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