Town Energy Committee
Minutes of meeting February 14, 2008
7:15 p.m. in kitchen of Town Offices
Members present: Candi Fowler, Aaron Harris, Dan Wolaver
Minutes of January 24, 2008 meeting: approved
The BOS shared with the TEC a quotation from NH Historic Sash & Windows for up-grading the windows in the Town Offices building. (The quotation is attached.) This quote offers more options than the Winn Mountain quote and a greater range of costs. Both quotes retain the original windows for historic reasons. Candi will look into the cost of replacement windows.
Aaron shared some data he has collected about the availability of alternative energy sources in New Hampshire—solar, wind, wood. He has comparisons of the cost per BTU of various energy sources. His report is attached. The committee discussed the resource of cordwood that Greenfield has and whether the town could capitalize on it.
Dan will find out how much the town spends on electricity for street lamps per year and what the saving would be with energy-efficient lamps from PSNH.
Dan and Roger attended the Southwest Region Planning Commission (SWRPC) meeting in Keene on January 28. Their mission is "To work in partnership with the communities of the Southwest Region to promote sound decision-making for the conservation and effective management of natural, cultural and economic resources." SWRPC is somehow allied with Clear Air–Cool Planet (CA-CP). CA–CP founded the Carbon Coalition in New Hampshire. See www.swrpc.org, www.cleanair-coolplanet.org and www.carboncoalition.org. The Carbon Coalition handbook is attached. The object of the
January 28 meeting was to establish a program in which towns in SW New Hampshire can help each other in efforts to make their towns more energy-efficient and reduce greenhouse gas emission. Antioch New England Institute (ANEI) will supply Web resources and work-study interns to help gather and share information. The project Timeline is attached as an appendix here.
Roger and Aaron will meet with the BOS Tuesday, February 19 at 7:00 to coordinate our activities.
Dan will prepare a TEC report for the Town Report and get it to Deb.
Adjourned: 8:25 p.m.
Next meeting: February 22, 2008 at 7:00 in kitchen of Town Offices
Submitted by
Dan H. Wolaver
TIMELINE Phase I
Project Activities
The following provides a summary of activities for Phase 1.
November - December 2007:
Sign SWRPC as an ICLEI member for 2008 (CA-CP)
Form Steering Committee to guide the Advisory Committee that will be
formed (CA-CP and ANEI)
Form Advisory Committee (CA-CP and ANEI)
Set date and time for First Steering Committee (CA-CP)
Create initial Web Site (ANEI)
Create Logo and Name of Initiative (CA-CP and ANEI)
Create Date for 1st of 4 Advisory Committee meetings (CA-CP and ANEI)
Hire work study interns for 2008 (ANEI and CA-CP)
January - March 2008:
Host Advisory Task Force meeting Jan 28th (CA-CP and ANEI)
First Steering Committee Meeting Jan 9th (CA-CP)
Begin implementation of a communications plan for the project
Begin Inventory (CA-CP and ANEI)
Collaborate with other organizations (CA-CP and ANEI)
Host meeting on the science of climate change pertaining to the Southwest Region (CA-CP)
Conduct meet-ups in towns across the region (ANEI with support from CA-CP)
April - June 2008:
Report on results of Inventory (CA-CP and ANEI)
Convene the Advisory Task Force to prioritize recommendations to the Local Action Plan (CA-CP and ANEI)
Meet with educational institutions in region (CA-CP)
Host workshops for Energy Committees throughout the region (CA-CP with support from ANEI)
July - September 2008:
Identify at least two pilot ("easy" and obvious actions) projects (CA-CP and ANEI)
Meet with Business leaders in the region (CA-CP)
Host Educational forum with science centers and educational institutions in region. (CA-CP)
October - December 2008:
Identify high impact/priority actions from the Local Action Plan and develop a detailed work plan for moving these actions forward
Heating Systems in Town Buildings:
Two More Assessments
On January 9, 2008 I met with Jerry from A.W. Peters (Peterborough) and with Ken Jaeger from AGS Services (Henniker, formerly Ayer & Goss) to examine the heating systems in the Town Offices and in the Meeting House.
A.W. Peters
Town Offices
Steam System
The radiator in the Tax Collector’s office is over-sized for the space. The Tax Collector has been turning the radiator down at the main valve, which is harmful to the valve; it’s intended to be either completely on or completely off. The proper way to control the temperature is with the numbered dial on the air valve at the other end. But this is behind the desk and is hard to reach. Ultimately, the radiator should be replaced with a smaller one.
Forced-Hot-Water System
The hot water that comes directly from the steam boiler goes through ½” pipe to 60’ of baseboard radiators in the Planning Board room (second floor). That pipe should be ¾” in order to handle the water flow required by that length of radiator (and that large a room).
Two zones come from a separate hot water tank (heated by water from the steam boiler).
Zone I heats two storage rooms in the basement. Zone II heats the Police Department and its bathroom. Testing showed that the valve for zone II was not turning on in response to the thermostat’s call for heat. This explains why the Police Department has been using electric space heaters to stay warm and why the toilet has been freezing up. (Allen & Mathewson have now fixed the problem. They had many excuses why they hadn’t detected the faulty valve.)
Old Windows
The windows in the Planning Board room are old, loose, broken, and missing storm windows. According to Kathy, someone who has to work in that room has volunteered to seal the windows with plastic sheets. The BOS room has one window with an upper casement that slides down because there is no lock to hold it up, and the window that hosts the air conditioner in the summer hasn’t got its storm window back yet. Dan the maintenance man has yet to act on Kathy’s requests to fix the windows.
Meeting House
Forced-Hot-Air Unit
He said this unit is very inefficient and replacing it would result in significant savings. He noticed an antiquated fire-suppressant system in the ceiling—a copper housing with carbontetracloride, which has been found to be a carcinogen. He recommends that it be replaced immediately.
Domestic (Tap) Water Heater
This uses propane for fuel.
Proposal
A.W. Peters will submit a proposal for upgrading the heating systems in phases, indicating which phases will save the most in heating costs. They expect to get the proposal to me by January 23.
AGS Systems
Town Offices
Forced-Hot-Water System
There is a small tank inside the steam boiler that provides hot water the Planning Board room. The make-up water is filled automatically by a pressure-sensing valve, but the water level is set too low.
There is a separate hot water tank (heated by water from the steam boiler) that provides hot water to zones I and II. The make-up water valve for this tank is manual, and it should be checked periodically. He found that the valve for zone II had a faulty head that needed replacing.
Meeting House
Forced-Hot-Air Unit
He said this unit is very inefficient. He noticed gaps in one of the joints of the hot air supply duct that should be fixed.
Proposal
AGS Systems will submit a proposal for upgrading the heating systems in phases, indicating which phases will save the most in heating costs. They expect to get the proposal to me by January 20.
Dan Wolaver January 18, 2008
Attachment: Latest service record from Allen & Mathewson
Appendix – Service Record
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