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HomeMy WebLinkAboutJuly 18 Environmental Initiatives Committee Meeting Minutes DATE: Monday, July 18, 2005 TIME: 7:30 p.m. LOCATION: 26379 Fremont Road Los Altos Hills New Town Hall Council Chamber AGENDA 1. Call to Order, Roll Call, selection of secretary, and Pledge of Allegiance Attendees: P. Evans (chair), committee members B. Kerr, C. Jones, I. Earnest, J. Shideler, M. Jensen, W. Wilson, R. Reddy, P. Duxbury; member of the public and prospective member J. Harpootlian, Henri Louie (town engineer), Joel Bahu (town hall property manager). 2. Discussion -- Environmental Initiatives Committee Objectives and Timetable Craig: Promote energy efficiency, gain public input on town energy initiatives, tap town residents’ expertise. Implement a solar mandate, and apply efficiency measures identified and employed by town to residents. The committee should develop proposals that lead, and not shoot too low. The committee should set as a goal to implement a residential efficiency ordinance by the end of the year – one that taps emerging technology and recognizes that energy prices are going nowhere but up due to global demand. Jay: Education, especially energy efficiency. People aren’t aware of what can be done, but they want to be. The committee could set new standards; the present standards are not demanding enough. There are local environmental issues for the committee to be aware of, such as the visual impacts of roof-mounted and tracking PV systems. Raj: Increase awareness of existing energy educational resources. Prepare a newsletter or other communications. Peter: Increase awareness of energy use of proposed projects. Most clients don’t have a clue about their buildings’ energy use. Clients’ desired building designs are often inappropriate for this climate. Les: Help people know more and look more closely at their energy use. Builders don’t care about energy efficiency, but might if they knew more. People need limits on reasonable energy consumption. Breene: Help the town achieve its energy (electricity, fuel and water) use objectives. Develop an ordinance for residential energy efficiency. Walt: Education. Let’s not reinvent the wheel; we can learn from examples like the Portola Valley checklist and the Marin Co. energy efficiency ordinance. Mark: Propose an efficiency ordinance, the sooner the better. John: Education. What the committee recommends must appeal to the public. We need to bring residents along. Let’s not forget about water. [Kelly Pope was not at the meeting, but provided the following after the meeting by email: * The committee should set some educated guidelines related to energy consumption targets for the town. The EIC should create some "town goals" and through an education campaign, make reaching the target a community effort. Also, residents could do a simple calculation like we have done to determine their energy consumption per sq ft. Create goals around lowering this number for residents. * Related to above, EIC could imitate a competition with another community re: energy savings (maybe Palo Alto?) * EIC should sponsor a survey that goes to all town residents. The survey would be similar to the PG&E survey about appliances, windows, lighting, etc. Publish survey results and calculate energy savings if energy efficient items were used. Depending on result, work with specific vendors to offer discounts on energy saving upgrades. The survey can be online or in hardcopy form at the town hall and/or in the local paper. * Provide educational resources at town hall for new home builders/remodelers re: energy conservation. Ensure that guidelines are provided and methods clear for achieving. * Advocate solar initiatives developed at state level - ensure incentives are clear. * Are there any official town vehicles? If so, create plan with timeline to migrate towards hybrid vehicles. * What about the Post Office? EIC could create a pilot program with the LA Post Office to use the GEM truck, or some other clean vehicle. Create project goals and publicize results and savings. * The committee should tackle recycling and water usage also. ] 3. PV/Energy Efficiency Ordinance The committee discussed the desirable attributes of an efficiency ordinance, as avoiding extraordinary energy use, reasonable cost to implement, able to influence design, permit flexibility and alternatives, be achievable and enforceable. Compliance should not reduce MFA (there is never enough). Ian agreed to further research the Marin energy efficiency ordinance, including lessons learned. Breene reported that PG&E will implement an “EnergyStar Home” program for residential buildings in 2006 with a standard of 25% reduction in energy consumption relative to Title 24. This program could be a source of compliance funds. The committee agreed to move ahead on an ordinance that requires a 25% reduction in energy consumption relative to Title 24 requirements based on a site-specific simulation. The reduction could be achieved through any combination of energy efficiency measures or installation of on-site renewable power generation, especially photovoltaic. The committee agreed to ask the council for a study session in September and to lead that with a piece in the upcoming town newsletter. The committee agreed that we need to develop further information on the cost to comply with such a requirement and the value of the benefits. We also need to better benchmark best practices and work on our message for community education.