San Joaquin Valley Energy Leader Partnership (VIEW)
PARTNERS MEETING SUMMARY NOTES December 1, 2011 | 10:00 a.m. County of Tulare RMA, RMA Main Conference Room| 5961 South Mooney Blvd., Visalia, CA 93277 Attendees: Lou Camara, City of Hanford Barbara Marty, City of Hanford Lew Nelson, City of Tulare Kim Loeb, City of Visalia Rhonda Mann, County of Kings
Gail Henry, County of Tulare Courtney Kalashian, SJVCEO Maureen Hoff, SJVCEO Hammad Chaudhry, SCE Mark Okino, SCE
Brian Thoburn, SCE Paulo Morais, So Cal Gas Mike Borja, City of Adelanto Belen Cordero, City of Adelanto
Location: County of Tulare RMA, Conference Room E, 5961 South Mooney Boulevard, Visalia, CA 93277 Time: 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Next Meeting: Thursday, January 5, 2012 Location: County of Tulare RMA, RMA Main Conference Room, 5961 South Mooney Boulevard, Visalia, CA 93277
Agenda Topics on December 1, 2011 1. Welcome and Introductions 2. Energy Savings 3. Marketing and Outreach Report 4. Strategic Plan Effort Update 5. Other Business 6. Adjourn VIEW Partnership Meeting
SUMMARY OF DISCUSSION Welcome and Introductions Gail Henry facilitated the meeting, starting with a welcome and introductions. Energy Savings Courtney Kalashian presented a list of projects completed in 2011 and those on the horizon for 2012 for each jurisdiction. She asked each jurisdiction to also provide project ideas for their ‘wish list’ to get an idea of what they might like to do in the future and what barriers (political, financial, etc) might stand in the way. For cities that did not have representation at the meeting, a simple recap of completed and upcoming projects was presented. City of Hanford – Lou Camara said that they are always looking to do energy efficiency projects but the barrier is seed money. He would like to attempt the on-bill financing (OBF) lighting project if that is a possibility. Mark Okino and Hammad Chaudhry said there may be an opportunity to do OBF and there will be a formal discussion in the near future to confirm if these finances are indeed available.
2012 Meeting Schedule: January 5, February 2, March 1, April 5, May 3, June 7, July 5, August 2, September 2, October 4, November 1, December 6.
San Joaquin Valley Energy Leader Partnership (VIEW) Mark added that he would like to see Hanford take advantage of plug load occupancy sensors and Hammad confirmed that there is product still available. Lou suggested a meeting with Hanford’s new IT manager. Paulo Morais suggested that a SCG representative come look at the city pool site to see if any gas savings can be realized with the heaters. This project is in the earliest stages and Paulo thought that more likely than not it can qualify for OBF through SCG; however, the City might have to finance some of the project. City of Lindsay – The city is currently in their EECBG projects. The SJVCEO’s Mike Nemeth will probably have to go down there to make sure the project continues to move forward. The city has 100 plug loads on the way, but Mark believes they will only use about 47. City of Porterville – The city has 200 plug loads which Mark agreed would be a good number. The airport taxi lighting project was completed, the waste water treatment plant project should be completed in mid to late 2012, and the city is looking at other pumping projects in the near future. City of Tulare – The plug loads have been installed but Lew Nelson said they could use about 20 more. Hammad will bring those by the next time he comes through town. Lew said there will be a strong focus in the city on LED lighting retrofits and they are in currently in two field trials with SCE for LEDs. Lew and Kim Loeb shared the concern that the LED streetlights are currently at a flat rate and only Edison can go through to replace them. Mark noted that SCE is looking into induction lighting versus LEDs, but these comparisons can take a while. Lew mentioned that there could be a potential project with the city’s two fire stations that need to have their living space remodeled, but he hesitates to slow the process. Paulo said if the facilities do not have an existing energy management system he could go that route, as well as possibly going for OBF. City of Visalia – The city has replaced all traffic signals to LEDs (not counted for Partnership), just recently replaced HVAC units, and the EECBG lighting project is moving forward and the pre-install inspection has been completed. Hammad added that the city will be at Gold after the completion of the lighting project. Kim expressed interest in finding out about EMS incentives from Paulo. The city has completed a comprehensive audit of 32 facilities so they will probably have many projects in the pipeline once they figure out what they need and want to do. A large project for the city will be the water conservation plant. Paulo reminded the group that SCG and SCE have co-funding available for Savings by Design and this could be an option for Visalia’s water conservation plant. 2012 Meeting Schedule: January 5, February 2, March 1, April 5, May 3, June 7, July 5, August 2, September 2, October 4, November 1, December 6.
San Joaquin Valley Energy Leader Partnership (VIEW) City of Woodlake – The EECBG project went out to bid for a second time, a contractor was selected, and now communications need to move forward to get things going. The waste water treatment plant project has been delayed until 2013. Paulo said he would be interested in the fuel cells at the WWTP but he is not sure if anything would count for a rebate or incentive. County of Kings – The county is about to begin work on the EECBG project, but Mark reminded them to submit applications before starting anything. Mike Nemeth and Courtney will discuss with Mark the application process and if the SJVCEO should submit applications on behalf of the county. Rhonda Mann says her IT guy is on board to help install their plug load power sensors of which there are about 600. Hammad will contact Rhonda to get a point of contact for installation. The county is currently doing solar projects through Chevron, changing lighting at Fire and Health, and would like to look at the library for potential projects. Rhonda would also like to look at the fire houses because they are not very efficient and there could potentially be gas savings with weatherization and water heaters. Hammad told Rhonda to check with Chevron for the solar projects to see if they are doing anything with energy efficiency in case there is an opportunity to claim savings. County of Tulare – The county has installed about 1,700 out of 4,000 plug loads and should be claiming the savings for these soon. Gail Henry said she mailed in an application for a boiler project to Matt Hendrick. Paulo said he would check the status of this and says it should account for about 1,500-2,000 therms. Gail will speak with Facilities and find out what is going on for potential projects. Paulo suggested that Gail put in a request to attend a county project review meeting and, if possible, have Paulo or someone else attend to get a better understanding of what potential projects exist and to give an overview of available financing and incentives. The County’s EECBG project has been put on hold but a large amount of it has been completed, including work in the RMA building and Courthouse. Hammad mentioned that a lot of lighting measures are becoming part of California’s baseline which means incentives on certain types of lighting will disappear, starting with T12s. He suggested that if there are lighting opportunities, jurisdictions might want to prioritize projects to maximize incentives. Hammad also added that the retro-commissioning program has been finalized and he will give a formal presentation to the Partnership in January. This is for measures that have less than a one year payback so the commitment is pretty low risk! Courtney invited meeting guests, Belen Cordero and Mike Borja from the City of Adelanto, to give an update on their jurisdiction’s current and future projects. The city has ordered 100 plug 2012 Meeting Schedule: January 5, February 2, March 1, April 5, May 3, June 7, July 5, August 2, September 2, October 4, November 1, December 6.
San Joaquin Valley Energy Leader Partnership (VIEW) loads and finally completed a lighting project that encountered many issues along the way. The city is working on increasing the partnership’s presence, getting the word out, and doing educational presentations. The city is looking to really lead the way with the desert cities and has a million dollar grant to develop a sustainable community at the height of the desert.
Marketing and Outreach Report The partnership is finally ready to do a brochure reprint that will be a bit more sophisticated, include both utilities, and promote core programs. Courtney and Maureen received a very reasonable price quote and the print shop has worked with SCE and knows the process of approvals. Courtney requested a high resolution logo from the County of Kings, but Hammad said he can work with Edison marketing to get it. The new brochure will the same size as the current brochure and will also include cut-sheets to insert for different topics. Maureen and Courtney will work with Hammad and Paulo to get information on utility core programs, including Energy Upgrade California. Upcoming marketing events include the Visalia SpringFest Home and Patio Show and the Valley Go Green Summit, both which will take place in February. Maureen will provide a sign-up sheet at the January partnership meeting and via email for those interested in volunteering their time at the VIEW booth. There will be a holiday light exchange in Hanford on Friday, December 2 nd and in Visalia on Saturday, December 3rd. Hammad gave an update on the Living Wise school program that came through the VIEW jurisdictions. The program will start again next year and will be going to the counties of Kings and Tulare. Strategic Plan Effort Update Courtney reminded everyone that in order to finish the Energy Action plans she and Maureen will need the data from the benchmarking project. She added that she does realize this project has taken much longer than anticipated but feels that we are leaps and bounds ahead of other partnerships so we want to keep pushing forward. Paulo agreed and noted that benchmarking ties in very well to the retro-commissioning program. Portfolio Manager will be getting a facelift in 2013 that will make it comparable to the easy-touse features of Turbo Tax. Webinars have been planned to outline these changes, however they have filled up quickly. Maureen and Courtney plan to participate and will fill everyone in on the changes. The Energy Efficiency language template for General Plan Updates is on track for completion by year end. Courtney asked that partners please complete the Survey Monkey survey if you have not already. 2012 Meeting Schedule: January 5, February 2, March 1, April 5, May 3, June 7, July 5, August 2, September 2, October 4, November 1, December 6.
San Joaquin Valley Energy Leader Partnership (VIEW) VIEW plans to bring through a Title 24 Code Enforcement Best Practices program in March. A third party will come into the jurisdictions to observe and see how they are doing and then will create a series of best practices. Other Business Courtney thanked everyone for attending the VIEW the Success luncheon in November, saying that we would like to do it again next year. She added that she would like to adjust the seating to have one larger table and hopes to have more elected officials. The next luncheon will take place on November 1, 2012 so please get the word out so elected officials can plan for it. The luncheon ties nicely into Strategic Planning menu item 1.1.6 which is education of elected officials. The City of Adelanto shared that the whole view at the city has been changed since an ‘energy efficiency 101’ workshop and said that education needs to be performed often to keep everyone in the loop and to teach the importance of energy efficiency. The Facilitator for next meeting will be Kim Loeb. Paulo reported that the gas company’s OBF program has changed and multiple facilities can now be aggregated under one loan. He also reminder partners that they do have to notify the utilities in advance to make sure the project will qualify. It is not the same process as incentives. Adjourn VIEW Partnership Meeting As there was no further business, Gail adjourned the meeting at 11:48am.
ACTION ITEMS Lou Camara, Hanford’s new IT manager, and Mark Okino to set up date to meet regarding plug load occupancy sensors. Paulo Morais to organize for a SCG representative to look at Hanford’s pool site to see if any gas savings can be realized with the heaters. Excess plug loads to be removed from the City of Lindsay because Mark Okino believes only 47 of the 100 delivered will be used. Hammad will bring 20 additional plug load occupancy sensors to the City of Tulare the next time he comes through town. Paulo Morais to get information to Kim Loeb on EMS incentives. Hammad will contact Rhonda Mann to get a point of contact for plug load occupancy sensor installation. 2012 Meeting Schedule: January 5, February 2, March 1, April 5, May 3, June 7, July 5, August 2, September 2, October 4, November 1, December 6.
San Joaquin Valley Energy Leader Partnership (VIEW) Hammad will organize a formal presentation on the retro-commissioning program at the January Partnership meeting. Hammad will work with SCE marketing to produce a high resolution logo for the County of Kings. Maureen will send Hammad what we have on file for the county. All jurisdictions to get the word out to elected officials for the next Partnership luncheon on November 1, 2012.
2012 Meeting Schedule: January 5, February 2, March 1, April 5, May 3, June 7, July 5, August 2, September 2, October 4, November 1, December 6.