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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-03-25-SLC-min Town of Lexington Sustainable Lexington Committee Minutes of Meeting of March 25, 2014 A meeting of the Sustainable Lexington Committee (SLC) was held on March 25, 2014 at Cary Hall. A quorum of four was present. Members Present: Mark Sandeen, Chair Todd Rhodes, Sheryl Rosner, Dan Voss Members Absent: Rick Abrams, Rick Reibstein Other Attendees: Joe Pato, Pasi Miettinen The meeting was called to order at 7:05 pm. Presentation by Sagewell (P. Mietteinen) Overview of trends in market-based energy efficiency Case studies Belmont: 15% of homes completed Home Energy Assessments (HEAs) in o 2013 Wellesley: 5% of homes signed up for HEAs in the first month o Proposal to create an “Efficiency Spot” for Lexington. The Sustainable Lexington Committee would need to set up a website and o work to drive traffic to the site. Sagewell would provide customer service to residents that access the site. Benefits: o One-stop-shop for energy efficiency services Sagewell would serve as an independent broker of services – not tied to any one provider. The committee agreed to get references from Wellesley, Westport, and o Belmont before committing to an agreement. There was general agreement that working with Sagewell would be valuable, but we would need a concrete understanding of what Sagewell will provide beyond the website Solar Task Force (D. Voss) The RFQs are coming back from potential suppliers. Six companies toured both the compost facility and the municipal buildings to gather information for the RFQs. Solarize Lexington (M. Sandeen) To date: 600 residents have expressed interest o 238 have had assessments o 18 have signed a contract for installation of panels o With 15 more contracts, the program would achieve Tier 5 pricing ($3.15/W) Page 1 of 2 Water (T. Rhodes) There were no updates on activities related to water. S. Rosner recommended that we review the MWRA contract to identify whether there would be money available from MWRA to support the feasibility assessment to determine whether Burlington could serve as a backup water supply. Green Communities (M. Sandeen) Funding is available for Green Communities projects. The ideas for potential projects included: Cogeneration system o Hybrid car for municipal use o Funding for the Climate Action Plan o Funding for HEA marketing o White/Green roofs o Repairing mid-life roofs to prepare them for installation of solar panels o Green Historic Buildings (M. Sandeen) The Historic District Commission (HDC) is supportive of working with the SLC to establish energy efficiency improvement guidelines for homes within the historic district. Next Step Living has been contacted, but are not interested in supporting this effort. The committee discussed what other communities have done with historic buildings: S. Rosner may have access to the Portsmouth report o M. Sandeen may be able to get a copy of the Boston report o D. Voss recommended that draft guidelines be developed and then hold an event with the HDC and residents of the historic district to promote the guidelines. Community Center (M. Sandeen) M. Sandeen described the recent changes being planned for the Community Center and identified that opportunities to improve the energy efficiency of the building are being missed. The committee discussed the early engagement is essential and that without other direction, the Department of Public Facilities and the Permanent Building Committee will build to standard. M. Sandeen recommended establishing a “Better Buildings Task Force” of members from the relevant departments and committees. He also announced plans for a “Better Buildings Community Conversation” meeting to be held on May 3. The committee discussed: Establishing incentives for commercial buildings (i.e., linking energy o efficiency implementation to TIFs). Establishing Task Force goals in June to have output to review in the fall. o The meeting adjourned at 9:00 pm Respectfully Submitted, Todd Rhodes, Scribe Page 2 of 2