LED Giveaway for Button Up VT

This Fall the Winooski Energy Committee is going to be giving out free LED light bulbs as well as information about how to make homes warmer and more comfortable this winter. One event will happen on Saturday, November 11 from 11 AM – 1 PM at the Commodities grocery store in the Winooski circle.

We need your help though! Email me at bonniebwylie@gmail.com if you’d be up for hosting an event and giving away some light bulbs to members of your community. We can get as many light bulbs as we ask for, so let’s help out as many Winooski families as possible. It’s best to find a busy event like a basketball game, farmers market or just a spot where you know that a lot of people will be passing through (like the grocery store). We also recommend a 2-hour slot and doing it with at least one other person – it’s much more fun and you can handle double the people.

New Opportunities – Charging Station for Electric Vehicles in Winooski?

VERMONT DRIVE ELECTRIC WEEK CELEBRATION

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2015, 4:00 PM – 8:00 PM

VERMONT TEDDY BEAR COMPANY, SHELBURNE, VT

Drive Electric Vermont is hosting National Drive Electric Week’s main Vermont event at Vermont Teddy Bear Company on Wednesday, September 16^th. Join us to take a test drive and learn from owners about their experiences with super-efficient and fun to drive/ride electric cars and bikes!

• Come see the cars and chat with electric car owners
• Meet automaker representatives and local dealers who will be showing the latest electric car and bicycle models
• Take a test ride or driveto try out one of the many electric transportation offerings

Find out more and register to attend (it’s free!) at:

www.DriveElectricVT.com/events/ndew2015

Electric Vehicle Charging Station Grants

The Department of Housing and Community Development in partnership with the Agency of Natural resources is pleased to announce a third round of approximately $44,000 in Electric Vehicle Charging Station Grants for Designated Downtowns and Village Centers.  We are pleased to extend this funding opportunity to include designated village centers previously only available to designated downtowns.  This is a great bonus incentive for village centers looking to install electric vehicle charging stations.

Please let us know if you are interested in an electric vehicle charging station in your downtown or village center even if you are not in a position to apply this year.  Understanding the level of interest from communities will help us in our planning for the future of electric vehicle charging station grants.

Grant applications are due October 31, 2015.  See the Electric Vehicle Charging Station Grant Application for eligibility, funding and application requirements.  Any municipality with a Designated Downtown or Designated Village Center may apply for funding and must be submitted by the municipality.  The maximum grant amount is $25,000 with a 25% match requirement that can be cash or in-kind.

Priority consideration will be given to high priority areas that do not currently have an existing or planned EVCS in the designated downtown or village center and/or geographic location is close to major highways/roads.  You can find locations for the existing electric vehicle charging stations in Vermont by following this link.

http://www.driveelectricvt.com/charging-stations/public-charging-map

The electric vehicle charging station grant is a great funding opportunity to expand the network of charging stations statewide and we look forward to working with you.  Please contact Gary Holloway, the Downtown Program Coordinator at 802-828-3220 if you have questions or need assistance with the grant application.

Melanie Needle |Senior Planner

Leadership Champlain Class of 2014

Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission

110 W. Canal St. Suite 202|Winooski, VT 05404

802.846.4490 ext. 27| mneedle@ccrpcvt.org

ecosproject.com | www.ccrpcvt.org

Setting Goals: August Meeting Recap

We had a great meeting at 60 Winooski Falls Way in a gorgeous meeting room. Ideas were shared, goals were set, and we are gearing up for an exciting Fall. Here are the meeting notes:

I. Energy Seminars

  A. Our goal is to conduct one by year end

  B. VEIC has offered to conduct the seminar and hand out LED lights and smart power strips

  C. In order to guarantee a large audience we would like to add this event on to an ongoing event such as a senior center dinner, DWTN Winooski event or a community dinner

     1. We’re looking for ways to communicate with the Refugee Resettlement Program and learn more about upcoming events

     2. We’re seeking sponsors for a community dinner through the WCSPC

     3. We’re reaching out to the Senior Center to see if they’re having any dinners

II. Composting

  A. It was exciting to have a presence at the Farmer’s Market this summer, but we really need a year round option for composting

  B. Winooski’s Public Works department could be good partners in this effort

  C. There may be a way to coordinate with Earth Girl Composting in Montpelier

III. Button-Up Vermont

 A. Instead of trying to create a separate event for this, we’re going to incorporate Button-Up Vermont ideas and material into the seminar

Summer Status Update

Summer has been a bit slow as many of us are away on vacation or having babies (Congratulations Eranthie!!), but we had a great meeting last week and celebrated our first victory.

Composting

Step 1 in our master composting plan is complete! Based on the conversation we had with the Chittenden County Solid Waste Department, they have assigned an intern to the Winooski Farmer’s Market to hand out composting literature and free buckets. Now we’re trying to get a quote from a hauling company to ascertain what it would cost to have a toter available at the Farmer’s Market to collect food scraps that shoppers bring with them. Once we have this information we can apply for a NEGEF grant.

Energy Seminars

1. Senior Center: We are trying to coordinate an energy seminar that will tie into a tech education event or a Senior Club dinner.

2. How do you use your smart energy device: We’re reaching out to Green Mountain Power to see if we can get information/support for them on this seminar idea.

Goal Setting

1. Speaking with Game Theory for ideas on how to incentivize landlords to conduct energy audits – and make improvements to – their rental properties.

2. Reaching out to Vermont Gas to see if we can track # of audits. If this number is accessible we can track it as a way to measure success of the WEC.

Events/New Opportunities

1. Button Up Vermont – brainstorming how to help drive the success of this initiative.

2. Winooski Public School – VEEP has confirmed that they do not have a presence there but that one teacher has reached out and expressed interest in engaging with VEEP. We are attempting to connect with this teacher.

Next Steps

The Next Meeting of the Winooski Energy Committee will be on Sunday, August 30 from 1-2 PM at 60 Winooski Falls Way. One of our members lives there and has reserved their Events Room for us. A WEC member will be at the door to let members in to the space. Please feel free to bring in food and drinks from the Farmers Market.

Recap of June 17 Meeting

Great meeting last Wednesday! Just to recap, we talked about coordinating a compost drop-off at the Farmer’s Market, nature walks, and trying to increase the number of home energy audits/visits. In order to accomplish this we’d like to team up with other micro-communities in Winooski like the Senior Center, Winooski Schools, WCP, and CCV.

1. Composting – We formed a sub-committee to address the composting idea. The next step is to reach out to hauling companies and find out who is responsible for paying for waste disposal at the Farmer’s Market.

2. Nature Walks – We floated the idea of a nature walk including nature identification that ends at Waterworks where we can all get drinks afterwards. I’d love a partner in crime on this project 🙂

3. Energy Seminars – These can be put on at Senior Centers, schools, etc. We’re going to research the VEEP education program to see if Winooski schools already have a VEEP presence. If they do, maybe they can assist us with spreading energy-saving ideas and organizing a seminar. VEIC has offered to assist with this project too.

We’re continuing to stay true to our goals of involving both renters and homeowners, having fun, and making a measurable impact. Thanks again for bringing so much positive energy to the table, and please let me know if you’d like to be involved in any of our ongoing projects. And bring your ideas for other projects to the next meeting!

VEIC Meeting

Hi – I had a great meeting with Paul Markowitz from VEIC and he has a lot of ideas. I’m looking forward to discussing these with the rest of the team on Wednesday, June 17 at our next meeting.

• Energy data: this will take some time, but I can pull data on municipal energy use. We would need to provide it to the municipality – as they are our customer.  For town-wide electrical usage, this data can be found here.

• VECAN coordinator: I would suggest talking with Johanna Miller who works at VRNC and coordinates VECAN. She can be reached at jmiller@vnrc.org

• Landlord/rental study; Attached is a report on the Burlington rental market and efficiency.

• Strategic action toolkit: I forgot to mention it – but this is a good resource on setting priorities. The link can be found here.

• Home energy visits: I mentioned a program where volunteers conduct home energy visits to help folks identify energy saving opportunities in the home.  Information about that program and other outreach programs can be found here.

• Senior presentations:  we have done presentations for seniors on saving energy and provided free CFLs to distribute. This is a great activity at a senior meal site at the conclusion of the meal. It lasts about 30 minutes.  Attached is the presentation.

• Municipal energy use: please find a link to our website here.

Inaugural Meeting!

The Winooski Energy Committee got off to a fabulous start with craft IPA’s, specialty virgin cocktails, french fries with a duet of dipping sauces, and the roaring waterfall as a backdrop.

We came up with some great ideas that we could work on this year, and decided to emphasize a laid-back, fun culture in both our planning sessions and scope of work.

Here are the ideas we came up with:

1. Converting homes with electric heat to gas heat

2. Converting street lights to LED

3. Rallying around a statewide campaign like the Home Energy Challenge, Button Up VT, Way To Go Transportation challenge, etc.

4. Weatherization

5. Nature walks – potential for collaboration with Dream Program

6. Change zoning laws/building code

7. Investigate adding solar to schools/municipal buildings

8. Composting – find a delivery service and help them grow membership.

9. Arrange for tours of Winooki hydro, Williston Waste Center, etc.

10. Increase CCTA ridership

11. Work with schools to engage more of community (CCV or High School Environmental Clubs)

Next steps include the following:

1. Apply for a grant from NEGEF

2. Secure a booth at the farmers market to increase membership, give away branded composting buckets, and hand out a 1 page infographic with interesting statistics/relevant info.

3. Find out if we can get some Nests from Efficiency VT to use for giveaways.

4. Check out Burlington’s Climate Action Plan.

5. Investigate where Winooski energy comes from.

6. Find data on residential, commercial, municipal, and industrial energy use in Winooksi.

7. Reach out to people who could give nature walks.

Join us next month as we take the next step, evaluate the research we’re all doing, and figure out what we want to work on.