RF100 After The Resolution

Nov 18, 2019 - Conference and Panel Discussion

 whats nextconf crowd

For Municipal Officials, Staff and Cmte Members

Your municipality has passed a resolution that sets goals for a community-wide transition to 100% renewable energy.

Now What?


Here are the presentations and notes from the conference.

Notes and Actions From Meeting

  • Article in Ambler Gazette

  • PECO $1000 Rebate promoting gas furnaces is part of ACT 129. Need to learn more about that. Julian says it’s directed by PUC. 

  • Energy transition planning - let’s try to track all of the efforts in the area. Or at least ID initial scope and contact info. See summary in Jim's intro.

    • The Montco landscape is complex: an initiative that involves the collaboration of 48 munis in Montco is exciting. Creates large buying power. And some non-RF100 towns have expressed interest in participating because of what they’ve heard about RF100. But how long will it take and will the RE goals (100% by 2035/50) be watered down in the final plan/report/study?

    • Related materials: Consortium Mtg 11/15/19, DVRPC presentation, DEP presentation, MCPC presentation

    • Should Montco RF100 munis do ETP planning in parallel? They are already, to various degrees. Do they need to be coordinated, or just be aware of each other?

    • What is RF100 team’s role? Help wherever we can.

    • Let’s take the first one we get and make it better. Repeat.

    • ACTION - Host Conf Call on regional ETPs. Perhaps quarterly? For volunteers.

    • ACTION - Host Conf Call on West Chester final plan. After Jan 16. For Twp officials/staff.

    • ACTION - Organize ETP resource page to describe scope (and maybe status) of all ETP initiatives in the area
      RESPONSE (click)

    • ACTION - In Montco, organize meeting w volunteers, Montco PC, interested Twp staff to talk about what kinds of things are possible, not

  • Municipal EV Fleet Opportunities - example of one muni fleet (in Canada i think) that had 25 vehicles. Simulations show that 11 of them would be more cost effective if they were EVs today.

    • ACTION - Host Conf Call to drill into potential fleet cost analysis. Target Twp staff.

    • Perhaps we need a local muni test case to run this analysis.

  • Electric Buses - certain routes make sense to go EV. Tests now running at the Navy Yard with city buses. Makes sense for school buses too. There is grant money available for this in 2020. The pollution reduction opportunity just makes this a no brainer if the costs make sense.volunteers w Jodie

    • ACTION - Host a Conf Call about RF100 Schools. Make e-buses a topic.

  • RE/EE Project Financing - the key is aggregated buying in public and non-profit sector areas, from street lighting to community college campus improvements, to upgrades for water and wastewater treatment facilities, to resilient energy generation using renewable energy, storage and microgrids. See FREE Policy Brief.

    • ACTION - talk to PennSEF staff about specific projects appropriate for RF100 communities. 

    • ACTION - get proposal from PennSEF for doing a community-wide rooftop solar assessment for all 24 suburban communities (already been done for Phila).
      RESPONSE (click)

  • Climate Collaboration of Greater Philadelphia (https://phillyclimatecollab.com/) - Zach Greene couldn’t make it, but this certainly seems like an opportunity for big energy users in the region. Think Solar PPAs like the Phila or SEPTA contracts.

    • ACTION - RF100 volunteers to gauge interest of several institutions and big companies to join a call with Zach. Start by building a list of potential participants.

  • Energy Efficiency - we can’t exceed the building codes set by the state, but we can do some other things to incentivize builders and permit applicants to use electric appliances and higher efficiency appliances. 

    • See Green Building Program in Sunnyvale, CA

    • C-PACE programs still not available in our area. Montco and Chesco are “working on it”. 

    • We can influence the building codes by encouraging out townships to vote this year for higher standards.

    • Can we require/inspire net-zero buildings, solar-ready buildings?

    • ACTION - organize mtg with RF100 volunteers, Jon Lesher (MCPC) and a few twp managers to discuss what can be done with zoning, ordinances and codes.

    • ACTION - adapt the list of building efficiency recommendations that GBU did for Philadelphia for suburban counties. Create an Efficient Buildings page in the RF100 Info Center.

  • Municipal Elec Purchasing Aggregation - Jay Carlis suggested working through the elec procurement companies that we currently use to help organize (line up) contracts for muni operations. Needs to add up to at least 40 MW. 

    • Jon Lesher announced that Montco PC and DVRPC are looking at doing this kind of organization (for Montco munis? For Solsmart munis?)

    • Is a solar PPA regulated by the PUC in any way?

    • Community Energy also trying to organize - www.communityenergyinc.com/munippas

    • ACTION - figure out what the next step is. Wait for DVRPC? Engage with CE? Other elec procurement firm?

  • Community Solar - let’s first define “the community”. Instead of building a Solar Garden 30 miles away from the “subscribers”, let’s consider using assets within the local community: muni buildings, parking lots, warehouses, etc. Possibly administered by an existing muni service structure, like trash collection or sewer or public water. Perhaps this is feasible now - without waiting for Community Solar legislation.

    • Very interesting. Many questions. We need a financial assessment. Will we have the scale to make this attractive to residents?

    • ACTION - define objectives of RF100 communities with interest in thinking outside the box for a program like this. Send to PennSEF.

    • ACTION - setup conf call with PennSEF to explore details. What questions do we need to answer.

  • Community Engagement - many of the towns that we are working with are on the on the PA DEP’s list of Env Justice communities. We need to make sure we engage and get input from people that do not typically have a voice in their local government. And expand our message to people that don’t typically get Sierra Club and other activist emails.

    • ACTION - work with Allison to organize round table discussions about energy transition in Norristown, Coatesville, Chester, Darby.

    • See EJViewer -

  • National Momentum - Jodie told us about the impact we are having across the country. More than 25% of US residents live in communities that have committed to 100% renewable energy.

    pizza

ACTION Responses

  • PECO $1000 Rebate promoting gas furnaces is part of ACT 129.

    Julian Boggs: This is a specific policy by the PUC that encourages utilities to replace electric resistance heat with energy star (highly efficient) natural gas heaters. More here: http://www.puc.pa.gov/electric/pdf/Act129/FSWG-SL121009pdf. The policy was first adopted in 2009 it was probably in good faith seen as pro-climate. Low-income advocates were strongly in favor - electric resistance heating, the kind utilities pushed onto customers in the 80s, is very inefficient and can lead to price-gouging in the winter. The best way to fix this is to amend Act 129 to make the requirement to reduce energy consumption.

    Henry Alexander: The attached shows that natural gas is a loser in the PGW territory. See Henry's analysis.

    Draft Resolution: We have drafted a municipal resolution for all RF100 communities to consider which calls on PECO to adjust their Act 129 strategy, stop encouraging a switch from elec to gas and add incentives for high efficiency air source heat pumps. See draft resolution HERE.

  • ETP Status Page - Done. See RF100 Support: Energy Planning.

  • PennSEF Proposal for doing a community-wide rooftop solar assessment for all 24 suburban communities (already been done for Phila).
    Proposal HERE.