Energy Advisory Committee

Montpelier Energy Advisory Committee Minutes 5/17/16 7:00 PM City Hall, Montpelier VT Attendees: Dan Costin, Keil Corey, Barbara Conrey, Kate Stephenson, Cara Robecheck, Tim Shea, Scott, Dan Jones, Geoff Fitzgerald, Anne Watson, Emily Levin (VEIC, Efficiency Vermont), Ken Jones Introductions Approve agenda, minutes from prior meeting Geoff moved to approve minutes, Cara seconded. Minutes approved. Opportunity for Public C omment Report from Emily Levin at Efficiency Vermont on new home energy labeling program Emily provided an overview of EVT’s home energy labeling program for existing homes, which builds on a national program. EVT is beginning a pilot program. They would like help identifying potential realtors, planning an outreach event for a late summer event in Montpelier. The outreach team will help with outreach. Anne volunteered to be the point person. Participating in the pilot could get Montpelier some “innovation” points as part of the Georgetown Energy Prize. Working Group Reports Transportation (see minutes of their recent meeting here)  Drive Less, Have More Fun Fest, July 16 in front of the Statehouse (Dan Costin) o Vbike would like to participate, but would like financial support. Tim will follow up and see if the Vbikes at National Life can be used at the fest. o CarShare VT, Drive Electric Vermont, GMTA, plus a few more will be there. o 10am to 2pm o Need MEAC volunteers to help on day of o Same day as Do Good Fest at National Life Solar (Ken Jones) Dan met with Energy Sage last week. They provide clearinghouse services to customers interested in going solar. Dan and Joey are meeting on Thursday. Municipal Projects (Geoff Fitzgerald) Site work commenced at Sharon array. School has signed on for their portion of the solar. Agreements signed for the Montpelier site, which will be built next spring/summer. WWTP is moving forward with projects to save energy. First is to make the frequency drives mult-speed, which will have a 2-year payback. Second is aeration project. Third is to produce power instead of flare the methane. City Council wants to create a revolving loan fund from the WWTP savings and reinvest those in efficiency and renewables for the city. Ken Jones, Geoff, Scott, Kate volunteered to develop a plan for the revolving loan fund Energy Systems Group is interested in developing the methane generation project. They are making a presentation to the CIty at the end of June. MEAC members invited to participate. Outreach (Kate and Barbara) The group has been developing outreach materials with support from VEIC. These include table drape, table stand retractable display, updated 1-page handout, and 1-page cold climate heat pump flyer. LED bulbs are ready for tabling. We’ll give them away at events like the farmers markets to those who sign up for our newsletter. First event is Eat More Kale fest on June 25 at Mores Farm. Next up is to spiff up the digital display slides. Dan Jones volunteered to review the final slide deck . 12 landlords participate in the workshop last month. Laura put together a how-to guide for other communities interested in hosting a similar workshop. Next workshop will be aimed at the baseboard heat in the condos. Need to figure out logistics. Report back from City Council presentation (Kate, Barbara, Geoff) The report was well-received. Anne is very excited about the potential for the revolving loan fund. Other business  Water Treatment Facility – 2017 aim to begin effort to put solar on the roof  District heat o Hot water generated by oil burner in City Hall during the summer o No provisions in the contract for chip source.  Economic Development plan – Scott will circulate a draft for MEAC to comment on.  Solar – Need to think about operational profile of the City. Could we use a heat pump to generate the hot water? How can we incentivize usage to match solar generation?  Check out the feature on Dan Jones in the Burlington Free Press last week.  Anne – The City would like to reinvigorate the parking committee and is seeking volunteers.  Barbara – Vermont Tech students presented their parking ideas. Their materials will be in the City Hall display cases. Adjourned at 8:39pm.