Clean Energy Task Force Regular Meeting April 6, 2015
CLEAN ENERGY TASK FORCE MINUTES
SUBJECT TO APPROVAL
April 6, 2015
REGULAR MEETING
The meeting was called to order at 6:40 p.m. by Commissioner Beinstein in the Room 103 of Simsbury Town Hall, with the following members present: Bob Beinstein, Mark Scully, Jim Ray and Susan Van Kleef.
1. REVIEW AND APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM MEETING ON MARCH 2nd, 2015:
The minutes from the March meeting were reviewed by all. Commissioner Van Kleef made a motion to approve the minutes as amended. Commissioner Ray seconded the motion. All voted in favor and the motion passed.
• Amendment to page 1, line 13-14. Change sentence to: Commissioner Van Kleef will further refine the layout for a follow-up discussion with Mr. Bazzano.
• Amendment to page 1, line 19-20. Change sentence to: It will take further contacts and follow-ups to get this program going.
2. PUBLIC AUDIENCE:
Commissioner Beinstein opened the floor for public audience.
Ms. Addison Weinstein from Next Step Living was in attendance and informed the CETF members about their community partnership program along with the latest information in regard to the CT Home Energy Solutions program. Ms. Weinstein provided references and examples where Next Step Living had worked with other Community Clean Energy/Energy committees. As CETF was planning an element of the Bright Idea proposal to include a residential home energy audit element, various options were discussed as how this could be implemented and what help Next Step Living could provide in that regard. As the CT Home Energy Audit had been evolving over time, Ms. Weinstein was requested to provide information about the current program via e-mail following this meeting. Ms. Weinstein was thanked for coming to the meeting to provide information about their program as it will help in formulating the CETF Bright Ideas grant proposal.
Mr. Tom Roy, Simsbury Director of Public Works was also in attendance and brought CETF up to date on the current town activities. Of particular interest was the progress toward getting the installation of the CETF earned solar panel installation for the high school. Mr. Roy indicated that this is finally progressing with one final request from the state being to provide the remaining life of the roof in order to finalize the requirements for its installation. Mr. Roy indicated that he has requested that information from the school district and will be submitting it as soon as it is received. Due to the delay, Simsbury has continued to earn points toward the solar panels so the size of the installation has continued to increase. It is now expected the resulting panels will be 11 kW. Mr. Roy indicated that other projects underway or in the planning stage include the purchase of street lights with smart LED’s, the addition of solar panels as part of a re-roofing effort at the Public Works facility, a possible demonstration solar installation at the Community Farm, an electric car charging station to be located in the Town Hall parking lot, and other energy related projects for the water treatment facility, Eno Hall and the Library using on-bill financing through Eversource. Due to the myriad of projects with resulting savings to the town, a project administrator has been included in the proposed budget for 2015-2016. If the budget is approved, this position would become available in January 2016. As such, Mr. Roy indicated that the easiest way to include a town element in the Bright Ideas grant proposal would be to put in for funding an intern that could help with these projects this year. This would be similar to the same type of funding provided last year for support of the Solarize Simsbury program. Mr. Roy noted that the Simsbury Schools were also pursuing energy programs as part of their next year’s effort, so a lot of efforts town wide related to energy savings are being pursued.
With no further discussions brought forward, Commissioner Beinstein closed the public audience.
3. BRIGHT IDEA PROPOSAL DISCUSSION:
With the prior discussions at past meetings plus the related discussions during the Public Audience, only an update to the cell pone solar charging station was discussed. Commissioner Beinstein indicated that he had not gotten much more information than previously reported. Commissioner Scully volunteered to follow-up with getting further details about the systems available and the associated costs.
4. GREEN BUSINESS CHALLENGE PROGRAM PLANS DISCUSSION:
No further information or discussion was done for the Green Business Challenge program and it will be reviewed again at the next meeting.
5. CETF WEBSITE PLAN DISCUSSION:
Commissioner Van Kleef indicated that she has a scheduled meeting with Mr. Rick Bazzano who handles the Town’s website. She will update CETF of the results from this session at the next CETF meeting.
6. OPEN FORUM:
Commissioner Scully provided a report done by the Solar Foundation in regard to a study on solar for schools. Commissioner Scully indicated that this information can be used to help support potential installations for Simsbury schools and he will work to put together specific information in that regard.
7. NEXT MEETING
The next regularly scheduled meeting is May 4th.
8. ADJOURNMENT
Commissioner Scully motioned to adjourn the meeting at approximately 8:00 p.m. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Van Kleef and unanimously approved.