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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016-01-13 Climate Advisory Committee Minutesorx Town of Reading Meeting Minutes RECEIVED op,oa TOWN CLERK READING, MASS. IC Board - Committee - Commission - Council: Climate Advisory Committee 1016 FEB —9 A 8i 53 i Date: 2016 -01 -13 Time: 7:00 PM Building: Reading Town Hall Location: Conference Room Address: 16 Lowell Street Purpose: Bi- monthly meeting Attendees: Members - Present: loan Boegel, member; Ron D'Addario, member and chair; Gina Snyder, associate member; Ray Porter, member; David Zeek, member; Laurie Ann Sylvia, member. Members - Not Present: David Williams, associate member Others Present: Jeff Everson, Michael Scala Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: loan Boegel © Topics of Discussion: Review and Approval of recent meeting minutes. The minutes of the December 9, 2015 meeting were reviewed and approved as amended with revisions suggested by committee members. Administrative o Jeff reported that he was interviewed by Selectmen and approved pending an opening on the Committee. Ron emailed David Williams, who is in Florida, asking if he would relinquish his associate membership in order to create an opening for Jeff. David W. replied in the affirmative. Ron will forward David W.'s email to the Town Clerk to inform her that a position is available. Senior Citizen's energy efficiency. • Ron reported on progress with local banks. Reading Co- operative Bank will consider $2,500 to $5,000 energy assistance funding. We are seeking a total of $10,000 to $20,000. Ron also approached Citizen's Bank, People's United and Eastern Bank. The latter two referred Ron to their websites for grant application forms. It would be best to have the Jane Burns, representing the Town, involved in preparing the grant application. • Gina talked to Mystic Valley Elder Services. She is checking to see if they would be willing to act as the 501c3 organization to administer the funds. Solar • Community Solar. Mike Scala reported on his January 11th meeting with Tom 011ila. The Wilmington site fell through due to need to review roof structures. © North Reading is interested and has Identified suitable sites. The RfP is in final stages, pending review by North Reading Town Manager and Facilities Director. • Solarize Reading. Following up on the presentation by Direct Energy Solar at the December 9th meeting, there was further discussion of the Solarize concept, i.e., running a campaign to encourage homeowners to install solar Page I 1 mumm Town of Reading - Meenng Minutes photovoltaics during a specified time period with discounted pricing offered by the installer based on the number of systems installed in the town. Some members expressed the opinion that RMLD should drive this program. Laurie Ann noted that RMLD cannot recommend a particular installer or even provide a list of approved installers. o The committee agreed to invite Jane Parenteau, Manager of RMLD Integrated Resources, to a future meeting for a discussion of RMLD's business plan for renewable energy, and specifically Community Solar and individual residential solar. o Ron will email Jill from Direct Energy Solar informing her that the committee is interested in Solarize but cannot commit to an exclusive arrangement with one installer. School presentations. Ron has a PowerPoint presentation on the Paris COP21 which he prepared for a Tufts OSHER class. He will offer to do the presentation for Reading schools. Gas Leaks • Ron called the Town Manager to ask about status of a town resolution supporting the gas leaks legislation. Bob Lelacheur responded that he thought the legislature had tabled this proposed law. • David Zeek reported this is not the case; according to the office of Representative Laurie Erlich who co- sponsored the legislation, the state TUE Committee Is still working on it and 17 municipalities have now passed resolutions in support. • Ron will follow up with the Town Manager. • Earth Day 2016 ® • Laurie Ann asked that the Committee begin planning for an Earth Day event. She will check availability of the RMLD building for Saturday, April 23. • The Earth Day event will likely focus on renewable energy and energy efficiency. It would be an opportunity to promote both Community Solar and individual residential solar photovoltairs. • Mike Scola suggested that we should promote the "Earth Hour" event, encouraging Reading residents to curtail non - essential energy use during 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 19. This could be advertised on the Town website and Community News. • Micro -grid grant money o Jeff reported that Massachusetts has grant money (possibly $15 -20 million remaining) for distributed generation / micro- grids. Jeff would like to explore this and then talk to the Town Engineer about Reading's interest and needs. Ron encouraged Jeff to pursue this. lJ The meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m. Page 1 2