Town of Newtown, CT 3 Primrose Street, Newtown, CT
THESE MINUTES ARE SUBJECT TO APPROVAL BY THE SUSTAINABLE ENERGY COMMISSION
3-20-2014
The Sustainable Energy Commission held a regular meeting Thursday, March 20, 2014 in shared meeting room 3 of the Municipal Center located at 3 Primrose Street, Newtown, CT 06470.
The meeting was called to order by Chairman, Kathy Quinn at 7:01 pm.
Present: Chairman, Kathy Quinn, Mark Sievel, Joseph Borst, James Gulalo, Charlie Copp, Beth Young
Absent: Desiree Galassi, Fred Hurley, Barbara Toomey,
Communications:
Ms. Quinn reported that Dave Stout will be joining the Sustainable Energy Commission.
Acceptance of Minutes:
Mr. Borst made a motion to accept the minutes of the February 20, 2014 meeting minutes with the following clarifications to the February minutes: HES stands for Home Energy Solutions, ZREC stands for zero emission renewable energy credit, and IGA stands for investment grade audit. Mr. Sievel seconded the motion which carried unanimously.
Old Business:
Home Energy Solutions (HES) Program / Next Step Living
Chad Jacobs, Community Outreach Coordinator from Next Step Living, attended the meeting and spoke about the HES Program. Next Step Living is currently working with the town of Wilton on their program, Wilton 100. The Wilton 100 program has the goal of having 100 town residents take a energy reduction action in their home. Next Step Living has assisted Wilton with doing mailings and having tables at town events in order to promote the HES program. Mr. Jacobs said that Next Step Living would like to work with the Sustainable Energy Commission in promoting the HES program in Newtown as well. Next Step Living has already committed to having a booth at the Earth Day celebration in addition to the other vendors, Energy PRZ and Victory Energy Solutions.
Next Step Living had a promotion table at the local Stop & Shop and the recent event Kidologie and obtained 77 prospects and already have 49 home energy audits scheduled. Next Step Living welcomes suggestions of events or businesses where they can promote the HES program.
The Commission requested that Next Step Living provide them some more detailed information about the ductless mini-splits that were spoken about in the last meeting. The commission also suggested that Next Step Living bring a sample or demonstration of the ductless mini-split to the Earth Day event in order to help educate the public on the benefits of the ductless mini-split.
One suggestion was to include some information about the HES program and recycling in the tax bills that will be mailed out.
Solarize Newtown Program
Solarize Newtown is complete. The program went well overall. 42 homes added solar for a total of 270 kilowatts. With the new solar additions from this program, the town of Newtown as a whole, residential, commercial, and municipal, is producing 1.2 megawatts once all projects have been completed.
Ms. Quinn is working on pulling all the final data together to put a write up about the program in the Newtown Bee. The accomplishments of the program will also be showcased as a part of the Commission’s Earth Day booth.
Next Solar Projects
The Maintenance Garage and Animal Shelter are both candidates for the small ZREC (zero emission renewable energy credit) program. Both projects were awarded low numbers in the lottery and have a high chance of being approved. These two projects would total 112 kilowatts.
The Reed School and landfill, a brownfield site, will both have requests for proposals (RFPs) put out in April.
Energy Savings Performance Contract – Investment Grade Audit (IGA) – Microgrid
Celtic is currently still working on auditing the schools as a part of the IGA.
The microgrid is being considered in conjunction with the Sandy Hook School.
Transition Movement
Earth Day will be April 26, 2014.
Municipal Energy Plan
No update at this time.
Budget / Grants
The Commission is currently waiting on the microgird decisions to be made. A plan will need to be submitted for the grant once a decision is made.
Reed School 5 Kilowatt System
Ms. Quinn will follow up with Gino Faiella, Director of Facilities for Newtown schools about the current status of the system.
New Business
Mr. Gulalo will speak with the Economic Development Commission about energy saving solutions plans and about how best to get the word out about the C-PACE (Commercials Property Assessed Clean Energy) program to commercial building owners.
Adjournment:
Mr. Sievel made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 7:53 pm. The motion was seconded by Mr. Gulalo. The motion was carried unanimously.
The next regular meeting will occur on Thursday, April 17, 2014 at 7:00 pm at the Newtown Municipal Center in Shared Meeting Room 3.
Submitted, Jessica Smith, clerk.
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