AVON CLEAN ENERGY COMMISSION
SELECTMEN’S CHAMBER BLDG. #1 TOWN HALL
MINUTES
FEBRUARY 1, 2012
I. CALL MEETING TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order at 7:00 PM by Acting Chairman Bernard Zahren in the Selectmen’s Chamber, Building 1 Town Hall. Members present: Acting Chairman Bernard Zahren, Martin Kaplan, Brian Glenn and Lisa Levin. Members absent: none. Advisory members present: Giorgina Paiella, Diane Zhao and Jonathan Craig. Advisory members absent: none. Also in attendance were staff member Steve Bartha, Assistant Town Manager, Peregrine Energy Group Vice President Steven Weisman and Avon Public Schools Director of Facilities Peter Gaski.
II. APPROVAL OF THE PRECEDING MEETING MINUTES – January 4th
VOTE: Ms. Levin motioned, Mr. Glenn seconded and all agreed to accept the January 4, 2012 minutes as presented. None opposed or abstained.
III. COMMUNICATION FROM THE AUDIENCE
Prospective commission member Mitch Kennedy was in attendance. Dr. Kennedy has a Doctorate in Naturopathic Medicine with a specialty in Environmental Medicine. A LEED Accredited Professional he also holds a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering and Geology and has spent twenty two years in the field of sustainability, industrial energy conservation and green building. Dr. Kennedy said he was glad to attend to lend his experience. Mr. Zahren reminded that there are three positions open and hopes that Dr. Kennedy will be appointed as a new member by the Town Council at their meeting tomorrow.
IV. COMMUNICATION FROM STUDENT ADVISORS
Mr. Zahren reminded that last year at this time roofs were collapsing from too much snow while yesterday and today’s temperatures set heat records. He continued that these climatic swings are getting more and more frequent and noted that tornadoes have hit in January even before the season begins. He added that part of the duty of the Town, Commission, the elected and staff is to do something about this for the student’s generation and those beyond.
Ms. Paiella will be meeting with the energy guy, the one who is leaving happy faces on appliances as reminders to turn them off. She added that they’ve already saved a few thousand dollars from that initiative. The meeting is for the club but extends to others. Ms. Zhao said they will hold an open house for eighth graders in hopes to get them interested in the green energy club’s efforts. Mr. Zahren lamented that the two student advisors will be hard to replace after they leave after graduation. Mr. Gaski handed out smiley face stickers revealing that he indeed was the energy guy at the schools.
Mr. Zahren requested that the students read the plan’s introduction. They asked if they could have a hard copy to bring back to their club to share.
V. OLD BUSINESS: a. Complete discussion of the draft energy plan
Mr. Weisman reported that he’s been trying to winnow the member’s additions and comments. He said there were tables that still needed to be updated. Mr. Craig sent some feedback on the renewable energy section. Mr. Weisman summarized the changes: 1) under goals for town and school operations he added a bullet that recommends an energy information system, 2) with regard to discussion of outside sources of funding he incorporated the information that was provided by Clean Water Action into the document as well as internal resources within the town; self-funding or on-going investments or improvements the town makes but left out, outside sources such as utilities, state, fed or foundations as he wasn’t sure if he or the commission should write it, 3) met with Ms. Levin for information for the education
section which no one has critiqued yet, 4) Mr. Kaplan provided regional activity information that was incorporated into the document in the guideline section, 5) used language from Mr. Gaski regarding the project he’s involved with as well as accomplishments to date, 6) a bullet for a target for fleet efficiency of 15% and found it had improved by 21% since the baseline, and 7) a renewable energy section that still needs improvement. Mr. Craig suggested that we need a brief explanation of what the different energy sources are. Mr. Weisman hesitated since he did not want to presuppose what Avon had in mind for incorporating renewable technologies into town operations. Mr. Zahren agreed that a glossary of terms would be helpful. He noted to include the State’s renewable portfolio standard with two tiers – tier one has a trash to energy plant and hydro and some other long term established forms of creating energy from non fossil fuels and tier two with solar, wind
and fuel cells, and added that the utilities all have to meet a certain percentage in those two classes. Mr. Craig agreed and that we could also include the ZREC’s and LREC’s where applicable in the two tiers.
Mr. Weisman suggested that from a policy process perspective, the commission might want to consider whether this plan would be a snapshot or something to renew over time or information as part of the document that links to other sources where you didn’t have to include it, whether electronic or paper, any or all creating all sorts of opportunities. He continued that there are all sorts of information that could be integrated including technologies that didn’t need to be included in the document itself but linked. Mr. Weisman summed that the Commission would have to make the decision as to what the intent is of the document and agree to an action plan to present to the Town Council.
Ms. Levin suggested to review the charge and questioned the timeline for the deliverable to the Town Council. Mr. Zahren said the Commission was created a few years ago to do what it could and subsequently decided to come up with an energy plan. Grants provided monies that were used to replace garage doors and lights, admitting if you will that the charge was pretty open ended. Mr. Bartha said there were two parts to the charge: 1) the 20% by 2010 campaign and 2) at the end of 2010, the State spoke of the 30% by 2015 campaign whereby the Town Council reappointed the Commission to see that through and create the energy plan, as it was already started by that point. Mr. Zahren said that really it was originally to get a few panels for the town which turned out to be an almost impossible task. Ms. Levin said the journey was
important and this is why she thinks the education section is important to include in the document. She asked about the charge because she questions how deep in the weeds the plan has to go or should it be at a higher level, fearing some will get lost on the Town Council, realizing it’s not just for the Council but a living, public document. From experience she said the more general, higher level the document is, the more flexible it is. She questioned the Commission’s ability or realm to implement the actionable items included or if other town’s plans had links in them and she’d like to know how the plan compares to those. Ms. Levin continued that it’s a big step for a town to take and how much detail would be needed to put in the document. She said the plan currently has parameters, a guidepost and a direction and would like comparisons to other towns. Mr. Weisman responded that Avon’s plan was more specific than others and attributed the
difference in already having the buildings’ statistical data. He posed too that citing improvements that could be made makes the plan more action oriented and suggested it could even be used to ask the Town Council to create some mandates around it.
Ms. Levin requested that the minutes reflect the need for a table of contents and page numbers.
Members discussed clean energy goals for the town: defining the15% and 20% guidelines. Mr. Zahren referred to the geothermal system at the renovated library, the potential of installing solar panels on not one but all of the schools and even the fleet burning biomass. He reiterated Mr. Craig’s suggestion that conservation is the first and easiest platform. Mr. Zahren continued that many towns defined goals in terms of reducing the carbon footprint. The first metric to reduction is in reducing energy usage with adding renewable sources. Mr. Weisman concurred that the definition could be in a goal of reducing say 20% of our carbon footprint by a certain date. Mr. Bartha agreed with Ms. Levin that this would keep options open. Mr. Craig concurred that the technology is rapidly changing in that what seems out of reach
today could become cost effective tomorrow. He said there are photovoltaic cells that are approaching 30 – 40% efficiencies. Costs per watt are coming down monthly. Mr. Zahren asked Dr. Kennedy what he thought 20% by 2020 meant. He responded that it meant renewable energy – actual installations producing power and replacing fossil fuels. Ms. Levin interjected that it does not include conservation. Dr. Kennedy commented that the plan showed some amazing opportunities but no dollar signs in terms of what it would save the town. He also posed how these goals the town is trying to achieve would be perceived by others outside of the town: kind of competing with West Hartford but not really competing. Mr. Weisman reminded that you needed an achievable plan. Mr. Zahren noted that there was a time limit to the funding and presentation to the Town Council and asked if it could be ready for presentation for the April meeting. Ms. Levin felt work still needed to be done around
defining the 20% goal number and suggested some material could be taken out of the document. Mr. Kaplan concurred and thinks our goals should match what the State believes. Ms. Levin questioned if most plans contained a glossary. Mr. Bartha suggested the EUI information was well explained in the text as an example and cautioned the glossary might create a back and forth exercise for the reader. Mr. Zahren suggested he would draft a definition of 20% and circulate it through the members.
Mr. Kaplan asked about work done on the sewer energy usage. Mr. Weisman said he wasn’t able to get figures because of illness in that department. Mr. Bartha noted that the sewer superintendent has been in and out of the office for the last three months because of health issues and it has made it very difficult to connect. He said the figures are there but has been unable to meet to discuss.
Mr. Zahren asked Mr. Craig to discuss information he gathered from the REEBA meeting regarding the latest information coming from the State. Mr. Craig said the State DEEP Commissioner gave an overall view of what the State had done which has been tremendous. The CT Energy Efficiency Fund is working on getting out new proposals to support any kind of technology that is being tested – new ones, and renewing the residential plan to give supplemental funding per watt for photovoltaic installations. Mr. Zahren asked if the funding was for long term. Mr. Craig said yes and private contractors were also represented there offering performance contracts based on 15 years for any installation of alternate energy sources. The differential in the savings would be put toward the payment for 15 years after which you’d own
it. Mr. Zahren asked if the School Board could currently go after these plans and if so why wait to adopt an energy plan. Mr. Craig continued that the utilities had been charged to come up with a ZREC (0% pollution) and LREC (low emissions) plan. The utility would accept proposals and review and would have the contractor establish the REC rate. He figures we’d have an idea of what the REC’s would be by June. Mr. Zahren asked what the procedure would be to get an installation of 20kW solar power. Mr. Craig said you’d put in a proposal to CL & P and say that installation would be worth $/kW as a REC as a help to finance the installation. The funding could then be taken through that contractor if they were a performance based contractor and they would fund it through your repayment through RECs and any differential in electricity costs.
Mr. Zahren asked if Mr. Bartha could provide a current electricity cost for all the facilities. He also added that there was a glut of solar panels around and contractors should be able to give an installation rate of below $4.00/watt. Mr. Craig said $2.00/watt would compete with the grid. Mr. Zahren asked Mr. Gaski how long it would take to get moving on the panels. Mr. Gaski said he could check with his CL & P representative and perhaps he could help. Dr. Kennedy suggested getting three bids especially when you were entering into a long term power purchase agreement.
Mr. Zahren asked if Mr. Weisman had all the information he needed to complete the plan draft. Mr. Weisman said he keeps trying to guess and feels it would be useful for a sub committee to mark up changes. Membership numbers can change pending the outcome of the Town Council meeting’s appointments which Mr. Bartha will monitor and report. Mr. Bartha suggested adding the agencies – state or utility - where grants were under the blank page of Outside Funding Sources to the plan. Ms. Levin suggested having Dr. Kennedy take a look at the plan. Mr. Weisman will submit another draft with a table of contents and page numbers.
VI. NEW BUSINESS a. EECBG Quick Spend Grant, b. Board of Education behavior modification undertaking at the Schools
Mr. Bartha referred to an email he received on January 4th inviting him to apply for a grant by January 20th offering a Quick Spend of the leftover EECBG grant monies. He applied for the grant to install LED lighting on the outside of this campus (48 total = $37,000) which was spec’d out earlier but deemed too expensive. Mr. Bartha will relay the outcome of the grant application at a future meeting.
Mr. Gaski discussed efforts to reduce energy costs at the schools. He said a firm called Energy Education was engaged in June, 2011. The contractor provided a list of guidelines of responsibilities from the superintendent down to the custodian when it comes to energy. Mr. Gaski went to the schools and relayed their expectations: daily shutdown checklists for each classroom, shutdowns for vacations – all computers, lights refrigerators, and turning back thermostats while keeping schools comfortable when the students are in attendance. Heating up the building now begins at 7:00 AM instead of 5:00 AM and is done gradually, taking into account the increased BTU’s brought in by the children themselves. The set point for wintertime off hours is now 55° unless someone puts in a request. Weekends are back at set
back. No exterior lights were left on during the summer. Mr. Gaski presented the savings figures to the members: June through November 2011 the expected energy costs were $709,627 vs. the actual of $512,667 for a savings of $196,960. Ms. Levin questioned if it was less expensive to keep more of a constant temperature than attempt to raise a very low temperature to a comfortable one. Mr. Gaski said no that off was the best method for savings. He did say there is a method of heating the temperature really high during the night and bringing it down through “coasting” and then heating in the morning as before. He said the figures are still not in on that method. Mr. Gaski concluded that it is a long term plan and that they’ve so far picked the low hanging fruit. Mr. Craig asked that the suggestions for energy savings at the schools be incorporated into the plan under education. Mr. Gaski noted that they also bought a software program to accompany the behavior
management called ECAP.
VII. COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE COMMISSION
Mr. Craig congratulated Mr. Zahren on his receipt of the Zero Energy award. Mr. Zahren clarified that it was one of the awards given out. Mr. Craig noted that his house came in with a HERS rating of -9.
Mr. Kaplan and Mr. Glenn relayed that the Clean Water committee was putting together some workshops starting the end of February and March.
VIII. DO ANY BUSINESS TO COME BEFORE THIS MEETING
IX. ADJOURN
VOTE: Mr. Kaplan motioned, Ms. Levin seconded and all agreed to adjourn the meeting at 8:40 PM. None opposed.
Respectfully submitted:
Acting Chairman Bernard Zahren
Attest: Susan Gatcomb, Clerk
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