HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010-05-11-ECC2-min
MEETING MINUTES
Board/Committee Name: Energy Conservation Committee.
Date, Time and Location of Meeting:
Room 221, Public Service Building, Bedford Street
6:00 PM May 11, 2010
These minutes of the March meeting were approved by a
quorum of the ECC members in attendance.
In attendance:
Steve Kropper, Chair
Shawn Newell, Assistant Director, Public Facilities
Prabir Maulik
Pat Goddard, Director, Department of Public Facilities
Bill Hadley, Director, Department of Public Works
Roger Borghsani
Paul Chernick
Joe Musacchia, Secretary
Visiting
Swapnil Shah, iBLogix
Beth Zonis, Eco Marketing LLC
Absent:
Hank Manz, Liaison to Board of Selectmen
Christopher Haines
Tom Griffiths, Member
Ravi Sakhuja
Jeff Nestel-Patt
Anthony Galaitsis
Big Belly Solar
The first units are expected to be installed in May. 2 units will be in
the center, 2 at Lincoln field, 2 at the town pool and 3 at the High
School. The HDC is expected to provide input on these deployments.
Senior Housing Question
A proposal is needed to convert from electric heat in the town senior
housing. Stimulus funding and an energy efficiency subsidy are
expected to help fund a conversion to gas. The head of the housing
authority will be invited to the next ECC meeting to discuss this issue.
Biomass site
Two companies are interested in providing biomass energy services to
the town. Their services rely on collection of food waste, but they will
need space for their processing facilities. Bill Hadley will provide
details to the ECC. It is anticipated that their services can provide the
equivalent of 2500 homes worth of power in Lexington. To make
these proposals feasible there are incentives that are only available if
ground is broken before the end of the year.
iBLogix presentation
Swapnil Shah of iBLogix made a presentation on his company. iBLogix
provides benchmarking services which proactively identify the highest
potential opportunities for energy efficiency improvements in a
collection of commercial buildings. These metrics are targeted to be of
much higher detail and utility than typical NSTAR audits, but slightly
lower detail than investment grade ratings. The methodology depends
on collecting a number of typically available building usage, energy
usage and building dimension statistics, and supplementing them with
a simple survey questionnaire. The “secret sauce” is a series of
models developed and previously evaluated against known building
profiles. An initial report ranks the portfolio of buildings according to
their expected ROI for energy improvement efforts. This service is
being offered to Lexington at no cost as part of a trial pilot program.
In return, Lexington is expected to act as a reference account for
iBLogix’s. It was noted that all data collected is made anonymous and
will not be attributable to Lexington or any other customer.
The Public Facilities department expressed an interest in receiving a
scope of services proposal. Based on that they will determine if the
cost of participation is within their staffing. To support this effort it is
anticipated that NSTAR interval data will likely be provided for the use
of iBLogix.
Energy Reduction Plan
The Public Facilities department has created an energy reduction plan
required for application for Green Communities Certification. A copy
was circulated to the ECC for its review and comment. It was noted
that the format was mandated by DOER and might be changed as
DOER reviews submissions from Lexington and other towns. The
application was required to be submitted by 14-May.
Green Difference Awards
Beth Zonis has been active in publicizing the Green Difference Awards
program. One of the goals of this program is to recognize
achievements by schools and students in energy conservation It was
suggested that Beth contact Robert Bowdoin for his contacts with the
school system.
Election of new ECC Chairman
After two years of stalwart and exceptional service as the Chairman of
the Energy Conservation Committee, Steve Kropper has asked to
stand down. The committee is very grateful for Steve’s efforts. Steve
intends to remain an active member of the committee, and we look
forward to his continued contributions and guidance. The committee
elected Joe Musacchia as the new chairman, and Prabir Maulik to
replace Joe as the secretary.
Additional Information
DPW: http://ci.lexington.ma.us/dpw/departmentofpublicworks.cfm
DPF: http://ci.lexington.ma.us/deptofpublicfacilities.cfm
Next meeting will be on Wednesday, June 9 at 6:00pm, Room 221 of
the Public Services Building
Adjourned: 7:30 PM
Steve Kropper, Chair
Joe Musacchia, Secretary