HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011-01-25-SLC-minTown of Lexington
Sustainable Lexington Committee
Minutes of Meeting of January 25, 2011
A meeting of the Sustainable Lexington Committee (SLC) was held on January 4, 2011
in the Legion Meeting Room, Cary Hall. The full committee was present.
Members Present: Mark Sandeen, Chair
Rick Abrams, Ken Moraff, Todd Rhodes
Guests: George Burnell
Paul Chernick
The meeting was called to order at 7:05 pm.
Minutes from 1/3/11 meeting were approved as amended
Mr. Moraff reviewed the list of actions from the last meeting and assigned the following
responsibilities:
1. Assess proposed stormwater regulations: T. Rhodes
2. Contact other towns and UNH regarding implementation of stormwater
management technologies: K. Moraff will create a list and delegate tasks.
3. Talk with Planning Board: K. Moraff and T. Rhodes
Mr. Sandeen discussed efforts to begin communicating Committee activities with the
community. Specifically, he presented a draft of an article addressing the trend toward
increased frequency of high- intensity rainstorms.
• G. Burnell recommended that any published articles should focus on being
informative.
Options for publishing the article are The Minuteman and The Colonial Times.
The Minuteman is a weekly, but is more expensive, article length is limited, and
the editorial staff choose the headline. while The Colonial Times is only
published monthly, that can be a benefit since it often stays in the home longer. In
addition, The Colonial Times is distributed to every home, while The Minuteman
is sold by subscription.
Any article that is published should then be posted on to the SLC website.
Mr. Sandeen reported on his meeting Paul Eldrenkamp, of Byggmeister. Mr. Eldrenkamp
said that he would be happy to appear in videos energy efficient building approaches.
Other builders could be recruited to support energy efficient building and sign a pledge to
implement energy efficient solutions.
• G. Burnell recommended that the SLC ensure that it maintains ownership rights to
any videos that are produced. He suggested that we discuss this opportunity with
Peter Kelly and /or Jonathon Himmel to address any concerns related to the
perception of recommending builders and the control of videos.
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Mr. Sandeen also met with Mark McMinn at LexMedia to discuss the process for
producing videos. Mr. McMinn recommended that short segments could be produced and
included as part of existing LexMedia programs. LexMedia staff could help to storyboard
a few segments.
• G. Burnell identified that in his experience, the LexMedia staff will provide the
needed equipment and train you to use it. It is then your job to film and edit the
segment.
• The Committee discussed to potential to engage students from Minuteman Tech
to help with the production.
Mr. Rhodes summarized a presentation that he and Mr. Sandeen attended at MIT. The
presenter was Michael Blasnick, an independent energy consultant and member of the
National Weatherization Program. The recommendations from his presentation included:
• Focus on the worst homes (e.g., "gushers ", "hot spots ")
• Analyzing energy bills is the easiest way to find those homes
• An "average" home in the Boston area should be able to reduce energy
consumption by 20% to 30%.
• Plug -loads are also important factors (e.g., plasma TVs, second refrigerators, etc.)
Mr. Sandeen presented the proposal received from NextStep Living (NSL). Several
questions were raised:
• What are the differences between the services provided by NSL and MassSave?
• How is the handoff managed when NSL identifies issues outside of their scope
(e.g., old appliances, furnaces /boilers, etc.) and how can we ensure that those
issues are resolved?
With the answers to these questions, the committee plans to vote on the proposal
at the February meeting.
Mr. Sandeen reported on his meeting with Pasi Miettinen at Sagewell. A key element of
the Sagewell offering is that they take IR photographs of buildings to identify highly -
inefficient homes. For Sagewell to provide that service to the town of Lexington (with
about 135 miles of roads), the fee would be about $20 /house. The Committee discussed
the potential to purchase an IR camera and take the IR photos ourselves, if we determine
that having the IR photographs would be needed to identify "gushers ".
Mr. Sandeen identified that while the PACE program is hung up for residential
properties, but that it can still be applied to commercial properties. That type of funding
could also be funded by Commercial Banks.
• G. Burnell recommended that we contact Jeff Lyons (W.H. Lyons Real Estate) to
get his impressions of the value of such a program.
The meeting adjourned at 9:00 pm.
Respectfully Submitted,
Todd Rhodes, Scribe
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