TOWN OF NEWTOWN
OFFICE OF THE ASSESSOR
SUSTAINABLE ENERGY COMMISSION
MINUTES
MARCH 18, 2010 @ 7:30-9:30PM
NEWTOWN MUNICIPAL CENTER:
SHARED MEETING ROOM
3 PRIMROSE STREET
NEWTOWN, CT 06470
PRESENT: DAN HOLMES, KATHLEEN QUINN, BEN ROBERTS, TERRANCE FORD
ALSO PRESENT: FRED HURLEY
Sustainable Energy Commission meeting was called to order at 7:30pm by Chairperson, Dan Holmes.
Introduction(s)
- Member(s) of the Commission:
Dan Holmes- Chairman
Kathleen Quinn- Commission Member
Ben Roberts- Commission Member
Fred Hurley- Town Engineer
Terrance Ford- Commission Member
Desiree Galassi- Commission Member
Bill Hart- Commission Member
Jim Smith- Commission Member
Seminar @ Yale
- Fred & Dan attended the weekend seminar @ Yale
Environmental studies.
Fred Hurley: Public Work’s Department
- Insight on history, past, present & future contracts (Town side & BOE), and any opportunities.
- General goals for the BOE & Town
Consolidate purchasing of power by both the BOE & Town
Stabilize the cost: Still has different energy supplies will be a process & the
bigger buying units which will help to bring the cost down.
- Energy is much more extensive
Recycling
Building Department can promote and recommend building standards
Long Term Issue
- Currently, on the town side the natural gas is purchased through a consortium & Hess is the provider through the end of next year.
Gone out to group purchasing on the town end.
- High School is shifting over from oil to natural gas.
Cheaper, cleaner, less to maintain.
Bought oil for town through a consortium with a price of $2.30/gl starting July
1-June 30 of the following year.
- Group purchasing done through CROG
Diesel & gasoline bid through them.
Pricing on these are all set.
- Commission needs to focus on energy pricing on the town side.
Did get proposals in from RFP’s
Need to start analyzing RFP’s
BOE has committed to a contract already.
Offered a great rate.
Did get quotes from different suppliers.
8.8 generation rate: Currently, 9.9 until January 1 but then up to 10.9
Standard rate with CL&P current.
Discontent with Constellation.
Clean everything up, get it all back on the CL&P standard rate & go out with
an RFP to get pricing and see what the town can get going forward.
(3) rates going forward:
1. Glacial Energy
2. Verity Energy
3. Constellation: With a different proposal.
8.19/Kilowat through the end of this year (Short Term Contract)
8.57 if go forward past this year through June 2012
8.62 if go beyond 2012
***Need to be aware of capacity charges.
With lower unit cost even with capacity charges included town will still hit
it’s target of a 10% plus reduction in the overall cost of the bill.
8.25/kilowatt through the end of May & then go to an indexing schedule from
June on.
Open end commitment
Market fluctuation concerns
Indexing is a policy decision town needs to look at for going forward
Capping with Indexing which limits the liability.
Elaine representing Glacial Energy:
Glacial guarantees after the (3) months to stay below utility.
Month to Month contract exclusive
Includes pass through charges.
No on/off peak
Town does not need to lock into contract which means town can separate at
anytime
Fixed for (3) months after the first meter reading
- Various funds that provide money to do things are looking for these kinds of committees established in towns.
One of the criteria for eligibility to get points to be eligible to get Federal &
State funds.
- Long-term goal is to have a group in town that understands the whole energy process & how it applied to many different areas.
Look at all aspects of energy: How you buy it, how you use it, & how you
promote it.
- Urgency is to get process going in order to get the meter’s read in order to get the account change over’s moving.
- BOE & town need to get in sync and be on the same page.
- Commission needs to read through the contracts
- Terrance Ford forwarded an e-mail from Elaine @ Glacial Energy the rate & guarantee, but the guarantee expires on Friday.
Not the (3) month rate but the guarantee through December 31st.
Have to act quickly on decisions like this because the market changes
constantly.
Terrance Ford stated that the town needs to get the process started to ensure the
Town saves valuable money.
Wilton Energy Commission – Patrice
- Sierra Club was created for the purpose of setting up a natural park system.
- Climate mitigation & adaptation.
- Cool Cities Program:
Signed a pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
- Climate Protection Program:
12 Step Program to help reduce out addiction of fossil fuels.
Town is doing many of these things already & the whole sustainability idea is
reflected in this document.
If the First Selectman chooses to sign the US Mayors Climate Protection
Agreement on say Earth Day, the Sierra Club would be happy to commend
Newtown for being a Cool City.
- ICLEI : International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives
Sophisticated way of treating climate change & emissions in general.
Membership is $600/yr.
Greenhouse gas emissions quantification software.
Measures everything for the municipalities, schools, tailpipe emissions,
business, commercial, residential, etc.
Inventory of greenhouse gas emissions: Carbon Dioxide, Refrigerants,
Methane, etc.
Able to compare analysis to other towns similar in size.
Grants possibly available.
(3) Types of Spreadsheets:
1. Stationary Sources of Emissions: Schools, Library, Facilities,
Municipal Side.
2. Mobile Sources: Weed whackers, snowplows, fleet itself.
3. Waste Water Treatment
Residential Information
Customized spreadsheet which allows you to input the engine types of fleet
And the spreadsheet has hidden formula which converts information over
To BTU’s, Kilowatt hours, etc.
Decision making tools / Scenario Input.
Patrice will e-mail resource link and town can make a decision from there.
Communications
- BOMA : Building Operators Maintenance Association
Develop standards for operating standards.
- Each meeting Commission should set up short-term goals.
ELECTICAL PURCHASE
Planning for energy projects in town.
Solar @ Reed School.
Need to come up with ideas and then break off into groups in order to be
affective.
- Interests
- Marketing, communications, outreach with the public, education, etc.
- Possibly going to the High School and creating a group of Junior Commissioners to rally individuals from the town.
- Sustainable Fund.
- Transition between providers needs to be a smooth process
- Need to boost sign-ups for Clean Energy.
****Very important aspect of the Commission.
- For every 100 people who sign-up in town the town gets a 2 kilowatt solar panel system for schools.
- Events @ School:
Promote sign-ups
Have Junior Commissioners set up a table
Marketing
Need to sign-up with Community not Sterling in order to get fund for Task
Force Commission
Switch providers & go green at the same time.
- PowerPoint with information to send out & present.
- Articles in The Newtown Bee
- School Workshops:
CT Clean Energy Fund offers educators free full day workshops for teachers
K-12
Pay teachers $100 for the day
EESmarts
- CTCLIMATECHANGE.COM
- CTENERGYINFO.GOV
- Schools:
170/Kilowatts can fit on the Reed School & only (4) are up currently.
Work on solar panels for Reed since it is a pre-approved spot.
Infrastructure is already there so unit cost is lower.
See if there are any available grants to help out the town with projects.
- Need a grant writer for long-term possibilities.
- Solar, geothermal, wind, etc.
- Fairfield University has a gas powered wind turbine that heats & cools all of the schools for $10 million.
- $20,000 grant from the stimulus bill to hire a technical consultant.
- Tax exempt lease purchasing.
- Energy audit town wide.
- Catalyst Financial Group Inc.
Financial Broker
Sets up financing mechanism for service companies that come in
Energy Star
- Boiler replacement to potentially save money on the cost to maintain older boilers
- Convert the High School to hot water heat & put in (2) new boilers.
Part of RFP
Pushed back since funding the High School addition
One year engineering phase
Geothermal, Co-generation
Larger projects bumped out due to financial situation of the town.
CAP
- Creating a central filing system for all projects.
- Contact Scott regarding website.
- Stout Invoice needs to be paid.
- Desiree Galassi:
Promotional material
Duck Race
Relay for Life
Earth Day
School Sporting Events
Labor Day Parade
Holiday Open House
Rooster Relay
- Zoning & Building Department
Zoning Ordinance
What are the rules & do they need to be changed
Communicate to people the process
Process needs to be simplified in order to encourage these types of projects
Acceptance of Minutes: February 18, 2010
- Chairperson, Daniel Holmes, motioned to accept the minutes.
- All commissioners agreed
Next Meeting Date:
- The Sustainable Energy Commission will meet again on, April 15, 2010 @ 7:30pm in the shared meeting room next to the First Selectman’s Office.
Sustainable Energy Commission meeting was adjourned at 9:22pm by
Chairperson, Daniel Holmes.
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