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<br /> <br /> 1 <br />Orange County <br />Commission for the Environment <br /> <br />Meeting Summary <br /> <br />March 14, 2016 <br />Orange County Solid Waste Administration Building, Chapel Hill <br />________________________________________________________________________________________________________ <br /> <br />PRESENT: Lydia Wegman (Chair), May Becker, Lynne Gronback, Loren Hintz, Bill Kaiser, <br />Bill Newby <br /> <br />ABSENT: Peter Cada, Thomas Eisenhart, Jeanette O’Connor, Rebecca Ray, Sheila <br />Thomas-Ambat, David Welch <br /> <br />STAFF: Tom Davis, Brennan Bouma GUEST: Muriel Williman <br />_______________________________________________________________________________________________________ <br /> <br />I. Call to Order – Wegman called the meeting to order at 7:35 pm, and noted there was <br />not a quorum of members present <br /> <br />II. Ad ditions or Changes to Agenda – There were none. <br /> <br />III. Minutes – Wegman asked for comments on the February 8 meeting summary. There <br />were none, but no action was taken due to the lack of a quorum of members present. <br /> <br />IV. Energy and Water Usage - County Buildings & Facilities – Bouma provided an <br />update on Orange County sustainability projects, including 2015 energy and water <br />usage figures for County-owned buildings and facilities. <br /> <br />Bouma reported that each year Asset Management Services (AMS) and other <br />departments update the BOCC on the County’s progress toward meeting its goal of <br />environmental responsibility, which was adopted in 2005. He said representatives from <br />many departments formed the Environmental Stewardship Advisory Committee and <br />together they developed specific objectives for environmental responsibility. The <br />committee’s name will be changed to the Environment and Sustainability Advisory <br />Committee to reflect the role of the new Sustainability Coordinator in reconvening it. <br /> <br />Bouma reported that in FY14 the County’s energy usage reduction (measured as <br />MMbtu/sqft) was at 17% below the baseline year of FY 2010, which was ahead of its <br />goal for that year. He and his colleagues will be calculating FY15 progress in the next <br />few weeks. Bouma noted that these analyses only includes County buildings and only <br />those funded through tax revenues, not fee-supported facilities like the SportsPlex or <br />those of the Solid Waste Management Department. <br /> <br />Bouma said the County’s water usage reduction goals are being met, but the fuel use <br />reduction goals are actually trending upwards. He said part of that trend is due to the <br />Sherriff’s Office and Emergency Services vehicles having to drive more miles. Bouma <br />said has been working with both of those fleet users since last year’s numbers were <br />reported, and is hopeful that these efforts will show up as an mpg improvement. With <br />Emergency Services he has been using a grant to pilot the use of idle reduction <br />technologies, and with the Sherriff’s Office he has been using a grant to pilot the use of <br />bi-fuel propane-powered vehicles. Bouma explained that propane vehicles could <br />provide a carbon emissions reduction and operations cost reduction benefit, while using <br />a domestically produced energy source.