Chapel Hill Solar Roofs Committee
Annual Report
Presented to the Chapel Hill Town Council
September 23, 2002
In April 2000 the Town Council adopted a resolution establishing the Town's goal of 500 solar energy systems to be installed locally by 2010, and to organize a steering committee to encourage, accelerate, and advise in fulfilling that goal.[1] In November 2000, the Town Council appointed a 20-member Steering Committee, which began meeting the following month. Committee members include experts in the solar field, architects, elected officials, representatives from the schools and local government agencies, and area residents with an interest in solar power.
Using $6,000 provided by the Council, the Town hired a consultant who provided staff support for the Committee meetings and for the development of the Action Plan. The Steering Committee developed the Action Plan and presented it to Council on June 25, 2001. The Council approved implementation of the Action Plan on September 10, 2001, including the allocation of $5,000 in Town funds and authorization for the limited involvement of Town staff in carrying out the recommendations over one year; the Committee’s August 15, 2002 quarterly meeting marked the end of that one-year period. (Note: the Council later deferred the $5,000 allocation due to the state budgetary crisis.)
Progress
From November 2001 to August 2002, the Committee met on a quarterly basis and made significant progress on three projects:
Our accomplishments from the past year include:
· Submission of a successful grant application securing $4000 from the US Department of Energy to support the educational and publicity portions of the Committee’s proposed Hargraves and Community Center solar demonstration projects. The Hargraves display will not be installed until after the renovations of the building are finished in early 2003.
· Development of plans for creating and installing the Hargraves display board. A subcommittee proposed a design and location, and plans to meet with the Town to secure the approvals needed on issues such as placement on the site and design.
· Development of plans for the Estes Drive Community Center installation, which calls for mounting four solar water heating collectors on the roof above the building’s entrance. In addition to the collectors, which will supplement the existing gas water heater, the project includes an educational display and a real-time electronic monitoring of energy gain and gas saved. As a future enhancement, the system could relay this information from the monitor to Town’s web site.
The project has not yet gone beyond planning because of a funding shortfall. The Committee continues to seek donations and less restricted grants to purchase additional equipment. So far we have received equipment donations and price reductions valued at $4025; approximately $3000 is needed to cover the remaining material costs. In addition, members of the Committee are donating their time to do the installation free of charge.
· Submittal of an application to the Triangle Community Foundation to solicit private contributions that would pay for the remaining equipment needs for the Community Center project.
· Development of a database tracking new and established solar systems in Orange County. The database now has 120 entries of active solar systems on homes and businesses. (It does not track passive solar or day-lit buildings.) Approximately 90 of these systems, including the Hargraves system, are in or near Chapel Hill.
· Several members of the Committee spoke at and participated in Sustainability Day, April 19th, 2002, hosted by a coalition of CH High School groups organized by Rob Greenberg. A student from the group reported at the next Committee meeting on the coalition's future plans and ways we could coordinate with them.
· Planned and assigned authors for a series of articles to be published in the Chapel Hill Herald beginning this fall. These will be made available for publication in other media as well. Members of the Committee are working to have three feature articles completed in September to be submitted for future publication.
Funding Opportunities
The Committee plans to respond to requests for proposals to be issued this fall by the NC Energy Office and the U.S. Department of Energy. The State Energy Office will be making available $200,000 in grant awards that could be spent on a variety of solar projects, including covering equipment costs. A State Energy Office grant could cover all remaining costs associated with the Community Center project as well as easily support additional projects we may propose. In addition the Department of Energy will be issuing grant awards totaling $60,000. The funding is available to the State’s five – possibly growing to eight in the near future – Local Partners in the Solar Roofs Initiative.
Future Plans
An extensive description of plans and strategies are in the Action Plan. Due to the expected availability of grant funding, we do not anticipate requesting any Town funds to continue with Action Plan implementation. A few specific projects we will pursue this year, in addition to the completion of current projects, are:
· Promotion of the NC Green Power option for electricity purchases.
· Participation in the Green Building Tour hosted by the NC Sustainable Energy Association, scheduled for March 2003, to highlight local solar installations.
· Additional installations or performance monitoring projects funded by the USDOE/NC Energy Office RFP.
· Enhancement of the Town web site to include solar energy information.
· Integration of CHHS students into our activities.
Recommendations
Committee Continuance
In order to complete pending projects, seek substantial funding opportunities and build on the momentum created in the past year, the Committee requests that the Council authorize staff support for an additional year. The Committee also proposes to meet more regularly – once every two months – in order to finish projects under way and develop grant applications to launch new projects in 2003.
Future Role
The Steering Committee is application- and advocacy- oriented, and is currently at a good size and constituency to pursue initiatives (An active members list is included as Attachment 1, with the name of a recommended additional member). We agree on the importance of coordination with the broader concerns and activities of the proposed Energy, Environment, and Sustainability Committee and request assignment of a liaison with that committee, should it be established by the Council.