home Tour Day – tour houses that have had weatherization work done could have handouts on the event too. The committee then brainstormed ways to expand volunteer base: o Send out stuff to CAN! groups, Facebook, city website o Use Front Porch Forum o Anne: I could give extra credit to students, get information to teachers o Beer and music – good volunteer appreciation, after event or coordinate with Three Penny for discount o Look beyond Home Energy Challenge this year and steadily expand reach - Keep info from energy kit, home energy visit, etc. The VISTAs brought up how to use existing social media: We need to be more active online and figure out how we want to use the internet. Barry pointed out that for repeating posts (weekly/bi-weekly reminders) there is enough information to have an interesting stream of posts. The committee agreed that successful pages have multiple people adding to it, and that all member of the committee can contribute to the Facebook page. Justin suggested that short posts over long blog posts keeps things fresh and are more realistic for committee members to do Barry reminded the committee that Front Porch Forum is now a part of the mix. There was some discussion of PACE, how the process for applying is very unclear, and how the committee can help people apply. It was suggested to add PACE information to other energy efficiency information that is distributed. Barry gave an update on the Solar RFP: still need to get the treatment plant on RFP Anne found a student interested in documenting home energy efficiency changes, which could be an interesting blog post. She also talked with Mary Hooper about Car Share – it has support from individuals but needs more corporate partners to be sustainable. Johanna told the committee about two upcoming events: the Renewable Energy Vermont Conference on October 28 and 29 and the Vermont Energy & Climate Action Network Conference on December 7. Meeting ended at 8:19