Minutes 02-04-2020 Business Meeting

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13 Commissioner McKee said he is very much in favor of the weatherization effort and the LED recommended projects. Commissioner McKee said he found the back up information on the schools' projects sorely lacking, and he is glad that these projects are going to be deferred for further conversation, and buy in from school partners. He said he will send his questions to staff and the Board his questions, and there are a lot of details involved in these types of projects. Chair Rich said the Board signed onto a petition with Duke Energy to get solar onto the schools, and asked if this project would be in partnership with that one. Commissioner Marcoplos said this is completely separate. Chair Rich said if that is the case, then feasibly more than two schools could have solar panels. Commissioner Marcoplos said there will be a meeting with Duke Energy in the coming weeks including the Durham County Commissioners, Chatham County Commissioners, former Apex Town Councilman, and himself. He said the goal is to ask Duke Energy to duplicate its efforts in California and Arizona where it installed solar arrays on schools at no cost. Commissioner Marcoplos said the first solar array in North Carolina was built in Raleigh in a park and ride lot, so there are many options. Commissioner McKee said there should be more options than just placing the array on a roof. Commissioner Marcoplos said the Board spoke in recent months about putting solar arrays on some schools, and staff said more power could be generated, for the money, from one system, which made sense to him. He said one option would be to do a large array in one school system, followed by another large array in the other school system a year later. He asked if there is any merit to this idea, as there would be more energy generated for the dollar. Brennan Bouma said it is possible, and he could research this further. He said the $150,000 was chosen as a budgeting item based on a quote received to put solar on the roof of the Central Recreation Center, which was identified in the County's feasibility assessment as a top option, due to a recently replaced roof, good solar access, etc. Brennan Bouma said the Commission for the Environment is concerned with being equitable between the schools districts. Commissioner Marcoplos said he is curious if the amount of energy generated, for the cost invested, was significantly higher. He said he would like to have more information on the weatherization, and stressed the importance of keeping careful records and analyses on these projects. He said strong outreach around these projects will be very important, as there will be skeptics. He said he feels these projects will be successful, and having data will allay skepticism. He thanked staff for all its work. Commissioner Price referred to the LED campaign, and said one one matrix has a cost of $19,000 while the appendix lists it as $12,000. She asked if one number is more accurate. Brennan Bouma said the Commission for the Environment saw a cost of$12,000, and the hope was to reproduce the program in the way the Commission saw it. He said the costs were increased after conversations with project partners about needs being greater. He said the $19,000 is closer to what the actual cost will be. Commissioner Price said in the past there was a discussion of putting solar arrays in front of businesses and homes, but this option was determined to be unsightly, which may be in the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO). She asked if staff would look into this, and possibly have this removed from the UDO. She said telephone poles are unsightly, and she does not want restrictions in place that will prevent cleaner and more efficient energy from moving forward. Commissioner Marcoplos said homeowner associations are likely the greatest impediment to these projects.