AVON CLEAN ENERGY COMMISSION
AVON ROOM BLDG. #1 TOWN HALL
MINUTES
SEPTEMBER 5, 2012
I. CALL MEETING TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order at 7:03 PM by Chairman Bernard Zahren in the Avon Room, Building 1 Town Hall. Members present: Chairman Bernard Zahren, Martin Kaplan, Mitch Kennedy, Richard Kretz, Brian Glenn, Robert Bullis and Lisa Levin. Members absent: none. Advisory members present: none. Also in attendance were staff member and Town Clerk Ann Dearstyne, Superintendent of Schools Gary Mala and Clean Water representative Justin Haaheim.
II. APPROVAL OF THE PRECEDING MEETING MINUTES – June 6th
Mr. Bullis questioned including the statement “that most people don’t know what we’re talking about” in the last sentence under Section V. Members agreed to retain it. Mr. Zahren requested that “of sorts” be struck from Section V paragraph 5.
VOTE: Dr. Kennedy motioned, Mr. Kaplan seconded and all agreed to accept the June 6th minutes with the change. None opposed. Ms. Levin and Mr. Kretz were absent during the review and approval of the minutes.
III. COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE AUDIENCE
Mr. Zahren thanked Mr. Haaheim for his recent work in attending the pre BOE proposal meeting and helping prepare a handout given at that meeting.
IV. OLD BUSINESS: a. Avon Day Preparation
Dr. Kennedy reported that ACEC’s participation would be pared back to solely sharing with the high school. Ms. Dearstyne reported that Mr. Marella of the high school would let the members know of the potential combining of the Green and Sierra Clubs, possibly by the end of September, early October, giving the school year time to establish. Mr. Zahren hoped to know what representation would be along side the Commission at Avon Day. Ms. Dearstyne reserved a booth for the high school per Ms. Levin’s direction and forwarded an application from Diana McCarty of the CT Energy Efficiency Fund of CL & P to the Avon Day Committee. Mr. Zahren emphasized that Ms. McCarty would be helpful in showing where the programs are and how we get them. He asked that Dr. Kennedy verify that she will attend.
Mr. Zahren asked if there should be any additional general public handouts to use in addition to the message to support the new energy plan. Mr. Kaplan questioned if we should provide information on the 20% by 2020 plan. Mr. Zahren responded that it was a dead issue and that we tried our best to get people to sign up for free panels but it just wasn’t going to happen. Ms. Dearstyne noted that we have 200 people signed up.
Mr. Haaheim suggested that the group would need some kind of structured campaign if they’d want to pursue the sign-ups, suggesting face-to-face being the most productive. He added that he’d be willing to help if the members would want to go forward with it. Mr. Zahren offered that there is no man power available to do this. He added too that after attending the BOE meeting, he didn’t feel that there was really all that much interest at the school for the panels either. He found that people are not willing to pay more for electricity even if it’s a dollar. Mr. Kaplan asked Mr. Haaheim how other towns were at getting sign-ups. Mr. Haaheim said that he was not too up to date on how other towns were doing it and questioned the members’ motivation. Mr. Kaplan said it was for the sign-ups and for
resident’s awareness of what “green” is all about. Ms. Levin clarified that if it is was for community education and if that’s the objective then we could sponsor that but understood that it was to obtain the solar panels. She added that it seemed the outcome was not worth the effort. Ms. Levin relayed her frustration with selecting Sterling Planet as an electricity provider.
Mr. Zahren reminded that the energy plan had not yet been adopted by the Town Council and that one of the upper levels of the plan was to take the message of sustainability to the broader town, and with more difficulty, reducing our carbon footprint by 20% by 2020. He continued that getting people to sign up would turn them off and would not even result in an economically viable installation for the school. Mr. Zahren preferred the methodology through convincing people at the schools that there are alternative ways to have the panels paid for by other sources other than getting free panels.
Mr. Bullis used the example of the Chevy Volt to show the problem of getting people to put solar panels on their roofs: the program isn’t cost effective. He added that the bigger problem is educating them to what they are getting into and felt the time is not right for it. Mr. Bullis continued that new technologies take time. Mr. Haaheim asked where is it that the members want to get to. Mr. Bullis responded that he’d like the community get to a high level of consciousness: saving energy and carbon emissions. Mr. Haaheim summed that he’d like to save energy and sell it by telling people that they’d save money. Mr. Bullis concurred that to sell saving energy you’d need to sell it as saving you money.
Mr. Zahren added that he’d like to take what the schools did with behavior modification to save energy to the whole town. Mr. Mala noted that they were able to reduce the schools’ energy consumption by 55% and added that it had been met with some resistance. Mr. Bullis suggested that we could use the savings the schools found as an advertisement to get people to see that they could save energy in their own homes too. Mr. Mala offered that there is a link that you could use to track your energy use at home. Mr. Glenn suggested that the Town be the next entity to use the activities the schools used to save energy. Mr. Mala added that we still have the opportunity to have a joint venture with the BOE and Town to utilize behavior modification to save energy. Mr. Glenn did mention that the schools had newer
buildings and facilities which helped. Mr. Zahren reminded too that savings were achieved solely from energy conservation awareness with no physical changes to the facilities.
Mr. Zahren referred to a printout he and Mr. Haaheim worked on to be used as a handout for Avon Day and volunteered his office to produce copies. He noted that the BOE itself cannot adopt the energy plan and that it must be adopted by the Town Council. Mr. Zahren presented two primary goals: 1) 15% reduction in energy consumption by 2015 and 2) 20% reduction in carbon footprint by 2020. He said to sell it as you can save money and, by the way, you’re being green as a side benefit to doing it.
Ms. Dearstyne suggested the members discuss a schedule for Avon Day. It is scheduled to be held September 29th with a rain date the following day, September 30th. Mr. Zahren asked Ms. Levin to confirm that Ms. McCarty will be attending. Ms. Levin suggested planning on the high school not being there.
Mr. Haaheim asked what the group wants to do on Avon Day. Mr. Zahren would like to highlight the energy plan, taking it to the Town Council for approval, becoming aware of it, supporting it and then having attendees taking it to their own homes. Ms. Levin offered that the role of Ms. McCarty will be to educate residents to what programs are available to them to become more energy efficient for example, through a home energy audit. She cautioned to keep the message simple to what is being done on the public level and focusing on what you can do on the residential level. Mr. Kaplan had great success in Farmington Woods with promoting an energy audit, getting 80% to sign up. Ms. Levin asked for clarification as to what do we want the residents to do regarding awareness of the energy plan. Mr. Bullis reminded that residents
won’t have access to the plan on Avon Day as the plan will not go for adoption until the Town Council meets October 4th. He continued that what the Commission is trying to do is develop an awareness to encourage the town to use renewable energy and adopt sustainable practices. Mr. Zahren sees the message to be that the BOE and Town Council are taking strides to reduce energy consumption, save money and you too can do this at home. Mr. Kaplan suggested a small sign be displayed that says “Start with audit’s behavior modification and you can save money” and have visitors ask questions.
Mr. Haaheim described the energy audit process: fill out a card with contact info and they will send this to a pre-qualified vendor who will contact you. Mr. Haaheim suggested generating an e-mail list to keep people aware of what the group is doing and perhaps encourage them to contact members of the Town Council to promote ideas. He said this could easily be done through Yahoo or Google Groups. Ms. Dearstyne suggested that information can be put on the town website and to check with the Library on how to subscribe to receive it or if it could be targeted. Mr. Zahren said it’d be a good way to post monthly energy savings information. Mr. Kretz suggested that it would be a great way to start a grassroots effort to other things that we are working on. Mr. Haaheim suggested a blog come later. Mr. Bullis suggested
having a business card available at the booth displaying e-mail sign up information.
V. NEW BUSINESS: a. Report on the presentation of the Energy Plan to the Board of Education, b. Clean Water Action and Clean Water Fund – one on one advising
Mr. Zahren discussed the recent presentation of the energy plan to the BOE. He was a little disappointed with their reaction to the discussion of the solar panels as he feels solar is the way to go given the absence of other renewable assets in the area. He compared renting buses but not accepting renting, in effect, solar panels from outside sources. Mr. Zahren was told the process was to go to the Board of Finance to get the money and then give it to the BOE and they’d get the panels. He cautioned that payback is still 12-15 years with an investment of $300,000 for a 100kW installation. Mr. Glenn suggested finding out what process the town of Glastonbury used to obtain solar panels with the hiring of a third party. Mr. Zahren thought the Town Council had to put out an RFP and asked Mr. Mala how we could get the
support. Mr. Mala suggested putting the information in front of them.
Mr. Zahren discussed what he felt was a way to make an impact on the town besides the solar panels and that is the project that will go in near the Town Hall. He discussed this with the Town Planner who cautioned that the town cannot automatically mandate the project be held to higher standards for building codes or energy efficiency. Mr. Zahren knows of a targeted grant that is available that would allow Mr. Haaheim’s group to work on a specific named item. Mr. Haaheim would require a project proposal that includes a timeline where we could envision how he could support it over that time. The commitment would be meetings every two weeks and participation from not just one person but from a number of people, bringing in people from the town which would entail recruitment. He continued that he would not be acting as
a consultant but coaching a team that has a goal in mind and that would be a way that he could support the Commission. Mr. Haaheim noted that it was important and also quite possible to do and an opportunity to bring in others from the town to form an AD HOC group.
Mr. Zahren questioned the deadline in applying. Mr. Haaheim said September 17th to which Mr. Zahren said is a problem since we would not yet have adoption of the energy plan from the Town Council. He asked Mr. Haaheim if he’d accept an application based on the assumption that the Town will allow an investigative committee to go to Ensign-Bickford to suggest they do their development in a sustainable energy efficient way, which would also help in meeting the town’s goals and possibly promote it as being a more marketable project being “green.” He added that the zoning was still in process with a 7-8 year build out. Mr. Zahren asked for the other members’ buy-in.
Mr. Haaheim suggested ways to achieve success. In addition to selling the idea to Ensign-Bickford, you could also approach the residents to present their support. Posters could be placed around town telling of the vision and hosting a community conversation. He said it would provide leverage in the conversation with Ensign-Bickford in that we are mobilizing the town to convey how they’d want the project to look, and want them to work with us so that it’s built in the right way. Mr. Haaheim said these are the ways that he would counsel. Mr. Zahren cautioned that member’s and staff time is very limited and will fashion the conversation to the Town Council as a way to help us to get to our 20% by 2020 goal. Referring to a recent conversation with Mr. Bartha, Mr. Haaheim said if the Town Council did not
accept it from ACEC then an independent town AD HOC group could be formed to pursue it, which he said he would totally support. Ms. Levin agreed and said that it would follow as a next step after the plan is adopted.
Mr. Zahren asked for consensus to get Mr. Haaheim’s time for a working proposal to the Town Council that we pursue looking at making the Ensign-Bickford new Town Center as sustainable as possible. With approval, Mr. Zahren next asked for a sub committee chair to head it to which Dr. Kennedy volunteered. Mr. Zahren requested help with this project as he regrets his time is very limited for the next several months and suggested not hesitating to ask for outside support.
VI. COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE COMMISSION
VII. DO ANY BUSINESS TO COME BEFORE THIS MEETING
VIII. ADJOURN
VOTE: Mr. Kaplan motioned, Mr. Glenn seconded and all agreed to adjourn the meeting at 8:41 PM. None opposed.
Respectfully submitted:
Chairman Bernard Zahren
Attest: Susan Gatcomb, Clerk
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