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Institute for Sustainable Energy Board of Advisors Board Meeting: August 6, 2007
Members present: Arthur Diedrick, Board Chairman Bob Wall, Director, Energy Market Initiatives, Connecticut Clean Energy Fund Donald Downes, Chairman, DPUC John Mengacci, Undersecretary, Policy Development & Planning Division, OPM
Staff: William Leahy, Director of Operations, ISE Laurel Kohl, ISE, Acting Secretary
Guests: Michael Pernal, Executive Vice President, Eastern Connecticut State University
The meeting was called to order by Arthur Diedrick at 10:11am.
The minutes of the June 4, 2007 ISE Board of Advisors meeting were presented. 2 minor corrections were made. A motion was made by John Mengacci and seconded by Bob Wall to accept the minutes as corrected. The motion carried.
The board discussed the changes in the board structure initiated at the June meeting and the rationale behind the change. ECMB had requested representation on the ISE board, as they have been one of the primary funders of ISE activities. Rick Steeves, as Chair of the ECMB, will serve on the ISE board. A second position representing the business community was discussed by the board with suggestions given on possible candidates. This position is designed to be a business person with experience in energy issues, possibly an energy manager or representative of an energy service company, a representative from a large corporation, or a director for a business organization. Leahy will bring recommendation to the board once a candidate has been identified.
2007 ISE Budget
Leahy presented the updated 2007 budget. A number of new opportunities have been identified by ISE since spring 2007. The ECMB’s budget line for ISE still remains at $296,000. This could have been increased to $425,000 if full funding were restored to the CEEF as promised in PA 07-242. The ECMB has not received this funding yet and does not expect the funding to be restored until either January 2008 or maybe even May 2008.
Bill reviewed the other opportunities for potential project funding, presenting high and low estimates for anticipated revenue. Two project estimates, K-12 School Training and 1-877-WISE USE) await program review by the ECMB Education Committee, their recommendation to the DPUC. ISE’s has adjusted the project timelines for launching those projects in late 2007. Estimated expenditures reflect that much of the work will be done in 2008 with planning and program design compressed in the four remaining months of the 2007.
K-12 School Energy Training ISE had been directed by DPUC to create a Building Operators Course for K-12 school maintenance personnel. This training program will be designed specifically for school maintenance personnel and will be held in their school districts in classes of no more than 30 participants, held in half day session weekly over a six week period. ISE anticipates holding 10 to 12 sections taught per year for two years. Participants will include school maintenance managers, tradesmen and maintenance staff. Participating schools would be benchmarked first using Energy Star Portfolio Manager, to provide a pre-course view of the district’s building energy use, efficiency and potential for savings opportunities. This course will be modeled on the Oregon BOC training which costs $1200-1400 per person. The board was very excited by this opportunity and suggested that ISE explore marketing the program to area states. Stamford and Trumbull have volunteered to hold the first regional workshops this fall.
Arthur Diedrick asked for a detailed cost and roll-out plan for the schools training project for the next meeting of the board. It was pointed out that ISE will need to add staffing to cover all the program deliverables. It is anticipated that ISE will need to hire some specialty instructors under Personal Services Agreements. Bill Leahy will discuss this with Michael Pernal, who is the personnel director at Eastern.
www.CTEnergyInfo.com / 1-877-WISE USE The ctenergyinfo portal site is administered by ISE at the request of and with input from the staff of the DPUC. The site connects users to 60 different energy related websites developed by agencies, organizations and energy related departments of state and federal government. New features include energy news, and a calendar of energy related events. The site was launched in February with about 1000 users the first month. In July, more than 2500 new users logged on to the site. Average time on site is less than 30 seconds, indicating that they are finding the information that they need and connecting with that energy program. In late July and August the site is being promoted on TV and radio, and in bill stuffer advertisement. The DPUC would like to tie the site to the energy information initiative utilizing the 1-877-WISEUSE phone line. The plan is to capture frequently asked questions and add that information to the website. Eventually we will be able to answer most questions by directing callers to information on the site. The board suggested developing a story or press release about this for the news media. There is a need for include more non-electric energy information and links, including; gas, oil, and green building questions. It was pointed out that UI has developed a home energy utilization page for their customers that help them to find energy efficiency solutions for their homes. It is hoped that CL&P will follow UI’s lead on this.
Biofuel The OPM budget implementer bill passed in the 2007 legislative session named ISE to develop a public outreach program on Biofuel. This project includes $100,000 in funding. Outreach will include conducting a survey to determine the amount of available yellow grease in Connecticut, where it is used or transported now, and what can be done to facilitate turning it into biodiesel fuel stock. Workshops will be held to encourage fleet managers to use B20. Many are now using B20 in diesel vehicles. The state imports B100 from the Midwest at a cost of 20-25% more than regular diesel cost. This fuel is mixed for biofuel applications in state, including B5 or B10 heating oil, and B20 vehicle fuel. Although biofuels are more expensive than regular diesel or #2 heating oil, the fuels burns cleaner and has lower maintenance cost and emissions.
“Cool It” Climate Challenge ISE had been asked to administer the middle school and high school “Cool It” Climate Challenge student contest. This program is starting its second year. Thirty school groups participated last year in the project which is primarily funded by the Emily Tremaine Foundation. Clean Air-Cool Planet had administered the contest last year. The second year phase will ask participating groups from the first year to take plans developed last year and implement them and measure the environmental benefit. In addition, a new first year groups will begin to create Greenhouse Gas reduction plans for their schools. ISE will receive at least $30,000 annually to manage the contest. Total budget for the year is $70,000 to $85,000. The contest dovetails nicely with ISE’s CTEnergyEducation program and our work with school in the Green Schools Initiative.
Linking Education Programs Leahy shared a handout outlining the various education related activities of ISE. He said that we finds that much of our work is starting to overlap audiences and missions, with the CTEnergyEducation, Green Campus, K-12 School Energy Training, Cool-It, and now the HP Schools Initiative. This should make it easier to define our role of supporting energy education in the state.
20% by 2020 OPM contracted with ISE to conduct a survey and produce the database that tracks the state’s compliance with the 20% renewable energy by 2020 initiative. Little tracking has been completed on renewables in state facilities and transportation to-date. In addition to the Class 1 renewables listed in the original Executive Order, new sources have been added, including solar thermal, biofuel, and alternative fueled vehicles. ISE will be paid $21,000 for their work on this project.
Report to the ECMB, 2nd Quarter Reports Highlights for the first half of the year were given to the board:
High Performance Schools Legislation The changes related to this legislation were discussed by the board. The incremental cost adder of 2% was removed by the legislation. CCEF and CEEF will support some design costs and the electric savings measures’ incremental costs. The Public Act mandates the use of LEED Silver or equivalent building design standards for new schools and renovations. This building level requires specific design work and commissioning that adds 10% to the design cost and 2% to the overall project cost. Estimates are that LEED Gold level adds 10% to base and normally includes adding renewable energy sources to projects. A committee, headed by OPM, is reviewing available standards, including LEED, CHPs, and Green Globes and developing the Regulations. ISE serves on the committee. The legislation applies to all new school construction of $5 million or more in CT that receive 25% or more funding from the state, and renovations of $2 million or more. Currently 12-15 new schools are built each year in CT.
CCEF’s HP Schools Program Bob Wall explained the new HP Schools Program that has just been approved by the CT Clean Energy Fund board. This program will help to improve CT schools, with a goal of installing PV on two to four new schools and to leverage available funds to bring down the cost to towns for these projects. CCEF has named ISE as the coordinator of the “circuit rider” outreach effort for the program with a budget of $300,000 over 3 years. CCEF will also provide targeted technical assistance to 5 pilot towns, including; large, small, and regional schools; a magnet school, and a votech school. Seminars will be provided and NREL will provide analysis and case studies of the projects. The project will also co-fund a staff position which may be employed at the State Department of Education to facilitate project implementation.
Energy Partners Don Downes discussed the Energy Partners option as a possible funding source for initiative. This program funds demonstration projects that show that technologies actually works and can translated into new business markets in the state.
Relocation of ISE offices With the reopening of the Student Center on the Eastern Campus, ISE will be moving from its Main Street office of 5 years up to the former Unity Center, a house on High Street on the campus. This will place us closer to the campus and allow students improved access during the day. It is expected that we will move by Thanksgiving 2007 once the renovations, painting and wiring are complete.
NECHP Conference Bill Leahy reported that ISE hosted the Northeast Combined Heat and Power Annual Conference, attended by 150 at UCONN in June. Don Downes provided the keynote speech, with talks by other state officials, including DPUC Commissioner Ann George, DEP’s Chris James.
Next meeting of the ISE Board will be held on Monday, October 1, 2007
A motion was made by John Mengacci, and seconded by Don Downes to adjourn. Motion carried at 11:35 am.
Respectfully submitted, Laurel Kohl Acting Secretary
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