October 21, 2009
Energy Committee minutes taken by: Chinloo Lama
Energy Committee Present: Chinloo Lama
Michael Gorr
Margaret Campbell
Paul Vasington
Non-voting members: Ted Kirchner
The Energy Committee met at 7:30 p.m. at the Town Hall, and adjourned at 8:30 p.m.
Discussion:
Agenda
Solar hot water heater research for the public safety center (Chinloo)
MMA educational session on weather proofing the one for winter (Martha/Margaret)
Vote on a secretary
Committee Minutes sign off from July and September (Chinloo will provide in a few days to review)
FY 2011 Capital budget and plan (Mike?)
Easy Energy
Ted, our newest non-voting member asked for an update on the Easy Energy trial with the town. Margaret reported that all is well and a savings report has been sent to the town administrator regularly. She will make sure that a copy is sent to this committee to review as well.
Solar Hot Water for the PSCCC
Team advised Chinloo to request from PSCCC a more accurate water usage number for the calculation, and get from the architect what water usage spec is used to design the center. Also, we should ask Helios to take out the tax rebate if it is referring to a residential installation. The town cannot benefit from the residential tax incentives.
Potential National Grid Compensation
Ted asked if anyone has contacted National Grid to find out if they compensate for the power improvements we are implementing in our town buildings. Perhaps the effort we have made to improve the Public Safety Center (PSC) design can warrant some incentives from National Grid. Ted recommended we speak to Michael Horton from National Grid. Margaret also has contacts in NG. She will take lead on reviewing the energy evaluation report from Energy Savvy and see if this is addressed and we can qualify for incentives.
New Secretary for the Committee
Paul has volunteered to be the secretary and keep track of our committee documents. The committee unanimously voted to appoint Paul as the secretary.
Fiscal year 2011 Budget Proposal
Mike will write up and send budget request to Linda before October 26.
The proposed budget for the Energy Committee:
- Heating audit for the town buildings (blower door test) - $2500
- Power strips for the town offices - $400
- Communications to the town residents (mailings) - $1000
- Conference fees (reimbursements for committee members) - $300
Total is $4200
Other Discussions
Next Step Living includes blower door testing for residential buildings. We can perhaps use them as a resource for getting tests done on the town buildings or just research information and advice.
Landfill methane generation – something brought up by Ted as a possible area to research further as an alternative energy generation for the town.
If we can get the National Grid account numbers for all the town buildings, we should be able to access the energy use data and statistics to better analyze the potential savings and opportunities.
In preparation for next month’s meeting, Chinloo will pull together the current committee goals and remove the requirement of Facilitating and educating the residents because we feel that the committee should focus primarily on the improvement of energy use in our municipal buildings and support the efforts of Bolton Local to help education and promote sustainable practices for the town residents. We do not have the bandwidth to take on the responsibility of residential opportunities currently.
Action Item
Chinloo:
- Provide Laura’s report on plan review of PSCCC
- Post on google site all documents
- Send Ted MMA info
- Contact Linda about Ted’s interest in joining the committee
- Send Ted instructions on process to request to be on the committee
- Update goals
Mike:
- Prepare the formal 2011 budget proposal based on what the committee voted on and have the group review it before it is sent to Linda prior to Oct 26.
Margaret:
- Review the energy recommendation report
Paul:
- Review the solar hot water report provided by Helios specifically on the topic of tax incentives.
Ted:
- Follow up with the MMA seminar set up
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