2010-01-13 Climate Advisory Committee Minutes

Home Browse Search

January 13, 2010 Reading Advisory Committee on Cities for Climate Protection Program Committee Notes for January 13, 2010. 7PM (Next Meeting - January 27 at Town Hall) Present were Ray Porter, Michele Benson, Tracy Sopchak, Gina Snyder, Dave Williams, Bing Nia, tRon, Taupier, Ron D'Addario, Joan Boegel and Stephanie Anderberg. L_?_ t Meeting opening -Chair Tracy Sopchak opened the meeting. J Minutes - The minutes of the December 16 meeting were approved. n Other Business to add to agenda - added energy stretch code and Earth Day event date. Exploring Water Stewardship Events: FYI -UU church is working with Ipswich River Watershed Association to hold a workshop series that may be of interest to the committee. John Rogers of the Union of Concerned Scientists will speak on water and climate. Gina, Dee and Tracy will also give presentations in this series. New Committee Name Discussion - the town doesn't use "advisory in our name so we should drop that in our version as well. We should just be "CCPC". A motion was made and passed. Copenhagen Climate Change Essay contests - Ron D suggested the idea of using an essay contest to reach out to school students and classes. Dave had met with Mary DeLai and is waiting for more information from her. There may be some confusion if we have multiple people contacting the schools and saying they are from the same committee, but Ron and Dave could work together. The essay contest project could start with a discussion group and could cover the topic of next steps after the recent climate conference in Copenhagen. If discussion groups with students are not possible, the essay contest could be an extracurricular activity. The committee discussed which classes could be linked to such a project, whether a library event could help, what the prizes could be or whether a scholarship might work. And which school contacts to start with (including whether to start in middle or high school). Committee Support of Al Gore's "Our Choice" - this topic was tabled due to the longer discussion on the essay contest agenda item. At the end of the meeting, this book was passed around and Ron mentioned that he is looking to start a discussion group. Action Item Yearly Goals Progress Reports - Residential Energy Efficiency/HEET.- Update on the first completed EMARC house: the second follow-up blower door test (after contractor work in the attic), as compared to the baseline,, did not yield the expected results. Upon further inspection, the attic work had not been completed to satisfaction and a large section was left uninsulated. This work was been completed but we do not yet have new blower door test results. In related news, a New England Grassroots Environmental Fund might possibly have grants to help us start our own HEET program - Joan is gathering information on this. Public outreach (RCTV): The first episode is in good shape and is currently 55 minutes. We need the final figure from blower door testing, and some quotes from team leaders and EMARC staff. Public outreach (GreenSense): the Green Sense team is working on a list of upcoming topics and looking for help in writing either some of the ideas we have or your own ideas. People can look at the list and see if they are interested in any topics. Public outreach/Earth Day fair - We selected April 10 as our event date. Reading Cares is still interested in the Bike Swap, but Ray is unavailable that day, so they would have to take ownership of the event. Tracy will send out invitations to vendors/display-ers soon, to get on their calendars. Community no-idling - Heard from Peter that he passed along the new guideline information to the police department, and he will put something on the selectmen's agenda. Some committee members will schedule a meeting with Peter to be sure we're on the same page. Benchmark update: Michele sent more data to Bing. Next, review software and begin data entry. Municipal Energy Efficient Buildings/Green Communities: Peter wrote back and RMLD has done a lot of work with this. Peter wants to look into MRET funds. RMLD has determined that we should be able to qualify as a Green Community without joining MRET. We wouldn't get the money, but there are other benefits to the designation.