MINUTES
Energy Conservation and Green Building
Committee
Mayor’s Energy Task Force
MGE, 133 South Blair Street
December 16, 2003
3:00 – 5:30 p.m.
Meeting No. 5
Amended 2/8/04
| Persons Present: | Sherrie Gruder, James Whitney, Karl Van Lith, Abby Vogen, Garrick Maine, Joann Kelley, Kevin Little, Douglas Nelson, Aaron Rittenhouse, Joe Demorett, Barbara Smith, Niels Wolter, Sonya Newenhouse, Deborah Garrett Thomas, Craig Schepp, Margaret Mooney, and Jim Mapp. |
| Co-Chairpersons: | Sherrie Gruder, Craig Schepp |
| Staff: | James Whitney, Joe DeMorett , Karl Van Lith |
| Prepared by: | James Whitney, Karl Van Lith |
| Next Meeting: | January 6, 2003; 3:00 – 5:00 p.m. |
Resume
1. Meeting Minutes Number 4 motioned and approved.
2. Jim Mapp reviewed handout items that he brought to the meeting.
3. Review City building projects, current and future by Jim Whitney. Send final design plans to Focus on Energy for review and comment. Current projects include:
4. The committee had a broad ranging discussion on how members could help provide resources to more Green planning in design process, even those buildings that have already gone out to bid. (Lighting fixtures and some materials might still be changed.)
5. The group felt specific efficiency opportunities might be available on the last three projects listed in Item #3 above. Discussion was held on how group might incorporate ideas into recommendations for Mayor. Also talked about getting more dedicated resources and learning within the City. Group would also like to see information on Retro Fits being done to current buildings.
6. GREEN BUILDING REPORT
a. A survey of City department heads regarding energy use was proposed by this group. The larger committee discussed survey purposes and specific questions that might be added. It was determined that an overview section with definitions and specific questions on what incentives would motivate energy savings and an open ended question asking for input should be added. The survey would be conducted by phone and seek input for ideas and recommendations to act upon.
b. Discussion on the strategic framework for the smaller groups also occurred. The suggested framework was modeled after the Federal GSA and the committee felt that the focus should be on “Build Green” and “Save Green.”
c. All felt the framework should look to provide a list of good principles, similar to “Fair Trade” guidelines used for such items as coffee and textiles. These principles should be easily accessible to the public; through the web and other means and that the City could be a model for these principles.
d. Green building incentives were also discussed and discussion seemed to highlight the need to educate developers on Green practices and to get their input on possible incentives they feel would be worthwhile. Benchmarking of other cities and counties is also needed. Discussions around the economic section of the report focused on adding two items, a ‘bond’ issue similar to the ‘solar bond’ discussed at the last meeting and as the possibility of private fund raising and sponsorship of energy efficiency initiatives.
e. A good deal of discussion also occurred around the need to exam zoning, permits and codes that exist already within the City processes. Jim Whitney will look further into this issue and report back to the large group.
7. Sherrie Gruder reviewed the idea to survey City department managers on their energy needs. Draft questions for survey of City managers reviewed from the work group meeting on November 21, 2003.
8. PROCESS DISCUSSION:
a. Sherrie Gruder outlined a suggested process for handling the work of the Committee. The overall process that most agreed upon is as follows:
Define work and mission
Gather facts/impact
Identify strategies for addressing opportunities
Identify alternatives within strategies
Develop selection criteria
Formulate recommendationsb. More discussion is needed on this topic at the next large group meeting on January 20th.
9. Garrick Maine submitted a list of cities/counties/states that have sustainable and green building programs.
10. Jim Whitney submitted MGO 27.051 “Energy Code for Residential Rental Properties” from the Minimum Housing and Property Maintenance Code.
11. Sherri Gruder submitted the LEED checklist for green buildings.
12. Sherrie Gruder submitted the U.S. Green Building Council “Tool Kit”.
13. ADDITIONAL SPEAKERS
a. The Committee put forth ideas on additional speakers they would like to hear as part of the fact gathering /educational component of each session. Ideas that were generated:
| Advanced Building Guidelines | Abby Vogen |
| Traffic signal conversion to LED | Traffic Engineering |
| Street lighting /Dark Sky initiatives | Traffic Engineering |
| MMSD energy program update | MMSD person |
| City initiatives update | City employee |
| City library efforts | Barb Dimick |
b. It was felt the education component would be a focused presentation with time for questions and that the meetings in general should be kept at two hours. Rough estimates on time would be:
| Educational presentation | 30 minutes |
| Update sub-group | 30 minutes |
| Update sub-group | 30 minutes |
| Process discussion | 30 minutes |
14. The January 6th meeting will be set for separate meetings each for the Green Building work group and the Energy Conservation work group. The following meeting on January 20 will be a combined meeting for both work groups to share information. Energy Conservation work group will meet January 6 at MGE. The Green Building work group will meet on January 6 at Flad. Send agendas to Jim Whitney for distribution to the City Clerk.
15. Dark Sky Initiative guideline review for Breese Stevens Field.
End of report.