Highlights from Recent Meetings

AUGUST 2009  

Ithaca College Climate Action Plan: Marian Brown

• IC’s goal is to reduce ghg emissions by 100% by 2050 or 2.5% per year.
• Encouraging trends
  • Reduction in CO2 emissions per square foot
  • Reduction in CO2 emissions per student
  • Reduction in kWh usage/year  

Impacts of Energy Efficiency summer projects in Tompkins County: Ken Schlather

• Ken shared with the group the impacts of the energy efficiency work being done in the county, and presented the excel file that details the job years created, the number of jobs created, the annual $savings per household, and the pounds of CO2 eliminated per household annually 

Governance Issues: Group

• The Steering Committee is comprised of:
• Katie Borgella – Local Government
• Tristram Coffin – Business/Industry/Finance
• Dominic Frongillo – Education
• Stacey Murphy – Non-profit

SEPTEMBER 2009 

Sciencenter Presentation: Katie Levedahl and Laura Kimber

• Undertook research project to identify sustainability trends in society, focused on what could be done internally (museum) and externally (in the larger community); looked at the triple bottom line – people, economy, and environment and addressed each of these factors in both internal operations and larger presence in the community
• Subsequently, the SC has undergone many operations changes, from resource use (100% wind powered operations) to taking care of the people who work there, to ensuring long-term sustainability of finances through a formalized endowment process
• Charlie Trautmann’s visit to Europe to research climate change in the museum context – findings: most effective tactics were storytelling, many museums and centers didn’t walk their talk. This made it clear that the Sciencenter needed to practice what they preach as they undertook climate change education efforts, which they are currently doing  

Update on energy efficiency legislation in NY State: Katie Borgella

• Most bills focused on residential and small business
• Katie shared that many towns are going after these bills because they have block grants/money to spend Tompkins County is pulling together a plan to present to Barbara Lifton
• Dan Roth asked about funds set aside for higher ed – first RGGI funds become available in 2010, with $550 million available in the 1st three years (some of that is for higher ed)
• The group asked whether TC might propose a county bill to help the overall process move forward

OCTOBER 2009 

Landlords Association of Tompkins County: Herbert Dwyer (President, LATC; CEO, ASI Renovations)

• Two ways to get landlords to act: 
  • Carrot: economic, creative financing options (this is preferable and highly encouraged!)
  • Stick: law, mandate (not our most effective took for mobilizing landlords)
• About 100 members with average of 40-60 properties each
• Energy efficiency and energy audits are costly to landlords, especially when they own multiple properties; start by:
  • Identifying properties where landlord pays for heat
  • Targeting small-scale landlords
  • Don’t finance on the backs of taxpayers
  • Taking advantage of the fact that buildings (and landlords) are aging; new generation coming into the picture in the next 5, 10 years as properties change hands – major opportunity…put a package together now to make buildings more efficiency
• LATC is interested in exploring a partnership with TCCPI in order to work on this issue together
• Major Barriers include:
  • NYSERDA MPP changed (not as beneficial anymore)
  • Small margin, small capital budget to begin with – any expenditures go toward major priorities (apt. destroyed, furnace/roof replacement, etc.)
  • Debt to income ratio; making energy improvements requires landlords to take out loans, which makes it harder to acquire more properties (more properties is more security and success for the landlord) *assessment would be more appealing that loan
• Ed and Katie are working with Barbara Lifton to draft language for a bill that would enact policy to extend energy efficiency programs to businesses and commercial properties in addition to residential homeowners
• Landlords like to keep things as simple as possible – energy efficiency creates more work, more complexity in their day-to-day operations
• There will be a group of early adopters within the LATC who will jump on this, the rest will follow ·         Begin by targeting students/young people (who, statistically speaking, use more resources and energy than any other demographic)
• Opportunity for LATC to partner with Cornell to educate landlords about occupant behavior and how to incentive/reward positive behavior related to energy consumption
• We need to make landlords’ role clear in the energy efficiency challenge
• Green certification for landlords? Green rating for rental properties?  

Bruce Abbott: Cogen District Heating Options for Tompkins County

• Working to create a self-sustaining energy economy in TC – green jobs, green ecomony, energy efficiency
• Developing multi-family units (Cornell competition) for Cornell employees – quality, affordable, sustainable housing on campus (therefore, must fit in with carbon neutrality goal)
• District heating/cogeneration –rather than one building one boiler – is a way to accomplish this feat using natural gas and other biomass fuel sources
• Working with Danish Board of District Heating to learn and build relationship – hoping to get them to collaborate with TC (visiting the area to do assessment and advice)
• Many sensible/viable opportunities for the use of district heating in the city (police office, library, parking garages, etc.) – costs taxpayers $5 million/annually to pay for electricity – these buildings could be tied together through district heating
• Case Study: Arnot-Ogden Hospital has biomass system to provide heat and hot water, designed by Honeywell who guaranteed $500,000 in savings over the next year (they will eat the difference if they’re off)
• COWI is coming to Ithaca to help Bruce assess possibilities and create a plan
• CCE is soon expanding their building, will pilot district heating systems
• CCE: Annual Breakfast Nov. 18th – Biomass discussion (all are welcome, Ken will send details
• Overall goal: Boost Local Economy, Create Green Jobs, Enhance Energy Efficiency
  • Manufacture and distribute district heating systems
  • Create domestic capability to deliver this service
• Leverage what Danes have learned and perfected over the past thirty years and apply to Tompkins County

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2009

• Jerone Gagliano of Performance Systems Development presented on “Energy Audits and the Homeowner,” sharing with the group the technical side of residential energy efficiency work and the typical opportunities and challenges faced in working with the homeowner to provide a positive, beneficial experience. Jon Harrod of Snug Planet contributed to the presentation.
• Dominic Frongillo updated the group on the proposed pilot program to assess energy tracking software tools for residential energy tracking and monitoring (Earth Aid and Green Energy Compass). The program is set to launch in February 2010 and will entail a three month side-by-side comparison of each tool, used by ~40-60 coalition members.

JANUARY 2010

Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen (COP15): Dominic Frongillo

• Notable takeaways include:
  • Youth movement is unprecedented and burgeoning (100,000 students marched, delivered petition containing more than 15 million signatures calling for action)
  • State and local governments are driving policy and action at the federal level – highlighted the importance of what we’re doing in Tompkins County

Pilot Program for Residential Energy Tracking: Dominic (Cornell Cooperative Extenions, Tompkins County)

• TCCPI is moving forward with the residential energy tracking pilot program using two software tools side-by-side: Earth Aid and Compass.
• The program will run for approximately three months at which point the group will reconvene to assess and analyze the outcomes of the program and determine action steps for moving forward. Long term strategies include working towards providing everyone in the county with this data, ideally through the utility.

Draft County Energy Strategy: Leslie Schill (Tompkins County Planning & Public Works)

• Leslie presented the draft of the “Energy Strategy” for implementing the Energy and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Element of the County’s Comprehensive Plan.
• Members of TCCPI were called upon to provide feedback, comments, and suggestions to aid in the finalization of the draft, which is set to be ready for adoption by early summer 2010.
• The first big push in the overall 80% by 2050 GHG emissions reduction goal,
• The “Tompkins County 2020 Energy Strategy” is intended to achieve the initial milestone of a 20% reduction in GHG emissions by 2020.

Finger Lakes Climate Fund Sean Vormwald (Sustainable Transitions)

• Finger Lakes Climate Fund (still in development stages), is set to launch in approximately one month.
• The FLCF is providing businesses, organizations, institutions, and citizens the opportunity to purchase carbon offsets (for the home, car travel, and air travel) that will reinvest money into a fund that will provide grants to local energy efficiency projects.
• Example projects include residential energy projects for low to middle income residents in Tompkins County, and the fund will help to pay for insulation, air sealing, heating system upgrades, and other measures to reduce energy consumption.
• The program is modeled after several climate funds whose focus is on keeping money local by funding local projects.

Other News and Updates from Members:

• City of Ithaca has committed to reducing GHG emissions by 20% from 2001 levels by 2016.
• New Cayuga Medical Center building received LEED Silver certification (first medical facility in the state to acquire LEED Silver.
• Alternatives Federal Credit Union reduced utility bills by $9000 and energy consumption by 20%.
• The Park Foundation contributed $600,000 to programs and projects dealing with the Marcellus Shale issue. 
• The Ithaca City School District has created a green team for each building, has successfully implemented a composting program, and is seeking funding to complete energy efficiency upgrades on existing buildings
• TC3 has started to inventory their energy consumption, installed solar array, and is starting to offer solar/wind installation training as part of its curriculum
• PRI is working on a manuscript for a climate change book 
• Ithaca College is working on the implementation strategy for their Climate Action Plan
• Ithaca Car Share is adding an educational component to their program offerings
• Performance Systems is providing Sustainable Tompkins with access to Compass for use in the Marcellus Challenge program.