Energy Advisory Committee

Montpelier Energy Advisory Committee Montpelier City Hall January 16, 2018, 7:00 p.m. Attendance: Members: Paul Markowitz, Anne Watson, Johanna Miller, Brent Ehrlich, Dan Jones, Barry McPhee, Jared Duval, Ken Jones, Karl Johnson, Amy Gamble, Tim Terway, Geoffrey Fitzgerald, Kate Stephenson, Dan Costin, Christopher Damiani Other Attendees: Emma Hanson Approval of Agenda: Geoff Fitzgerald moved to approve the agenda with the addition of discussion about upcoming goals. It was seconded by Jared Duval and approved unanimously. Approval of December Minutes: Ken Jones moved to approve the minutes. It was seconded by Geoff Fitzgerald and approved unanimously. Public Comment: No public comment was offered. Presentation on Modern Wood Heat initiative from Emma Hanson Emma was filling in for Maura Adams of Northern Forest Center (NFC). NFC is working with a design team on a program called “feel good heat” (targeted online marketing to get people towards automated wood heat). The request is two-fold: both digital marketing and targeted community grassroots outreach. NFC is looking for Montpelier to join on to campaign. They plan on two types of advertising, one towards the influx of daytime population as well as residents. Local campaign leaders would have access to indoor signs and plaques and other materials NFC would leverage points of contact with people who already have pellet boilers to start for outreach help. The website will be live this week for the campaign and will include links to different installers in the region and will start late spring. Emma then showed MEAC some example marketing piece through a video that helps separate the difference between traditional wood heat with this newer automated system as well as displaying potential logos and graphics. Jared and Karl both brought up MEAC identity and branding. The group discussed how this effort along with other campaigns that are being pitched to the committee could be done in a complimentary way. When doing the weatherize campaign, MEAC can also combine wood heat systems as well. Jared mentioned that marketing around efficient wood stoves and pellet stoves would be another way to start discussions with residents in order to not only promote more expensive systems but be considerate of residents’ budgets. Ultimately the responsibility of MEAC would be to help spread the word and help organize events using the NFC campaign materials. It was also discussed that the campaign would be most effective during times when people are using heat November- April. There is a social media tag #vtheatslocal that Emma runs through Facebook and Instagram. She is also starting a Humans of NY themed web presence for people who heat their home with wood. The timeline for the modern wood heat campaign would be February to late spring and start again in late September. Weatherize Montpelier update Ken and Paul spoke about the Weatherize Upper Valley program put on by Vital Communities. They had a good rate of conversion. People in the Upper Valley were aware that a contractor will give them an hour home visit and a contract for potential service for free. The conversion rate for going through with weatherizing services were about 45- 50%. The committee will reach out with contractors in area to get them on board and then a kick off meet up event for contractors to meet homeowners. The timeline is that within four months from today all the residents will have gone through the meetup, home visit and decision on whether or not to go through with the services. The kickoff week will begin mid February with walkthrough signups by March 31st. In order to be eligible for the MEAC prize the homeowner must be signed up with a contractor by May 31st. Updates from Working Groups a. Planning and Policy Anne bought up that the group can work on finding some data to help measure progress to net zero. There is a potential involvement with the Energy Action Network to help out with some data crunching for the enhanced energy plan. Ken Jones has also offered up to help with the data as well. b. Residential Weatherize Montpelier Update above- c. Transportation Dan Costin said that the committee is planning on working with the Sustainable Montpelier Coalition on researching a smart jitney for Montpelier which would have the ability to deviate from routes beyond what the city circulator provides. Dan Jones mentioned that there will be a round table of key representatives of major business and state etc. on transportation. Need a representative from the State employees union. 60 % of parking area downtown is a state employee benefit. Fall of 2018 Montpelier is losing 300 parking spots from construction of One Taylor street and the new hotel. d. Municipal Karl and Geoff provided an overview of the ESG project The bond vote will be separate from town meeting, potentially as soon as April. ESG is meeting with Bill Fraser and Todd Provencher to clarify the project scope and financing. The city is still interested in the “all in” project. City council wants to look at cost from baseline aging infrastructure cost. Everyone needs to be in agreement of what the baseline is. There is a conference call w/ VEPPI to clarify electricity rates for CHP which have a big impact on potential payback on the investment in CHP. The project has escalated in cost but the Department of Public Works is taking a close look at all the details of the project. The aging infrastructure cost is 6.5 million over the next ten years. An additional 4 million may be needed as well past the ten year mark. The “all in” project scope needs to be defined with potential revenue streams from tipping fees and electricity production. Anne Watson mentioned that if the project is done all at once, the required bond would exceed the debt limit that City Council has set which is 15% of the annual revenue of the city. The 24th of January is the date for the presentation to City Council by ESG. MEAC will provide a statement to Council to advise on the ESG project based on what is presented by ESG at the January 24th council meeting. The Committee would like the opportunity to expand on the recommendation made to Council in December. There may have to be a mid month MEAC meeting solely focused on reviewing the ESG final proposal. Motion: that MEAC shall prepare a statement to provide assistance to City Council on evaluating the ESG proposal as presented to the City Council on January 24th moved by Dan Costin, seconded by Karl Johnson. Passed by unanimous vote. Kate provided an overview of the building audit reports on six buildings that were sent out in December. There is a close out conference call scheduled for the 17th 2:30-4. The document looked at the six buildings holistically and it provided information on what the priority projects should be. Next steps are to talk with city staff, and possibly use revolving load fund for smaller projects. Larger projects would go into capital budget. Other business Johanna provided a legislative update. There is focus on climate issues in the House such as appliance efficiency standards which go beyond rolled-back federal standards. There will be an organized group that is in the works to get energy committee members to speak with legislative groups on policy issues and recommendations. The Climate Solutions Caucus has 60 plus members. Johanna is serving on the VT Climate Action Commission appointed by Governor Scott. There are three overlapping areas of those two groups. They are increasing the pace of weatherization, electrifying our transportation fleet specifically using VW settlement dollars strategically, and exploring carbon pricing. 1st Monday of the month VNRC will be sending out legislative updates. Adjournment: 8:38pm. Moved by Johanna Miller, Seconded by Dan Jones. Unanimously approved.