Draft Minutes:
June 18, 2008

Minutes Archive

Draft Alternative Energy Committee Agenda

Cape Elizabeth Alternative Energy Committee
Agenda

Date: Monday, July 21
Time: 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Location: Technology Room (Basement)

I. Approval of June meeting minutes 5 minutes

II. Town and Council Process for Approvals and Actions 20 minutes
a. Wind Grant Application (Wyman)
b. Informational memo to Town Council (Bill and Sara)
c. Going forward (All)

III. Timeline and Tasks for Report 10 minutes

IV. Reports on Action Items about Alternative Energy Systems 20 minutes
assigned at June Meeting
a. Discussion about windmill with Saco Councilor Eric Cote (Dave)
b. Cogeneration systems used by other organizations (Ted)
i. Sample RFP for a cogen proposal (Bill)
c. Geothermal systems in Westbrook, Gorham and USM (Bill, Rick, Sara and Peter)

V. Reaffirm priority of strategies to look at based on reports 5 minutes
a. Audit/Weatherization
b. Windmill
c. Cogeneration
d. Geothermal
e. Fuel Diversity
i. Biomass
ii. Natural Gas
iii. Propane

VI. Energy Audit RFP Draft Update (Bill) 10 minutes

VII. Comments on Wyman’s draft report (All) 10 minutes

VIII. Action Items/Topics/Agenda/Schedule for Next Meeting 5 minutes

IX. Sharing Relevant Energy Stories/News/Events 5 minutes

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DRAFT MINUTES

Cape Elizabeth Alternative Energy Committee

Minutes for June 18, 2008 Meeting

Present: Ted Hawkes, Peter Ingraham, Sara Lennon, Bill Slack, David Whitten,

Guests: Dave Clay, Rick Fontana, Anne Holland, Steve Linnell

Not Present: Wyman Briggs, Alan Lishness, Ernie MacVane

I. May 20 Meeting Minutes Unanimously Approved

II. Wind Grant Status Application and Review

The proposal that Wyman put together for an Efficiency Maine Grant to install a 100 foot (30 meter) tower and anemometer to collect wind data was reviewed. The proposal states that the anemometer will be placed in an open field near the tennis courts. There is a requirement that the proposal be signed by an elected official and is due on June 30.

Action Item: Sara will e-mail the proposal to Mike McGovern, an elected official and Alan Hawkins (with the school) to get them in the loop as soon as possible.

Sara reported that the proposal before the Town Council to allow wind turbines has been pushed to July 14 for a public hearing. She feels the Council is firmly behind allowing wind turbines on town property, but there is resistance to allowing windmills on residential property.

There was discussion about the placement of the tower, whether the 100 feet could be reached in a way other than a tower, how tied to the location that is stated in the proposal the tower needs to be, and the length of the time required for monitoring a site. Bill thinks there may be some flexibility. It is thought that the grant from Efficiency Maine is tied to the production of a minimum of 500 kilowatts which would put the tower at 70 meters.

III. Combined Heat and Power Proposal

Dave and Ernie met with a representative from Bonhag Associates and toured various locations in the schools. The purpose was to get an overview of the possibility of a combined heat and power biomass facility to be used in combination with existing boilers. A rough estimate suggests that the cost would be approximately $5 million dollars to supply about 50% of the heat and electricity produced by current fuel and electricity usage. This project could be added on to over time.

Dave thinks it would be a good idea for Bonhag to attend a Cape Elizabeth Alternative Energy Committee meeting. He also pointed out that Bonhag could help Cape Elizabeth find federal and grant money for the project. The rest of the money could come from a bond. The next step is possibly contracting with a company for a feasibility study. Bonhag proposes such a study for about $30,000.

Action Item: Ted offered to check with organizations that had cogeneration systems put in place in the 70s to see if and how they are still running.

It was also suggested that the Committee check with facilities in Vermont who have recently had cogeneration systems installed.

IV. Courier Article(s) Update

Anne has drafted the first of three articles for the Courier based on her interview with Ernie. It is about Cape Elizabeth's energy monitoring system. Ernie is reviewing it and Anne will forward it to Bill to add information about the Cape Elizabeth Alternative Energy Committee next week.

The other articles proposed are about other energy saving strategies and the grant that Ernie got from Efficiency Maine for Pool Lighting.

It was suggested that Anne look at the Courier website to find out deadline dates.

V. Update on Cost Appraisals

The numbers Ernie presented at the last meeting about the cost of converting to propane were reviewed. It was suggested that replacing forms of fuel might only be a band-aid and that propane and natural gas prices are likely to rise.

The proposal for an Energy Audit was discussed. It was thought that the current proposal is of too limited a scope, but once the Committee gets comfortable with the scope, an audit would be money well spent. The current limited proposal is for $7000 and the committee agreed that it would be better to have a more complete audit and pay a bit more. It was decided that it would be best to write up a comprehensive scope and get three energy audit proposals.

Action Item: Bill will do a first draft for an RFP for more audits

It was acknowledged that the scale of the cogeneration system is completely different from converting from one kind of fuel to another for heat. In the long run, cogeneration is the clear winner. It was questioned whether it would be worth it to spend $15,000 (propane or natural gas conversion) on something that may have to be replaced in a few years.

Action Item: Bill will try to find a sample of an RFP for a cogen proposal.

VI. Review and Verify Approach to Report

Sara suggested that the report make recommendations and arguments for investing a certain number of dollars in energy conservation and improvement measures instead of proposing abstract ideas. It was suggested that the report include the "cost of doing nothing."

Performance contracts were discussed again as a way for making improvements without the town putting up any money. A lot of organizations are using performance contracts including the University of Maine, but Dave Clay warned that the town should be very careful in regard to performance contracts-especially of the accounting.

Ernie is getting bills for two years back. It was suggested that once the background information is gathered all those submitting proposals can use the same information.

The Cape Elizabeth Alternative Energy Committee is committed to doing an energy audit. The plan is to suggest ways in which we can reduce the demand for energy through conservation before going to other measures. It was asked how fast the committee could get money from the council to do an energy audit. It was suggested that it would be nice to do the audit before school starts and be able to say "If we get this done in time, we'll save this much money…"

Action Item: Bill will work with Sara to write an informational memo to the Council about what the Alternative Energy Committee is working on.

It was discussed that because people weren't doing their homework, the "Divide and Conquer" approach may not be working. It was generally agreed that this may be true, but if work doesn't get done there is still the Champion's matrix to fall back on.

It is thought that a case study on the Saco windmill will be instructive. Saco has not been getting the amount of electricity from the windmill that they hoped for. This might show the value of getting a full year's worth of wind data at a site before locating a windmill there

Action Item: Dave will call Saco City councilor Eric Cote to discuss Saco's windmill and write up a brief report.

It would be a good idea to look at the geothermal systems in both Westbrook and Gorham. Westbrook has an open system and Gorham has a closed system. Either the Abromson Center or the new Muskie School (or both) on the USM campus in Portland also has geothermal. Dave Early is the contact for USM.

Action Item: Bill, Rick, Sara (who knows the architect for one of the systems) and Peter will contact Westbrook, Gorham and USM to visit and get feedback on how their systems are working.

VII: Review and Determine Strategies to Focus on

The committee is still looking at all possibilities but the windmill and cogeneration are current priorities.

VII: Timeline

The Council expects the report in Early December and the committee should work back from that date. There should be a good outline in September and a draft on October 1.

Action item: Each member of the committee should look at Wyman's draft of the report and come back with comments.

IX: Action Items and Next Meeting

Action Item: Sara will e-mail the wind power grant proposal for Maine Efficiency to Mike McGovern, an elected official and Alan Hopkins (with the school) to get them in the loop as soon as possible.

Action Item: Ted will check with organizations that had cogeneration systems put in place in the 70s to see if and how they are still running.

Action Item: Bill will do a first draft for an RFP for more energy audits.

Action Item: Bill will try to find a sample of an RFP for a cogen proposal.

Action Item: Bill will work with Sara to write an informational memo to the Council about what the Alternative Energy Committee is working on.

Action Item: Dave will call Saco City councilor Eric Cote to discuss Saco's windmill and write up a brief report.

Action Item: Bill, Rick, Sara (who knows the architect for one of the systems) and Peter will contact Westbrook, Gorham and USM to visit and get feedback on how their systems are working.

Action item: Each member of the committee should look at Wyman's draft of the report and come back with comments

The next meeting will be either the week of July 14th or the week of July 21st.

X. Sharing Relevant Energy Stories/News/Events

Bill gave a recap of the Cool Communities meeting he attended. He reported that Cool Communities is more comprehensive as it focuses on the entire town and not just municipal buildings. He reported that there will be a series of meetings in September.

Steve reported that Maine Clean Communities and the Hydrogen Energy Center will host the beginning of The Hydrogen Tour 2008, a cross-country trek of hydrogen vehicles. The two groups have applied to hold the event at Fort Williams on August 11. The event will is scheduled to take place between 9:00 and 10:00 a.m. Unfortunately, test drives will not be offered at this kick-off event. The tour will make 33 stops across the country.

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