November 10, 2008
Energy Committee minutes taken by: Chinloo Lama
Energy Committee Present: Chinloo Lama
Paula Berg
Michael Gorr
Laura Kischitz
Beth McGilvray
Non-voting members: John Balco
Paul Vasington
The Energy Committee met at 7:00 p.m. at the Town Hall.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:45 p.m.
Discussion:
Agenda
- Town energy guidelines update
- 2010 Budget Proposal
- MTC follow-up
- Vote on 2009 goals
- Library Update by Joel or Laura
- Lecture Series update by John
- Green Communities Act follow-up by Paul (after 8pm)
- Generate Energy Contacts for the Town
- Research more on possible grant money and invite volunteers to help
- Other Discussions
2010 Budget
Proposed 2010 Bolton Energy Committee Budget
$1000 Earth Day Celebration
$ 750 Bolton Fair
$2500 Heating Audit for town buildings including Blower Door/Infrared camera
$ 300 Meetings
$ 500 Residential Education Series
$ 520 Postage for flyer
$ 320 Flyer, Other Advertising
$5890 Total
We are asking for more than last year because of the blower door test we would like to get for our town buildings. We want to put the budgeted money from 2009 towards the improvements recommended from the electricity audit and use the remainder for the update recommendations for heating audit. Hopefully we will have time to adjust our budget request after the heating audit is done in December of 2008.
There are concerns about $500 being too low for speaker invitations. However, we want to start low with free speakers and build up to more prominent speakers in the future. Then we might consider partnering with sponsors for those events.
The 2010 budget was voted and accepted.
Voting of BEC Goals for 2009
To provide a frame of reference, the mission of the Bolton Energy Committee is to:
- help the Town of Bolton and its residents reduce energy usage and dependence on fossil fuels
- provide education and information on alternative energy programs and technology
- ensure all new development in town implements alternative energy solutions wherever possible
- ensure all future planning and purchases by the town consider long term energy requirements.
~2008 Goals (voted on 3/6/08):
- Save town money on energy costs
- Take advantage of federal, state, and other grants and funding for reducing town’s energy costs and implementing use of alternative energy sources
- 20% energy use reduction goals in municipal buildings by 2010
- Educate & empower residents to reduce their energy costs & reliance on carbon-emitting, nonrenewable energy
Additional Goals (proposed 10/20/08):
- Residential outreach (workshops, lectures)
- Updating bylaws on permits for alt energy implementation
- Proactive advocacy for alternative energy solutions
- Energy efficient solutions for Bolton residents
We would like to present the decided goals to the Selectmen on Nov 20th and get their support and commitment to help us achieve our goals. John wanted to know if we need to present action plans with the goal suggestions. We don’t think that the exact plans need to be specified for this presentation but we should definitely prepare our action list in the near future to present to the Selectmen when we are ready to implement our effort.
Chinloo feels that the goal of reducing energy usage in our town buildings 20% by 2010 is too ambitious considering the pace of our audits that we are able to get accomplished. So we have decided to push it out to 2011. We would also like to add the goal of updating bylaws to address permitting for alternative energy implementations in town.
So the new goals to be voted on are below:
- Save town money on energy costs
- Take advantage of federal, state, and other grants and funding for reducing town’s energy costs and implementing use of alternative energy sources
- 20% energy use reduction goals in municipal buildings by 2010
- Educate & empower residents to reduce their energy costs & reliance on carbon-emitting, nonrenewable energy
- Updating bylaws on permits for alt energy implementation
The committee voted and accepted these goals.
Guidelines
Chinloo received feedback from Shelly from the DPW and there seems to be some misunderstanding as to what the guidelines are for. She mentioned that the DPW is already implementing a lot of the suggestions. While it is great that the DPW is already implementing suggestions from the guidelines, the document is meant for all the buildings in town and perhaps we can work closer with the DPW to specifically address their needs. Jennifer Atwood Burney suggested that we hold staff meetings when we distribute the guidelines so that specific questions can be answered and the staff can get a formal notice to emphasize the importance of the guidelines.
The committee would like to plan more specific meetings with individual department buildings to launch the guidelines, so that we can better implement them.
Library Update
A state organization has said to Bolton (in lieu of the Green Communities Act) that they will contribute 5% of the reconstruction cost for the Library if it is LEED certified. Though the library was very close to achieving LEED certification, it ultimately was not able to reach it. Now that there is this new incentive, they are reevaluating. Our committee should present a formal letter to the Library committee to say that we recommend they pursue the LEED certification and mention that we are willing to help with research. Paula will work with Joel to get a letter drafted up for the Library committee.
The Lecture Series
Mike Duclos is set up for next week’s (Monday) lecture. The Commons will be posting an ad. John will be sending Chinloo the press release so that it can be forwarded to Linda for the town’s email announcement. We will skip December’s lecture because of vacations. We’ll start up again in January.
Green Communities Act
See attached PowerPoint prepared by Paul.
Jennifer Atwood Burney is already looking into the implementation of town planning and bylaws to meet the requirements to be a green community. She would like to set up a subcommittee including a couple of BEC members to see this through.
John suggested that we explain our efforts to follow the direction of this program and making sure that our goals align with the direction to the Selectmen at the Nov 20th meeting.
This Green Communities Program is still being established. Nothing about how often we need to get in the queue and reapply annually is solidified in the Act.
John and Laura will talk to Jennifer about the effort from our committee. Paul, John, and Chinloo are interested in helping.
BEC Contact List
Should we have a collection of contacts we make as we develop relationships with speakers for our lecture and invite technical specialists to speak to our community? There are concerns that we might be seen as endorsing the contacts we list. We cannot keep anything private in our records, so perhaps we need to reconsider this list and add wording to the list we generate that we do not endorse the individuals in anyway just that we contacted them for information.
Research Grant Money and Seek Volunteers
Should we solicit volunteers to help us hunt down possible grant money? Laura will be writing a column in the Commons and see this as a good topic to bring up in the column. We would request for volunteers in many areas that we are looking to cover but have no resources on the committee to cover.
Action Items
Chinloo – Contact Daniel again about meeting to discuss Earthday event.
Forward lecture info to Linda for email announcement.
Paula – Draft up a letter to Library Committee
John – Send Chinloo the lecture press release.
Send Laura a snippet on what to say to Selectmen about the Green Communities Act.
Next Month’s Agenda
- Figure out the best way to implement a staff meeting of sorts to launch the guidelines
- Selectmen meeting update
- Green Communities update
- Grant writer update
- Library update
- Lecture series update
- Budget update
- Regional Meeting update
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