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Energy Action Committee
Town Hall, 1-26-10, 1910
Vern Larkin (VL), Pam Harty (PaH)
Paul Heanue (PH), Otto Harling (OH)
- There were 2 people in the audience who are from Linden Ponds. Linden Ponds has an energy committee who is considering getting a wind turbine installed there. PaH reviews Hingham’s “wind turbine history” for them. A request was made for documentation, re. wind study
- PaH: passes out minutes
OH: motion to accept minutes
PaH: second
All in favor: unanimous
- discussion starts on what we found when checking other town’s energy action committee activities
PH: I spoke to an Alan Peterson who is a Town employee on their committee. He described some of the activities they’ve accomplished around making Town buildings more energy efficient: lighting, replacing less energy efficient appliances, etc... . They is actually him in his role as a Town employee in their facilities area.
They have applied to receive grant and Grid money to install large (I didn’t get out of him how large but so large to fill an entire roof) photovoltaic panels. They’ve applied to receive Green Communities status. There is no wind by-law but the committee is discussing one. They are going into a performance management program. Siemens and Johnson controls have submitted bids. They did not secure a “project manager” like we are in the process of doing. They have made the town’s energy bills available for people to view on-line. The thinking was that perhaps department heads would want to show they have taken steps to reduce usage. They have a fairly robust web site (http://www.townofpembrokemass.org/energycommittee.html )
I never heard back from Rockland’s Energy Committee but they have a web site.
(http://rockland-ma.gov/Boards&Committees/brd&comm_Energy.asp )
I’ll check Pembroke’s by-law on muni-bldgs meeting LEED standards (http://www.townofpembrokemass.org/ATM%20Energy%20Reduction%20Article.htm ), “All new construction and major renovations shall meet the Mass LEED Plus green building standard established by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Sustainable Design Roundtable.”
PaH: reports on Marshfield’s activities (some of the details came from their web site), through a partnership w/ NSTAR (a pilot program, Marshfield was selected because an NSTAR VP lives there) over 1200 homes (of about 9000 homes) and 100 businesses of about (800 businesses) have had energy audits and implemented energy efficiency measures (or will shortly), over 30 Marshfield residences have had photo-voltaic solar panels (PV) installed – a record in Massachusetts, significant PV systems will be installed at two Marshfield commercial facilities, high efficiency lighting has been installed in seven schools and town buildings, 3 PV systems have been installed or will be installed on town facilities, over 500 students have participated in our ‘Energy Pursuit’ or ‘Energy Wizard’ school programs. A performance mgmnt program is in the offing: an RFQ application for an Energy Savings Contract (ESCO) was approved by the MA Department of Energy Resources in September 2009. A warrant to transfer $62,240 for an energy audit was approved at a Town Meeting. A Green Communities application was approved by the Board of Selectmen and submitted to the Department of Energy Resources. www.marshfieldenergy.org launched - This Web site was developed to keep the community informed about the activities, events and accomplishments of the Marshfield Energy Committee. The energy committee funds and Dr. George Cicchetti maintains and updates the site. The official minutes are kept on the Virtual Town Hall web site at: townofmarshfield.org.
OH: made numerous calls to a Dick Miller w/ no return calls, Holbrook has no Energy Committee, no luck hearing from Newton but will continue there
VL: didn’t hear back from Scituate, spoke to a Bob Luongo who works for the Town of Weymouth, $480k in grants for Town around energy efficiency programs, he was well versed in various programs and $$$s that are out there, will speak to us if we’d like, no standing committee
PaH: I’ll revisit requirements for a Town to receive Green Community Act status, will check in w/ Seth Pickering, Green Community (DOER) Coordinator to see if he’s available to speak to us. I’ll check to see what level of $$$ savings can one expect to see if the “stretch building code” is adopted. I’ll check to see what communities have adopted the “stretch building code” and have been designated a Green Community.
PH: I’ll check to see what sort of historical data is out there w/ bldg dept, re. new & rehab construction permits.
VL: I’ll check some other towns (Brookline, Lincoln, Lexington, etc….) to see what sorts of things their Energy Committees have done
OH (??): will check for installed costs of photo voltaic panels and will check on IR camera’s availability
items for next months meeting: Green Community Act, update on HMLP board mtg and adoption of a MTC type fund, everyone will come with 3 goals for committee, discuss “pods” as described in email from Judeth Van Hamm
next meeting dates: 2-23, 3-23, 4-27.
meeting adjourned @ 2100
future meeting dates: 2-23, 3-23, 4-27