CFE agenda 050817 - Laserfiche WebLink

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• Becker discussed an interest in ensuring that the CFE maintained its focus on reducing food waste. • As there have recently been two educational articles on climate change written by Vice -Chair Kaiser and endorsed by the entire CFE, the Air and Energy committee will focus its outreach on website and Facebook page content. • The green building item was also discussed, along with Chapel Hill's pilot incentive program and the legal restrictions on incentives. The committee decided to specify that green retrofits are just as important as new construction and may focus on commercial development as there is likely to be more impact in that sector. • The committee desires to keep all existing priorities on the list and to add two related priorities that will be the specific focus for the upcoming year (numbers 1 and 2 below): Air and Energy Resources Committee Priorities: (Becker, Parry, Crook, Newby, Nickodem) 1. Review Carrboro's Climate Action Plan and related actions and assess their applicability and feasibility to Orange County operations and residents. 2. Survey grants that other local governments in NC are leveraging to work on environmental and sustainability projects and assess their feasibility Orange County. 3. GHG Emissions Inventory — Consider whether it is feasible and worthwhile to conduct a comprehensive update of the County 2005 greenhouse gas emissions inventory. 4. Green Building — Help the County develop an incentive program for green construction /retrofits. 5. Climate Change — Educate county residents about climate change, alternative energy sources and efficiency, and steps to reduce their (and County government's) carbon footprint. 6. Energy Efficiency — Partner with Piedmont Electric Membership Corp and /or Duke Energy to take advantage of USDA program for low- interest loans for energy efficient upgrades for its members /owners. Water Resources Committee Meetina Notes: • The committee agreed that they had completed their previous action item to conduct a literature review of maintaining stream buffers to protect water quality, aquatic habitat, and biodiversity. It was removed from their list. • They also agreed Priority 3 concerning Water Supply will be the main priority for this year and that Cada and Kaiser may write a news article about it. • Beyond that priority, Thomas - Ambat will brief the CFE about action item #4 below: Water Resources Committee Priorities: (Cads, Ray, Thomas - Ambat, Kaiser, Gray) 1. Hydrilla Treatments — Continue to educate the public about hydrilla and other invasive species of concern; continue to monitor chemical treatments to assure they are not harmful to rivers. (Status: Ongoing, periodic reporting from Tom)