ENERGY CONSERVATION COMMITTEE
MINUTES of MEETING
14 September 2010
The meeting was CALLED TO ORDER by Dick Voldstad at 3:06p.m. in the Brooke Worth Room. Committee members present were Andy Palmer, Paulding Phelps, Jack Schultz, Del Tweedie, and Bob Wright. There were no visitors.
The MINUTESOF THE LAST MEETING (8June2010) were approved as issued.
Dick reviewed the status of NEW-RESIDENT CFL INSTALLATIONS. Several apartmentsstill need to be visited and several more have been added to the list. Dick asked if we should continue visiting new residents. Everyone thought we should. Dick asked Del Tweedie to take over managing the program.
Some CFL bulb sizesare no longer in the storeroom. Some adaptive hardware is also missing. There are also questionsabout replacing CFL bulbs. Should residents ask their Committee representativesto replaceany bulbs that burn out prematurely or should the residents call Maintenance? Do we still replace old CFL bulbs that burn out or are residents now on their own with respect to normal burnouts? Dick said he’d ask Tom Kopach to address these itemsat our next meeting.
Paulding Phelps distributed a draft of a PLUG-IN ELECTRIC CAR handout whichasked residents to think about who should pay the electrical cost for chargingplug-incars. The handout saysthat the Committee hopes it will not be the community that pays the cost but, rather,an “honor system” in which residents reimburse Crosslands for the cost. Paulding said he wasgoing to draft a letter to Phil DeBaun and Rich Lysle suggesting a policy be adopted before rather than after the fact ofresidents owning rechargeable cars.
Jack Schultz said he thought thepolicy should be adopted before telling the residents about it. The Committee approved Paulding’s handout withone minor changeand decided that the policy letter should come first. The resident handout should be delayed until early October, after we hear from Phil. Paulding said he’d attach the resident handout to the policy letter and send us a draft of the letter for comments.
Dick reported that 70 apartments had opted out of ourNIGHTTIMEENTEL SETTINGS program (58º F winter, 84º F summer). This information came from Brian Lawrence, the electrical contractor who changed the settings during his annual EnTel inspection in August.
Note: Crosslands has about 290 independent-living apartments, so 24% have opted out and 76% are in.
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14 September 2010
Dick distributed a LINENS MANAGEMENT report based on information he’d received from Danny Hirst. About 72% of Crosslands residents have their linens changed every week. Some always have their beds made with the fresh linens whileothers make their own beds on the weeks without housekeeping. Danny gave Dick a copy of the information each new residentreceives telling them about their options and allowing them to choose what they want. Dick wondered if we should try to get more residents to choosethe bi-weekly linen changes. The Committee thought we should promote this onlyif it would save an appreciable amount of energy. Dick asked Del to contact Tom about the potential savings.
Dick said Tom was going to reschedule the TRI-MSOLAR-ENERGY PLANT VISIT that was cancelled in July because of rain.
Andy Palmer distributed copies of aGRAY-IS-GREEN SUSTAINABILITY CHECKLIST that she’d also posted on the Committee bulletin board. Andy wondered if we should support the Gray-Is-Green organization financially. The Committee thought we should not.
Bob Wright distributed copies of an announcement of a SUSTAINABILITY INITIATIVES meeting at Kendal on September 20. The subject of the meeting will be the thirteenSustainability Initiatives that were adopted by the Kendal Corporation’s Sustainability Project Group in August 2009. The speaker will be Tom Kopach, who spoke at Crosslands about the initiatives in March.
Dick distributed a PATIO ENCLOSURE MANAGEMENT handout in which he reported that one resident had asked in July if she could pay Crosslands an extra monthly fee to compensate for leaving her patio door partially open. Dick said he thinks our Committee’s purpose is to get residents to conserve energy, not to develop means for equitable sharing of energy costs. Dick thought the resident should be told that the details of patio temperature management are up to the individual resident as long as the effect on energy consumption is recognized and the community guidelines are essentially observed. The Committee agreed with Dick’s analysis. Jack said he thought we should tell the resident that the Committee can’t change the Kendal-Crosslands patio policy; she shouldcontact Phil DeBaun about that. The other Committee members thought we shouldn’t say anything about changing the policy.
Dick asked if we should support the CLEAR (Carbon Limits and Energy for America’s Renewal) legislation to limit carbon emissions by taxing all commercial emitters of fossil carbon dioxide and refunding 75% of therevenues to the general public. This proposal competes with a Cap-And-Trade bill that’spassed the House and is being consideredinthe Senate. In the latter bill, carbon emissions are capped and companies with lower emissions sell credits to companies with higher emissions.
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14 September 2010
The CLEAR proposal is endorsed by the Friends Committee on National Legislation. This is discussed in the FCNL Washington Newsletter (July/August edition) that Allen Bacon distributed to Committee members last month. The newsletter discusses global warming and says CLEAR is better than Cap-And-Trade. The Committee decided we shouldn’t become involved in national issues. Andy noted thatmembers can still be individually involved through the Letter Writing Committee. Although national issues are beyond the Committee’s purview, Andy thought local issues like bus service are not.
Dick reported that the CROSSLANDS WEBSITE is up and running. The Website Committee welcomes contributions from residents. Crosslands committees make contributions through a committee “Publisher”,whogatherscommittee information and submits it to the Website Committee. Dick, who’s a member of the Website Committee,has been serving as our Publisher. Paulding suggested that Dick consult the full Energy Conservation Committee about any questionable submittals he might receive. Andy suggested that meeting agendas and minutes be posted on the website.
Bob Wright reported that KENDAL ELECTRICAL USAGE was up 14% in June, July, and Augustof this year compared with the same monthslast year. Bob thought this was a direct result of a 72% increase in cooling degree daysin 2010 vs. 2009. Kendal’s peak demand charges during these same months were down 2.6%. Bob attributed theimprovement to his having told Kendal residents to avoid using their washer/dryers between 3:00 and 5:00 p.m.in the summermonths.
Dick said the Committee needs two NEW MEMBERS. Allen Bacon resigned in June and Dick Leonard died in July. Suggestions for ways to recruit new members were to publish the need in a Crosslands Chronicle article and to post it on the Committee bulletin board.
Dick noted that the Committee also needsPROGRAM SUGGESTIONSfor 2010 - 2011.
Note: Program suggestions should go to Del Tweedie, our Program Chair.
Dick ADJOURNED the meeting at 4:32 p.m. Our next meeting (October 12)will start at a new time, 1:30 p.m.
Jack Schultz, Secretary
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