HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012-03-27-SLC-minTown of Lexington
Sustainable Lexington Committee
Minutes of Meeting of March 27, 2012
A meeting of the Sustainable Lexington Committee (SLC) was held on March 27, 2012
at Town Hall. A quorum of four was present.
Members Present: Mark Sandeen, Chair
Rick Abrams, Ken Moraff, Todd Rhodes
Members Absent: None
Other Attendees: George Burnell
Dan Voss
The meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm.
• Meeting minutes from February 28, 2012 and March 22, 2012 were approved.
• Mr. Sandeen offered to continue to coordinate with the Energy Committee regarding
the new Estabrook School building and opportunities for installing solar on the roof
and improving the building envelope.
• The committee discussed how best to remain aware of proposed capital projects so
that we can make recommendations related to sustainability and resilience early in the
project planning process. Recommendations included attending meetings of the
Conservation Commission and the Energy Committee.
• Mr. Moraff identified that he and Mr. Rhodes were planning to meet with John
Livesy (Engineering), Karen Mullins (Conservation) and Maryann McCall - Taylor
(Planning) to discuss opportunities to implement "Green Infrastructure ", where
appropriate, to resolve storm water problems. Mr. Sandeen recommended that key
points in the discussion should include how the Town can reduce the impact of
extreme storms, flooding, and Town/residential budget impacts.
• Better Buildings:
o The committee discussed /reviewed the video prepared by a group in Acton to
encourage residents to get IR images of their homes through Sagewell. They were
able to create a sense of urgency (e.g., "sign up now to get your home scanned" as
opposed to "your house has already been scanned, go to this site to see the
results ").
o The committee discussed the opportunity to have local PTAs and other non-
profits encourage residents /members to sign up for NextStepLiving (NSL) home
energy assessments (HEAs) as part of a fund raiser. NSL's non -profit program
would provide the groups with $10 per completed HEA.
■ Mr. Rhodes offered to contact PTA leaders at Bridge and Clarke to see if there
would be interest in such a program.
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• Mr. Abrams offered to contact his Temple and the Citizens for Lexington
Conservation (CLC).
• Mr. Sandeen offered to contact the League of Women Voters and GWAC.
• NSL is planning to implement a "home commissioning" program. NSL would
conduct regular work on a home and their fee would be tied to demonstrated
energy savings.
• Mr. Abrams reported on a meeting that he and Mr. Sandeen had with Lee Cook at
Capco (a plumbing supply distributor). He was very knowledgeable about the
range of approaches that homeowners can take to improve the efficiency of their
heating systems, and since he does not sell directly to homeowners his
recommendations represent general plumbing /electrical solutions and do not
directly promote his company's business. He has created videos to promote
energy efficiency in the past. We could work with LexMedia to create videos of
Mr. Cook providing recommendations and "how to" advice. The show "LexGo"
may be willing to add an interview to part of their program
■ Mr. Abrams offered to speak with Mr. Lee about making the videos.
o The committee discussed the potential role of social media in promoting energy
efficiency. Mr. Voss described a group, "Q- Energy ", that using social marketing
to compare energy use, create communities, and provide users with a dashboard
of performance and recommendations for improvement. Another site mentioned
was Mint.com.
• For a potential article, Mr. Rhodes offered to summarize the aggregate energy use
data collected from NSTAR and National Grid.
The meeting adjourned at 9:00 pm
Respectfully Submitted,
Todd Rhodes, Scribe
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