Link back to Energy Committee Meeting Minutes page
John (acting chair), Brian, Pam, Rob (secretary).
Meeting called to order, we have a quorum.
Agenda:
1) Approval of meeting minutes from April 12 and May 22.
2) Review of the selectman's meeting.
3) Modifications of the short/long term goals based on feedback from
Selectman’s meeting and committee members.
4) July meeting agenda:
a) Carbon footprint vendors.
Agenda approved.
Approved April 12, 2007 minutes (Rob make official on web site).
Approved May 22, 2007 minutes (Rob post and make official on web site).
Brian: was at selectman's meeting to present our mission. He will email the group and Rob will include with these minutes.
Brian: talked about Newton's plan, our progress, selectman pleased with our progress so far. Explained what each member is working on, our short term suggestions, increase fuel consumption, recycling rate. They discussed our short term suggestions and were generally in favor.
Brian and Pam: recapped discussion on Regionalization from selectman's meeting.
Brian: talked about LEED building for municipal and commercial with selectman. Talked about maintaining percentage of renewable energy purchased by the light plant. Talked about fleet study, replacing vehicles, using bio diesel, could be resistance from Police because of the electronics and load required.
Brian: we need to make recommendations to the selectman. What happens if other committees don't like our recommendations?
John: an example is to increase the fleet mileage from 10mpg to 15mpg. We don't specify how they get there. We don't specify which department gets which vehicles. We recommend new vehicle replacement with more efficient vehicles.
Brian: how do we get the bio diesel started?
Rob: there is no financial incentive to use bio diesel, it costs more. The reason to use it is it reduces the carbon output by 70%.
Pam: there may be a way to build it in to the overall financial picture with better fleet efficiencies.
Brian: do we need someone to professionally produce our plan? So it looks like Newton's.
All: temporarily adjourn to the selectman's meeting because John had to speak and we would loose our quorum.
Selectman's meeting ran long, so we adjourn our meeting.
Next meeting Tuesday, July 10, 2007 7:30pm.
The following are Brian's notes from the presentation to the Selectman's committee on June 4, 2007 (added when these minutes were voted on and approved on September 20, 2007):
Three members of the Energy Policy Committee appeared before the Board of Selectmen on June 4th to report on the mission statement, work product, and progress of Committee.
The mission statement was reported as "To serve the residents of Town of Hingham by establishing energy policies that will promote the efficient use of energy, increase awareness and will reduce environmental impact".
The work product was described as a comprehensive energy action plan that will include the following sections: Cost of Operation (energy efficiency), Transportation, Solid Waste, and Renewable Energy/Distributed Generation. The Action Plan will be based on the Town of Newton's Plan. The Committee chose to use Newton's Plan due to the content and quality of information. Many other plans were reviewed and considered.
The Committee presented the following long-term recommendations for feedback from the Board of Selectmen:
**The Town hire an energy consultant to develop a carbon footprint benchmark for the Town. This study will allow the Committee to compare usage across multiple fuel types, and identify and prioritize high use areas. In addition, the benchmark will allow comparison to other Cities and Towns.
**The Town accept the work product as described above.
**The Town adopt LEED energy efficiency certification standards for all new municipal buildings, and provide LEED guidelines to private developers. Private developers would be encouraged by the Town to voluntarily comply with the certification process.
**HMLP maintains or increases the current percentage level of renewable energy purchased in their power portfolio.
**The Town adopt a power strategy of distributed power generation from sources such as wind, micro-turbines, cogeneration, and solar power.
The Committee presented the following short-term recommendations for feedback from the Board of Selectmen:
**The Town immediately replace diesel fuel with bio-diesel fuel for use in the current fleet. All diesel vehicles will operate with bio-diesel as long as the bio-diesel meets the appropriate ASTM standards.
**The Town mandates a goal to increase fuel economy in fleet vehicles by 50%.
**The Town mandate a requirement to double the current recycling rate.
In general, the Board of Selectmen approved of the Committee's proposed action plan and were pleased with the progress to date. The Board responded with the following comments and suggestions:
**Contact Dick Morgan regarding the RFP to solicit bids for an energy consultant to perform the carbon benchmark study.
**Research and explore the available tiers of LEED certification. Perhaps develop a LEED "certifiable" program as LEED certification may be cost prohibitive on many projects.
**Work with HMLP on renewable energy sources within the Town, such as solar power and cogeneration, and contact the Town of Hull to discuss their model for wind power.
**Provide support (as required) for the Town transfer facility to help explore the pay-as-you-throw option.
**Take a regional approach by collaborating with other towns. Discuss and create energy polices that can be adopted by multiple towns via the MAPC.
**Research the City of Cambridge pilot program.