Warwick Building and Energy Committee Meeting Minutes

December 15, 2016 Call to order:  6:09 p.m.

Present:  Janice Kurkoski, Chair, Steve Kurkoski, Jack Cadwell, Dan
Dibble, and Mary Humphries

Public Comment:  None

Minutes of our last two meetings were approved by consensus.

Green Corner - The January Green Corner topic of NativeEnergy (carbon
offsets) was agreed upon and discussed in detail.  Important to relate
ease of website use and how information and choices are set forth in
basic terms.  How do offsets work? - GC ideas for Feb/Mar were also
discussed. Jack offered to submit an article on the positive experience
of his solar project for the March newsletter. Janice will email to the
committee the spreadsheet on Warwick residents who have installed solar
panels, and we will try to add up total kW output for the town.  Janice
will also keep the committee informed as to DOER legislation issues
regarding replacement of the SREC program.

GC Annual Report - Submitted!  Thank-you, Janice! Overall figures showed
that the total town energy use is down by less than 10%, with the goal
being a 20% decrease at the end of FY2018. The area needing work is our
vehicle fuel use which showed an increase. Various possibilities were
discussed including David Young's idea of purchasing a wing snow plow in
order to use only one vehicle instead of tandem plowing; essentially
cutting town plowing in half.  David has requested the committee's
feedback on this idea.  The DOER would need to approve. Review of other
GC projects to be done with the balance of our Green Communities money,
which is roughly $50K.  Heat pumps (for Highway Building and Town Hall
offices) and Town Hall ceiling fan installation will require roughly
$30K.  School energy use improvements?  Electric vehicle charging
station?  Speed-sensing sign?


GC Projects - Review of bids for heat pump installation.  The one
submission by Royal Steam leaves some questions as to suitability, so we
have gone out to bid again. Janice will send us the specifics of what
we're looking for in this heat pump project. The Highway Building
security light project is still pending.  We are now taking the written
plan from two years ago and submitting it to the Tech School.  There is
a possibility that the school could also do the heat pump for garage
office.

Town Hall Issues - Janice put back the winserts in the main hall of the
Town Hall and discovered that the finger joints have failed.  She
determined that there is no danger from them falling out, but this
problem needs to be addressed.  Pros and cons of repair versus total
re-do.  It was decided that we will first look into repairing the
existing winserts. She also put the Town Hall storm windows down. 
Perhaps more important than the winsert issue is the question as to why
the storm windows had not previously been put down, given that it is
mid-December?


Next meeting: Thursday, February 16, 2017    6:00-7:30 pm Divest Warwick
to be on that agenda.

Meeting adjourned at 7:40 p.m. Respectfully submitted: Mary Humphries