Agenda - 03-19-2013 - 5a - Laserfiche WebLink

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5 1 water quality, air quality and biological projects. That work will be ongoing. He said that this 2 memo outlines an opportunity to increase the work around clean and renewable energy and 3 look for ways to build it, in cooperation with various planning departments. The goal is to find 4 ways to promote deployment and use of newer technologies for efficiency and renewable 5 energy. This request came to them last year from NCWarn, through the County 6 Commissioners, for a task force around clean energy. He said this task force is excited to help 7 find different way to change county policy to incorporate this technology and to share best 8 practices. 9 Commissioner Pelissier questioned if this is something that would be a separate group 10 for staff to meet with every month, or if it is a subcommittee of the Commission for the 11 Environment. 12 David Neal said the commission has an energy committee that would serve as host for 13 this task force. Invitations would be sent out for different meetings on different topics. For 14 example a task force meeting might be called on reducing energy in existing buildings or new 15 construction. The purpose of these meetings would be to bring people together to share best 16 practices and new ideas. Any new proposals that came out of this would go to the Commission 17 for the Environment to be vetted before presentation to the County Commissioners. 18 Commissioner Pelissier asked if the Greenhouse Gas Emission Studies were on hold. 19 Dave Stancil said they completed, in conjunction with Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and 20 Hillsborough, a multi-year effort to inventory greenhouse gas emissions and develop a forecast 21 for the future. Shortly after completion of this study, economic downturn occurred and priorities 22 were shifted and there has been little follow up. The next step would be to find measures to 23 begin to develop targets for reduction. The other piece would be community outreach via 24 community meetings to ask the public for input on measures that make sense to address this 25 issue. Chapel Hill and Carrboro have taken some action toward that end. 26 Commissioner Gordon said the Commission for the Environment has committees and 27 usually these committees don't have sub-committees. However at the time of the greenhouse 28 gas studies, there was a committee working with the commissioners and had representatives 29 from each jurisdiction. Commissioner Gordon asked if this current organization is a sub- 30 committee of the Air and Energy Committee. 31 David Neal said it is not going to be a sub-committee. It is being called a work group and 32 would not have constant membership. Depending on topics covered, different people would be 33 brought to the table by applicable expertise and what information needed to be shared. This 34 would all be done publicly. For example, they brought forth two proposals last year, one to 35 create a rebate program for energy efficient construction, and the other was a solar set-aside 36 program for developers to set aside land for future solar development. David Neal said that he 37 and a colleague both met with the planning board regarding these initiatives, but they have 38 been unable to follow up since there are other boards and staff that have to be worked with. 39 The idea of this work group is that it would be a way to bring people together more regularly to 40 craft policies or drafts of policies for consideration by the Commissioners. 41 Commissioner McKee said he did not see in the report any developing strategies to 42 avoid increasing housing cost with its impact on the lower middle income. He noted the mention 43 of setting aside housing developments for solar energy, which would mean overall increase in 44 cost per lot, thus cost for house. He said he is concerned that while these are admirable goals, 45 the unintended consequences of newer technology, is an increased housing cost that some 46 citizens have a very hard time bearing. 47 David Neal said thought has been given to this. He said one issue is how to line it up 48 better. It costs more up front, but it saves money over time on power bills. The builder does not 49 have the incentive that the future occupant of the house does. The rebates mentioned earlier