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Town of Lexington
Sustainable Lexington Committee
Minutes of Meeting of September 24, 2013
A meeting of the Sustainable Lexington Committee (SLC) was held on September 24,
2013 at the Town Hall. A quorum of four was present.
Members Present: Mark Sandeen, Chair
Todd Rhodes, Dan Voss, Sarah Wilson
Members Absent: Rick Abrams, Rick Reibstein
Other Attendees: Leonard Morse-Fortier, Joe Pato, George Burnell
The meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm.
The minutes from the July and August meetings were approved.
Better Buildings Program
Residential Program update:
725 Home Energy Assessments (HEAs) completed
251 weatherizations signed up, 247 completed
Total Climate Control (TCC) Program update:
65 scheduled, 32 completed, 4 signed up
The committee discussed potential causes of the low conversion rate.
Potential Energy Efficiency Promotions:
Next Step Living (NSL) is looking for input on how to structure a fund raiser for a
PTA where the PTA would receive a donation from NSL for each member that
works with NSL on an energy efficiency project (e.g., $10/HEA, $25/TCC,
$50/Solar). Mr. Rhodes offered to contact Leslie Zales to begin discussions.
Mr. Sandeen offered to contact the Boys Scouts to see if they could run a similar
program as part of their Christmas wreath program.
Sagewell is planning run a door-hanger program that references the Sustainable
Lexingtion Committee.
Stretch Energy Code
The Committee unanimously agreed to recommend to the Selectmen that they send a
letter to the Governor to release the updated Stretch Energy Code 9HERS 65).
Commercial Program
Mr. Sandeen will meet with the Economic Development Advisory Committee
(EDAC) regarding a DOER audit program. DOER is offering free Level 2 energy
audits to commercial facilities that are interested in the program.
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In addition, Mr. Sandeen will update EDAC on the PACE (Property Assessed Clean
Energy) program and discuss sending a letter to the Governor and legislator to
support the PACE program. The Committee unanimously agreed to draft the letter for
the Selectmen to consider.
Mr. Rhodes reported that a letter is being finalized that will be sent to small
businesses in Lexington to promote the commercial version of the Mass Save
program that is administered by NSTAR and implemented by AECOM. The letters
should go out in the next few weeks.
Building Energy Reporting Ordinance
Mr. Sandeen reported that the City of Boston is establishing an ordinance where
residential properties of 4+ units and commercial properties are required to report
building energy performance to support benchmarking activities.
The Committee discussed how such a program could be implemented in Lexington
and discussed that voluntary program could be considered first before moving toward
an ordinance.
Climate Action Plan
The work conducted this past summer focused on activities and programs that would
support climate change mitigation. Additional work needs to be conducted that
focuses on adaptation.
The Committee discussed the need to bring in stakeholders (including Town Staff) to
identify what actions they could take to support goals and objectives in the Climate
Action Plan.
Mr. Sandeen presented information on the Social Cost of Capital tool that could help
to monetize the impact of decisions on the climate. Such a tool could help Town Staff
consider the climate impact of procurement activities such as the purchase of energy,
road construction/repair, etc. The Committee discussed that it would be valuable to
make the tool available to staff to use and work with early adopters to determine how
it can best be applied.
Anaerobic Digester
The Committee discussed what its role should be with respect to the RFP and other
discussions related to the proposed anaerobic digester. The discussions led to the
decision that the CommitteeÈs role should focus on raising questions that we'd like to
have answered as part of the RFP process.
The meeting adjourned at 9:00 pm
Respectfully Submitted,
Todd Rhodes, Scribe
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