Environment and Energy Conservation Commission Draft Summary of May 18, 2009 Meeting 2100 Clarendon Blvd, Azalea Conference Room Members Present: Dean Amel, Brooks Rainwater, Liz Birnbaum, Lisa Larimer, Aaron Lien, Alex Sanders, Scott Bauer, Eric Harold, Joe Barrios, Bree Raum Members Absent: Shannon Cunniff, Scott Sklar, George Silva Guests: Emily Woodruff, Takis Karantonis, Larry Finch Staff Present: Joan Kelsch (DES), John Morrill (DES)
1. Introduction of New Members (Bree Raum and Scott Sklar) Scott Sklar was unable to attend this evening, but will be present in June. Bree Raum works for the American Wind Energy Association. She has worked in energy policy for nine years. She runs the grassroots lobbying efforts for wind energy. The members introduced themselves. 2. Public comment on general topics Larry Finch noted the Urban Stream Restoration Conference on June 18 and June 19. The focus will be on the Donaldson Run Restoration Project. Joan will distribute the final agenda when it is available. Mary Hynes will attend this meeting. 3. Energy Update (John Morrill, Energy Manager, DES) John Morrill is the County’s first Energy Manager and was hired in 2000. His initial focus was on internal County energy operations, but there is more interest in recent years in reaching out to the public as well. The county has about 65 occupied buildings covering 2 million square feet of space. Steady energy efficiency improvements include lighting retrofits, HVAC replacements, etc. The Fresh AIRE program has provided more funding and enthusiasm for these kinds of projects. Recently the County entered into a performance contract to improve electric, gas, and water efficiency in the County’s Justice Center (about 1/3 of the County’s square feet). The performance contract is estimated to save the County 1 million kWh of electricity, 100,000 therms of gas, and 14 million gallons of water. The building is nearly 20 years old and these retrofits are timely. Several smaller buildings have had retrofits and replacements that save significant amounts of energy and water. Now that the easy “big” savings projects are done, we are moving into retrocommissioning, to ensure that the buildings are being operated in the most efficient manner.
1
The 10th Floor of the Courthouse Plaza building has applied for LEED certification. In addition, Fire Station 4 is being considered for a green roof. The building is due for a new roof so the timing is good. Our employee education program has been successful to date. More than 50 employees have volunteered to be AIRE Captains. The Captains convey messages to their colleagues about energy and water efficiency, focusing primarily on behavioral change. The County is looking to invest its money from the federal economic stimulus legislation into a strategic mix of internal County projects as well as for community efforts. The application is still being developed. Generally, the County is likely to do a significant photovoltaic installation on a County building. Traffic signals and street lights are scheduled to be replaced with LEDs, which will reduce energy use significantly. The stimulus application will also include a broad array of offerings for small/medium businesses and residents. Training and support would be offered to businesses to help them reduce their environmental impact. The multi-family sector is critical in Arlington and the County would like to deploy best-practices programming to help this sector in a meaningful way. More than half of Arlington residents live in multi-family apartment and condo buildings. Arlington is also planning to partner with other jurisdictions and Nissan for an electric car pilot program. This would include “smart” charging technology so that the vehicles are charged at times when electricity demand is low. At the Board meeting on May 19, the County is giving 16 AIRE Champion awards for businesses and buildings that have achieved EnergyStar status, LEED status, 100% wind power purchases, and/or outstanding commuter benefits. There are now several dozen companies and institutions that have been lauded for their outstanding environmental work as part of the AIRE program. The County recently posted energy data for public facilities on the web. The County plans to launch a business affinity program this fall. The AIRE partners and champions are businesses who have pledged to achieve, or have achieved, an environmental milestone. The affinity program would acknowledge these businesses and offer specials or discounts at the business participants. Liz suggested piloting the program in the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor and targeting the younger residents. Bree commented that having a listing of green restaurants and businesses would be helpful. Having these businesses and AIRE partners on GIS would also be helpful. Commissioners want to ensure that businesses are really doing something and that they are continually updated and improving. John welcomes feedback on any of our programs. Liz suggested that the website include more specific information on how to do energy saving projects. She is looking for information on federal programs, state laws relating to
2
solar panel installation, specific information for on-demand water heater installation. Brooks suggested linking to http://www.dsireusa.org (Database for State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency). E2C2 members will send specific topics that they would be interested in having more information (immediate suggestions include: solar PV and hot water, on-demand hot water, geothermal, etc). John reported that Fresh AIRE has retained its budget and staffing. The budget situation has not impacted the program’s operations. 4. Prepare comments on Four Mile Run Design Guidelines Liz mentioned that the bike trail width may be a concern. Dean attended the meeting at which the Design Guidelines were presented. Eric was concerned that there weren’t technical standards (size of storm, etc) for flow control. Liz suggested that metrics for stormwater control are covered in a different process for Four Mile Run, however the Guidelines should acknowledge a connection between the guidelines and the standards. Dean suggested drafting a letter, sending it to members for review with the weblink to the Guidelines, and ask for comments before sending out. Liz proposed a motion that would commend the environmental components, ask for a metric for stormwater capacity, and request a careful review of the bike trail widths. Liz will draft a letter for distribution. Approved unanimously. 5. Additional Item: Review and Develop Recommendations for the Courthouse Hotel EnergyStar Commitment The Courthouse Marriott Residence Inn anticipates opening this summer. The project included a site plan condition requiring the installation of several EnergyStar appliances. However, some of these specific requirements (including bathroom ventilation, programmable thermostats, and lighting) are not appropriate technology for a hotel. The hotel developer has installed other technologies that are more efficient and appropriate for the hotel (including a central bathroom ventilation system, a key-card and motion sensor operated HVAC control system for each room, and overall lighting that reduces the watts/square foot). The most difficult issue is the refrigerators that will be installed in each room. Marriott’s standard for refrigerators does not include an EnergyStar model. Thus the developer has offered to purchase wind power to offset the extra electricity that will be used by these non-EnergyStar refrigerators. The intent of the site plan condition for EnergyStar appliances is well intended but it’s a clumsy tool for a hotel application. John Morrill estimates that the key-card activated system will more than make up for the extra energy used by the refrigerators. The .55 watt/sq for lighting density is very aggressive. He supports the proposed suggestions. Liz Birnbaum noted that most of the offsets look reasonable to her because the originally required technology is not appropriate for a hotel. She is concerned about the refrigerators because they are talking about carbon offsets, not energy offsets. She is concerned that the message sent to developers is wrong – she is concerned that if this
3
hotel is allowed to keep the refrigerators, then others may do the same (i.e., ignore the site plan conditions and expect to get “off the hook”). Other members agreed that the developer knew what the requirement was and didn’t follow it. Scott noted that the developer violated the condition and should have to pay a violation. Joe is sympathetic to the argument that the developer should not be allowed to violate the condition without penalty. Dean would like to limit the time that the refrigerators can stay in the hotel. The County would find it difficult to track this 10 or more years from now. John noted that the developer admitted to making a mistake in not catching this issue when the site plan conditions were approved. Liz is afraid that this is precedent setting. John noted that a significant amount of waste that would be generated if the refrigerators were removed and replaced. Is the wind energy purchase appropriate? Liz suggested recommending that they come up with an energy conservation effort that would make up for the mistake. Bree supports the wind energy credits but they should also have to do other things. Takis Karantonis suggested installing a heat exchanger on the bathroom vent system. This could be used to preheat incoming fresh air or hot water. John suggested including the lights in the card activation system. Making the outdoor lights more efficient in the plaza would be an environmental benefit. Scott Bauer suggested that the developer could purchase 176 EnergyStar refrigerators for low-income housing retrofits. The refrigerators locations would be coordinated by the County Housing office with the affordable housing providers. Scott Bauer made the motion that the developer provide 176 residential size EnergyStar refrigerators for affordable housing installations in the County. The replacements would be coordinated by the County’s Housing staff. Eric suggested commending Marriott for getting LEED certification for two hotels in the County, but noting that the Commission is disappointed that the Courthouse Hotel will be not be LEED certified. Approved unanimously. Liz will send an email to Jay Fisette this evening for consideration at the Board meeting tomorrow.
6. Approval of Meeting Summary April 27, 2009 Approved unanimously as amended. 7. Old/New Business Liz had a meeting with Jay Fisette this month. He is involved in the state-wide Go Green program. This applies to local governments and is expanding to the communities. There is a program being developed for public schools as well. Liz asked Mr. Fisette about finding an APS liaison to the Commission.
4
Dean reported that the Little Pimmit Run advisory group had a meeting. Staff is still working on the proposals for handling flooding on private land. Dean also attended the Solid Waste Committee. Some townhouse owners have trouble storing the larger recycling bins. The Committee is updating the Solid Waste Management Plan. There are several issues to be addressed: • • The County is exceeding the recycling goals since we have reached our long term goals already. Should the goals be increased? The County would like to ban yard waste. Grasscycling and composting are the ideal solution. Grass is too wet and doesn’t burn well at the waste-to-energy plant. There is concern that residents will complain. The yard waste pickup program does not include grass, as it requires special composting techniques. County is about to start an adopt-a-street program.
•
Joe reported that ACE is having its green expo at the NRECA building on October 24. Eric reported that PFRC will meet within the next two weeks. Aaron attended the Bicycle Advisory Committee. Dominion is cutting trees along the W&OD bike trail.
Next meeting is June 22, 2009. At that meeting, the Commission will discuss whether to skip the July or August meeting. Meeting adjourned at 9:45 pm.
5