Institute for Sustainable Energy
Board of Advisors

 

Board Meeting February 2, 2005

Members present:
Arthur Diedrick, Board Chairman
Shirley Bergert, Public Benefits Taskforce Director, CT Legal Services
John Mengacci, Undersecretary, Policy Dev. & Planning Division, OPM
Emily C. Smith, Managing Director, Government and Corporate Relations, CT Innovations

Guests: William Leahy, Associate Executive Director, ISE
Laurel Kohl, ISE, Acting Secretary

The meeting was called to order by Arthur Diedrick at 9:45 a.m.

Arthur Diedrick requested that Advisory Board members consider the meeting minutes of December 6, 2004. John Mengacci noted a change in his title. The minutes were amended and accepted as amended.

2004 Annual Report Draft
A draft copy of the ISE Annual report was presented to the Board by W. Leahy with a request that they forward any comments, suggested changes, or corrections to Laurel Kohl. The audience for the report will be legislators, agency heads and energy board members, potential grant funders, along with area universityleadership. 1000 copies will be printed.

2004 Budget
The ISE completed the 2004 calendar year $263,993 under budget, mostly due to changes in staffing levels and a delay in hiring of supplemental staff. The unspent money is held in the Foundation’s account at ECSU and is held separate from ECSU operating funds.

The ECMB philosophy for funds provided to ISE has changed over time from a set annual budget to a more goal-oriented budget. The Board discussed the implication of this change and the importance of following the mission and core activities of the ISE and not merely becoming a conservation contractor to the utilities. The 2005 budget is clearly tied to 4 program goals set in conjunction with the ECMB with work plans in place to support these goals and ongoing ISE projects initiated in 2004. At this time ECMB has budgeted $766,000 for the ISE for 2005. In addition, the Institute has received $45,000 in outside grants from OPM, EPA and CT GBC. Discussion of the Board led to the recommendation that ISE clearly state that the fund not expended from the 2004 budget be used to carry out further work on the 2004 projects that are not currently included in the 2005 goals and work plans developed with the ECMB. These projects include Roundtable discussions developed from the topics in the CEAB’s Connecticut Energy Plan; continuing to provide the benchmarking to Connecticut communities; and implementation of the Ct Climate Change Green Campus initiative.

Peer Exchange
A Peer Exchange for municipal officials was held in Fairfield in November sponsored by OPM, Rebuild America and ISE. Representatives attended from 16 southwestern CT towns of the 20 towns invited. Four mayors presented their successes with Conservation and Load Management project to an audience of 70. 2005 plans include replicating the Peer Exchange in other locations around the state, including New Haven, New London, Waterbury and Hartford. Discussions with John Ruckes of OPM indicate that these forums can be funded under existing state grant funds from DOE.

Connecticut Universities Coalition
Julie Newman of Yale and Rich Miller of UCONN, along with Bill Leahy and other campus sustainability leaders have undertaken an effort to build a Connecticut Coalition of Universities for a Sustainable Future. The goals of the organization will include adopting Green Campus strategies statewide, decreasing greenhouse gas emissions, and working with the UN Decade for Education in Sustainable Development. The next group meeting will be held in April with emphasis on student involvement. The state initiative is part of a regional effort that includes universities in New England, NY, PA, NJ and Eastern Canada. A regional meeting planned in Boston later in 2005.

High School Training Program Laurel Kohl has submitted grant proposals to support a Summer Academy to train High School teachers in Alternative Energy and Energy Efficiency. The grant is through the CT Department of Education. Programming would be held at ECSU and incorporate ECSU faculty and outside resource personnel. This effort is connected to the ISE goal to develop high school energy education programs for Connecticut.

CT-Energyinfo.com
ISE is working with a team headed by DPUC to develop a web site to feature the state-sponsored energy programs. More than 26 state agencies and suppliers are involved in providing these energy services. The website www.ct-energyinfo.com is operational and being tested.

CT High Performance Green Schools Initiative
ISE is working with CT Green Buildings Council and CT Clean Energy Fund, through grants from the Kendall Foundation and CCEF, to build a consensus within the Connecticut educational, health, environment and energy communities on High Performance standards for new school construction. This spring four to six stakeholder meetings will be held, interspersed with public meetings on the high performance school design topics. Stakeholders will include; educational leadership, health agency officials, building design professionals, community members and state and municipal officials. The final recommendations of the group will be made in a report by June 2005. A second phase of community outreach workshops is planned for fall. ISE is acting as facilitator for the spring meetings and the fall workshops.

Grants

3 summer education grants are awaiting award, including work with presentations about Alternative Energy and Genetics with ECSU staff, and an EPA grant for a pilot recycling program.

The ECSU fuel cell grant is still under-funded. The Board suggested approaching Rep. John Larson and investigating funding under CT DPW, as well as Homeland Security, and the Federal Office for Domestic Preparedness (Skip Thomas). It was suggested that a meeting be held with Mary Healy of the Consumer Counsels Office to talk with Commissioner Fleming.

 

The next ISE Board of Advisors meeting will be held on April 4.

A motion was made to adjourn by John Mengacci, and seconded by Shirley Bergert. Meeting was adjourned at 11:23 am.

 

Respectfully submitted,
Laurel Kohl
Acting Secretary