KC Climate Protection Forums Forum: Energy Work Group

TomNeff on "Deconstruction lucrative for a Non-Profit in Oregon..."

TomNeff — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 04:17:49 +0000

Our United Villages, a non-profit in Portland, Oregon completely supports their operations through the income produced by their Rebuilding Center which conducts deconstruction services in the region.

http://rebuildingcenter.org/

TomNeff on "Article on Thin Film Solar Deal 2-7-07"

TomNeff — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 04:10:09 +0000

"ECD Ovonics Announces Agreement for a Joint Venture Between United Solar Ovonic and Tianjin Jinneng Investment Company in China for Assembly of Thin-Film Solar Modules"

http://www.uni-solar.com/uploadedFiles/MediaCenter/FeaturedNews/Tianjin%20JV-020707.pdf

JerryShechter on "Energy Work Group Minutes - 12.14.06"

JerryShechter — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 22:31:51 +0000

Kansas City Climate Protection Plan
Work Group Meeting Notes
December 14, 2006

Energy Work Group

Summary of Work Group Activities

The following question was posed to the work group: What are the 3 most important measures we must implement in Kansas City to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2020?

Participants were instructed that preference should be given to the following criteria:

• Build on existing initiatives
• Identify Low Hanging Fruit
• Economically viable options
• Options with partnership opportunities across the community
• Measures that have been successfully implemented in other cities

Participants were given three “sticky” notes on which to write their recommendations. The notes from the group were posted on a wall, and organized in columns by similar topic.

The work group reviewed the results and adjusted some of the placements after discussion. When there was general agreement on the groupings, the “dot” exercise was performed.

Each participant was given three sets of colored dots and asked to place them by the columns to help prioritize the initiative recommendations. Dot colors and definitions were:

• Green – “Early Victories” – Implementation can begin before April 2007
• Blue – Critical & Strategic, but Long Term – Will take more than 2 years
• Yellow – Need more information to determine priority level

Results

Results of the exercise are summarized on the following pages. Each heading represents a column or grouping of responses; these groupings may need to change over time, but served their purpose in this initial meeting. Each bullet under that heading is a suggestion from the work group that was placed in that grouping. The number of green, blue, and yellow dots placed on the grouping is also listed. Duplicates or similar suggestions are taken out.

One question raised by a member of the Energy Group was “Why 2020?” and who decided that was the date by which we should achieve the goal? Overall, the responses were positive about the process and goals of the City. Participants were eager to learn in more detail about some initiatives at future meetings, and the chairman assured members there will be expert presentations based on the areas of interest most important to the Energy Work Group.

Energy Work Group

The underlined headings are the general categories or groupings of recommendations. Bulleted items beneath each heading are the specific comments received.

G = # of green dots, B = # of blue dots, Y = # of yellow dots

ENERGY CONSERVATION IN BUILDINGS

• City Buildings – 6 G, 1 B
• Get KCMO to follow its LEED Ordinance – 7 G
• Require all muni-owned new construction or building renovations to meet some minimal green building standards – 1 G, 1 Y
• Insulating old homes – 1 G, 2 Y
• Take the 2030 Architecture challenge (LEED ord.) – 2 Y
• Energy conservation in buildings – 2 G
• Building Energy Codes & Enforcement (Comml & Res. & Rental) – 3 B
• Promote/require green building practices thru incentives: 2 B, 2 Y
o Building permit fee discounts
o Expedited permit processing
o Tax abatement

Total for section: 17 G, 6 B, 7 Y

PUBLIC AWARENESS & EDUCATION

• Energy Education & Awareness Program – 11 G
• Conduct workshops for homes & businesses on energy conservation in both building & process loads – 1 B, 3 Y
• Provide recognition for smart energy use – 2 G, 3 B
• Support energy ed. & training to raise demand for green buildings – 1 B
• Bring ideas from other cultures to change how America (KC) uses energy

Total for section: 13 G, 5 B, 3 Y

INCENTIVE PROGRAMS

• Incentives for renewable fuel use – residential, comml, industry – 2 B, 1 Y
• Develop incentives for Energy Conservation – 3 G, 6 B, 2 Y
• Million Lights – 12 G
• Bio-gas, bio-deisel, cellulose ethanol – 1 B, 2 Y
• Mandate energy conservation, incentives for public/private LEED – 2 B
• State rebate programs for renewable energy projects – 1 B
• Demand side incentives for energy conservation – 3 B
• Facilitate the growth of EE/RE (efficiency renewable) businesses – 1 Y
• Install energy efficient co-generation power prod. Facilities – 1 Y
• High efficiency natural gas and electric HVAC – 1 Y
• High efficiency appliance/equipment rebates & tax credits – 1 B
• Give utilities profit incentive to sell LESS energy – 4 B, 1 Y

Total for section: 15 G, 20 B, 9 Y

POLICY

• Wind Power – Net Metering – 5 G, 8 B, 4 Y
• Urge MPSC to provide rate structure that allows utilities to be more profitable by selling less energy – 2 B, 8 Y
• Urban Growth Boundary – 1 B, 5 Y
• More Brownfield redevelopment – 1 B
• Legislation: Net-Metering, RPS, EE Codes – 1 G, 3 Y
• Enforce current energy codes – 3 G, 2 B
• Purchase of clean/renewable energy (directly or thru Renewable Energy Credits) – 2 G, 5 B, 5 Y
• Require 50% energy reduction for all building permits in FY 07 – 1 G, 4 Y

Total for section: 12 G, 25 B, 29 Y

MEASURE IMPACT, FUND EFFORTS

• Provide tools to measure energy use, relate to Good/Bad/Avg – 2 G, 3 B
• Fund effort thru: Muni Bond Financing, Local Public Benefit Fund, Incentive Financing like TIFF – 1 B
• Implement variable frequency drives on pumps and fans – 3 Y
• Why wait until 2020 to get to 1990 levels? – 1 G
• Public transportation within the City – 1 B
• Wet Weather Solutions and water conservation

Total for section: 3 G, 5 B, 1 Y

JerryShechter on "Energy Work Group Minutes - 1.16.07"

JerryShechter — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 22:36:00 +0000

Meeting Minutes

Kansas City Climate Protection Plan
Energy Work Group Meeting

January 16, 2007

The meeting was called to order at 4:10 p.m., by Bob Jackson, Chairman. Meeting attendees signed an attendance roster.

Bob Jackson provided introductory remarks, and:

• Summarized the reports made by each chairman to the Steering Committee at the December 2006 meeting
• Reviewed the schedule of upcoming meetings that will lead to the preparation of the Phase I Climate Protection Plan for submittal to Mayor Barnes and the City Council in early April
• Noted that the presentations scheduled for today’s meeting address some of the topics that generated strong interest at the December 14, 2006 Work Group meeting.

Sue Nathan, KCPL, made a presentation on the utility’s Affordability, Energy Efficiency, and Demand Response Programs.

• Energy Star Homes is a new program and KCPL is looking for 2 or 3 builders who are interested in doing “green building” in order to partner
• Demand Response Programs include Energy Optimizer, which has already met its three year goal of enrollees in just 14 months; and MPower. She noted the program really took off after news coverage on television and talk shows, proving the demand is there from the public for these types of energy efficiency programs. The long term goal of KCPL is to defer Iatan 3.
• KCPL is looking at ways to continue KC’s Million Lights campaign beyond the three month time frame (Oct-Dec) under the Change a Light, Change the World program.

Bob Jackson, KCMO, made a presentation on the city’s weatherization programs.
• Air leakage is the biggest energy drain for most homes. The city has worked with 25 contractors in its weatherization program, some for two decades.
• Work group member Rick Robson, Hallmark, offered comments about a program in Austin, Texas, to put at-risk kids to work learning a construction trade in partnership with the city and Habitat for Humanity to provide weatherization.
• The Work Group expressed an interest in the Weatherization Program producing data on energy saved, and resultant GHG reduction.

Robert Rives, KCMO facilities manager, made a presentation on energy conservation programs in city buildings.

• Since 2000, the city has avoided $12,488,191 in energy costs due to efficiency programs that have been implemented. That equates to 280 million pounds of CO2 not produced, which is the equivalent of taking 21,000 cars off the road, or planting 41,000 acres of trees.
• The city will do a spring assessment of remaining buildings. The work group members asked about statistics from Aviation and Water Services Department, including whether anything is being done to harvest methane by WSD.

• Questions were asked about using solar panels on city buildings, solar water heaters, and weatherization of buildings.

Lynn Hinkle asked the group for feedback on topics they would like to hear discussed at the February 6, 2007 meeting. Suggested topics included:

• KCMO’s LEED Ordinance
• Missouri Energy Task Force Action Plan update by Jeff Davis
• Building Publicly-financed housing to meet Energy Star standards
• A Million Lights campaign

• Energy Star office equipment and appliances

• Metropolitan Energy Center’s energy conservation workshops

• Wind turbines/solar panels for on-site generation of electricity; Green-e certification and Green tags; This general topic was of primary interest to the group

From the above list, participants voted to have the following two presentations on Feb. 6:

Jeff Davis about the Missouri Energy Task Force Action Plan

Green-e certifications and Green tag programs and wind turbines/solar
panel and PV applications

Participants were also asked to provide, prior to the next meeting, information on education and outreach activities relative to global warming that they are involved in or aware of. Staff will distribute a form to participants for this purpose. Materials are to be submitted to Jerry Shechter by February 1, 2007.

The next meeting of the Work Groups is on February 6, 2007 at the Kauffman Foundation at 4801 Rockhill Rd.

MichaelMorgan on "Welcome - Introduction"

MichaelMorgan — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 02:35:36 +0000

Great idea Marty!

JoanSteurer on "Welcome - Introduction"

JoanSteurer — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 23:45:10 +0000

Thanks for the forum, Marty!
~Joan Steurer~

admin on "Welcome - Introduction"

admin — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 04:24:44 +0000

This forum is for the people of the Metro Kansas City area to participate in Kansas City Missouri's Climate Protection Planning Process through discussion. How do we reduce greenhouse gas emmissions as individuals, families, businesses and governments in order to reduce global warming? The process has five work group topic areas. Energy, Transportation, Policy & Outreach, Carbon Offsets (pulling carbon out of the air), and Solid Waste. We will have a sixth topic area which is ideas that don't fit in any of the other categories or fit in more than one topic area.

Please choose a topic area and share what you have to say.