HomeMy WebLinkAboutJanuary 13ENVIRONMENTAL INITIATIVES COMMITTEE
Regular Meeting Minutes
Date: January 13, 2022
1.Attendees:
a.Vrinda, Pat, Anand, Steve, Srini, April
b.Peter Pirnejad, Jay Shideler, Melane Jacobson (ID360)
2.Call to Order (roll call)
3.Approval of Minutes of the meetings on Dec.9, 2021: Approved as written (unanimous; Steve
moved, Pat seconded)
4.Agenda Review: Approved
5.Presentation by Melanie Jacobson from ID 360 to discuss the 2022 Green Building and Energy
Reach Code
a.Peter introduced Melanie; Peter spoke with Girish (SVCE), and had worked with ID 360
at Palo Alto on Reach codes, water conservation and Green building. Need to renew
Reach codes by January. Need to scope out a community engagement process to figure
out how far we can go with Reach code.
b.Steve: Lots of background on Reach codes vs other incentives.... bringing Peter &
Melanie up to speed
i.Vrinda: We're focused on incentives, not mandates;
ii.Steve: Reach codes for retrofits have not yet been successful in other places.
c.ID360 sustainability consulting firm, focused on local governments in northern CA ,
based in Menlo Park, women owned business;
i.implement sustainability visions, policy development, Education & Outreach
ii. Policy compliance support –streamlining programs, staff improvements
iii.Custom solutions and educations and outreach
iv.Customers: Palo Alto, Foster City, San Mateo City, SSF, San Luis Obispo,
Menlo Park
v.Experience with permit streamlining. Use of analytics to predict. Educating
homeowners on the process…
vi.Statewide survey: CAPs are developed well, but hard to implement. Designing
mapping activities required by CAP to the organizational chart. They do staff
training, etc. Intelligent management strategy for implementation of CAP.
vii.Melanie not involved in MP CAP, nor Palo Alto's Home GENIE service.
d.Peter: Mandates are best, but may not yet be politically viable. Let us think outside the
box. LAH can be a leader in this. We should consider "soft" building code
changes–create panel capacity, conduit, and a gray water system at different times in the
building life.
e.Jay: Education is key! Is a HPWH cheaper than a gas? What rate is best? Etc.
f.April : Just went through two water heaters –the market offers gas water heaters the
electric ones are hard to find, the offerings are few and it takes effort to find the electric
ones, availability is an issue, can’t wait for 6 weeks.
g.Anand : Here is the information
https://www.paloaltoonline.com/blogs/p/2021/10/17/using-heat-pump-specs-to-answer-
your-common-sense-questions
h.Steve: Depends on the rate, TOU and many other issues.
i.Srini: What results so far? Melanie: Making programs resilient to staff changes.
j.NEXT STEP: EIC CAP subcommittee will start to draft scope of work for each of the 4
community measures in the CAP. Invite Peter to our meetings!
i.Need new GHG inventories!
6.Jay to Peter: Greenwaste contract... Jay will email Peter.
7.Report on the Council meeting regarding objectives for 2022.
8.Topics of Interest /Open Discussion
a.Water Inventory by Water subcommittee? (Srini, Vrinda, Jolie?)
b.Anand- Purisima has a subcommittee working on conservation. This subcommittee
should talk to that subcommittee. About the inventory
i.Keep it simple! Monthly water use from both commercial and residential, from
PHWD and CalWater
ii.Do the inventory this year and a reach code next year–that will be huge.
iii.Get it once per year, and start tracking changes
iv.Email from Oscar-Town has switched to biodiesel and so has Purissima Water
district. Purissima is on PG&E and working on moving to SVCE
9.Next EIC meeting: Mar 10, 2022 at 6:30pm
10.Adjournment