Institute for Sustainable Energy
Board Meeting June 23, 2003

Members present:

Arthur Diedrick, Chairman of Development, Office of the Governor
Donald Downes, Chairman, Dept. of Public Utility Control
Richard Barredo, Chief Operating Officer, CEF
Dana Kubachka, Dept. of Public Utility Control – Representing D. Downes

Guests:

Dr. Michael Pernal, ECSU
Joel Rinebold
William Leahy
Laurel Kohl

Meeting called to order by Arthur Diedrick at 2:10 pm , quorum met.

Arthur Diedrick requested Advisory Board members consider the minutes of the May 6, 2003 meeting. Motion to accept by Richard Barredo, second by Dana Kubachka. Motion carried.

The Advisory Board considered information that was distributed to the members:

The Long Island Sound Energy Study that was published on June 3, 2003 . Members asked some questions about the information presented. Joel Rinebold provided members with comments on the reception that the report has received. It was noted that the reaction has been favorable to the report and the work of the Institute in coordinating the effort.

“On the Path to Sustainability” Conference set for October 27-28, 2003 . The objective of the conference is to create a consistent vision of sustainability and to provide attendees with instruction, tool and resources to develop sustainability and climate change action plans. Members supported the outline and suggested possible speakers and sponsors. William Leahy will work with Board members to invite Governor Rowland to speak on the first day. The Board encouraged Mr. Leahy to invite Senator Lieberman to speak at the conference as well.

EnergyStar Benchmarking Program. The Institute is Benchmarking the 20 Stamford Schools 32 schools in Hartford and the schools and public office buildings in Derby . William Leahy proposed Benchmarking the newly renovated Connecticut Innovations building, Arthur Diedrick accepted. The Advisory members suggested tying the Benchmarking to existing programs such as the Green Buildings. Arthur Diedrick suggested the possibility of the creation of bonding fund source such as the Brownfields program, with a revolving fund supported administratively with Conservation Fund seed monies. Under this type of “pay as you save” program, Towns could access guaranteed bond funds at low interest or zero interest rates to pay back conservation measures similar to what is done today with performance contracts. William Leahy stated that a similar program has been successful in New Hampshire , where the payments are made on the user's energy bill. The term of the loan and the monthly payment are set at levels less than the savings so that the town experiences a positive cash flow throughout the payment term. The Advisory Board suggested tying the program to the Connecticut Climate Change Action Plan – “Lead by Example”, as a way of producing measurable decreases in greenhouse gasses.

William Leahy told the Board that the Institute is in the discussion phase with the EPA to be the contractor for EnergyStar Benchmarking office for Connecticut 's area. If the “pay as you save” program described above utilized EnergyStar benchmarking as a prerequisite, it may have appeal to the EPA, who are actively looking for a model program in the Northeast.

Arthur Diedrick led a discussion of the scheduling of the next meeting. It was decided by consensus to plan the next meeting for 2 weeks after the Governor signs the state budget.

A motion was made by Donald Downes, seconded by Richard Barredo, to adjourn. Meeting adjourned at 2:53 pm .

Respectfully Submitted,
Laurel Kohl