Energy Advisory Committee

Montpelier Energy Advisory Committee MINUTES January 19, 2016 City Hall – 7:00 PM Attendees: Kate Stephenson, Timothy Shea, Geoff Fitzgerald, Keil Corey, Barbara Conrey, Dan Jones, Cara Robecheck, Dan Costin, Alex (community member) Approval of minutes from 12/15/15 Approval of agenda 1) Community Solar a. Dan Jones discussed with Jessica Walsh about state selling recs out of state 2) Municipal projects a. Water plant kaizen with EVT scheduled for 1/22/16: Geoff - mentioned walkthrough on 1/22/16 from 12:30-3:30 – all are welcome and encouraged to come Laura - updated MEAC on EVT taking “environmental credits” for kaizen project, as stated in contract. MEAC agreed that this is justified for EVT’s needs. b. Water Resource Recovery Facility - Kate visited WRRF to add to EAN Dashboard. Geoff is continuing to work with the WRRF to investigate ways to produce more methane gas and burn less oil, possibly by spray foam insulating the top of the big tank to hold more heat in. 3) Transportation a. Dan Costin reported from the Transportation working group’s recent meeting. Priorities for 2016: i. Supporting CarShare ii. Reducing 2nd cars in Montpelier: CarShare knows how to collect 2nd car data in Montpelier, as does CVRPC iii. Synergy between Transportation and Outreach Working Groups and Transportation Advisory Committee b. Way-to-Go Vermont potentially switching to weeklong event in September c. MEAC’s participation in Alternative Transportation Fundà City Council meeting on Thursday? d. Discussion on ongoing overview of MEAC’s business to City Council e. Set date for Open Streets event, possibly in coordination with Way to Go week 4) Outreach/Public Engagement a. EAN Dashboard: closer to launch i. Kate – submitted 5 stories so far b. Communications Plan divided into Quarters; submitted to EVT, received comments, waiting for next steps from Paul Markowitz  i. MEAC has existing account with the City; current balance is $1,558.46. Kate met with Jessie Baker, who said there are 2 ways MEAC can access money that comes from EVT. 1: get a check from EVT to deposit into city account, then send all invoices to the city. 2: submit invoices directly to EVT c. Dan Jones – Energy Smart is offering $50 gift card for audits d. Kate – Worked with Montpelier Alive to apply for EVT Pilot for 6 months of staff time for working with local businesses on energy efficiency initiatives. Should hear back next week. e. Outreach team sent out RFP for graphic design services – waiting to hear back f. TD Bank and MEAC monitor – Geoff will follow up with John Hollar g. 3E Thermal workshop – Barbara and Laura will meet to discuss further 5) Electric Resistance: a. Barbara – will start back up on this project soon; intern from VTC is supposed to be working on a brochure b. Kate – Do we want to report to CDP? Consensus that neither MEAC nor the City have the resources to support this at this time c. Barbara – Still no word on intern from UVM 6) Other items: a. Our new structure is “working groups” not “subcommittees” b. Laura – updated MEAC on City’s upcoming Goal Setting in March and plans to update the existing energy plan section of the Master Plan. Dan Costin to send Comparison of NZM goals and Montpelier’s current Master Plan via email. c. Barbara – update on Zoning Plan; creating new guidelines for Design Review Board (public meeting Monday, 1/25/16) d. Dan Costin – Carbon Tax needs help – all MEAC members are invited to attend Legislator Welcome event at end of January (Thursday, 1/28/2016). Keil to send around talking points on carbon pollution tax legislation. e. Geoff – discussed need for structure and using project templates- how do we define what is a “project”? Laura will check out templates on Google Drive to see if they can be simplified f. Kate – will re-engage with members that have not participated in MEAC recently Ended 8:25 PM Next MEAC meeting: 2/16/2016 at 7 PM