Brattleboro Energy Committee Meeting

 

 

Brattleboro Energy Committee

Monday October 19th, 2026, 5:30pm

Hybrid meeting on Zoom and in-person at Brooks Memorial Library

Please join the meeting from your computer, tablet, or smartphone using this link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84694214968?pwd=V5BeJLAfVRJKzzrNQJ4ExbTb0WI7NP.1

Passcode: 092734     Meeting ID: 846 9421 4968

Phone attendees dial toll-free (US): 888-788-0099, 833-548-0276, 833-548-0282, 877-853-5247

Meeting ID: 873 2694 8486           Mute and unmute = *6, *9 to raise your hand

·       Welcome, open meeting

·       Approve minutes from last meeting

·       Updates from the Sustainability Coordinator

• • • Rooftop solar at the library is almost complete, and we’re preparing for the process of claiming the tax credits. The tax credit funds should go back into the GWSF.
      • Net metering credits from the library rooftop array will be allocated across the portfolio of Town buildings, This particular array will produce around 90,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) each year, and maintain that production for most of its lifespan (25-30 years). At current electric prices, this energy amounts to $592,000 – $760,000 of value provided to the Town across the 25-30 years it is active. To look at it in terms of carbon emissions, this array will prevent the release of roughly 1100 metrics tons of CO2
    • We’re in the process of being reimbursed $75,000 for the HVAC system at Central Fire, from the Dept. of Energy’s EECBG voucher program.
    • We have resubmitted to a state grant program for EV charging stations at the municipal center/library and Depot St. parking lots.

·       Project updates

• • • Repair café
    • Ebike

·       Gas Powered Tools vs. Electric in Brattleboro

·       Fric’s draft proposal Sustainability guide/ promotion

·       Strategic Planning

·       Social Media

·       Public Comment  

·       Close Meeting

 

DRAFT GUIDE FOR REVIEW

 

SUSTAINABILITY  GUIDE   9/9/’26 edit
From Brattleboro’s Energy Committee:

INTRO:
This guide is intended to provide ideas for how individuals and households can reduce energy expenses and increase resilience.  
Since housing tends to be the largest budget item for most households, that will be the primary focus of this guide.  We will also cover transportation, food security, and mutual aid.
Updates to this guide will be posted on the Energy Committee’s page on the Town website (insert URL).  Brattleboro’s Public Policy goals are separately articulated in the Charter (link?).
The goal here is to help individuals make informed choices about their own future welfare, and in so doing create a more resilient community.

HOUSING:
This section is divided into five subsections since many recommendations are more applicable to one category. They are: Tenants, Housing Providers, Home Owners, and Commercial.  
A bonus section for building science geeks, builders and Architects will be added at the end, for those who want more.

First some general recommendations, many of which can be found on the Efficiency Vermont website (URL).  Heating and cooling are the most expensive areas that we can control.  Insulation, air tightness, efficiency of heating and cooling systems, prices of energy, and occupants’ behavior all contribute to the cost.  Setting thermostats as low as tolerable in the winter and as high as possible in the summer is the easiest first step.  Because the relationship of the relative temperature to demand is not linear, the savings from a small adjustment is greater than most people imagine.  
Windows are the area of greatest heat loss in the typical building.  Though they can be very expensive to replace, especially with the best high performance ones, they are one of the easiest to temporarily retrofit.  Options range from simple things to reduce infiltration to adding layers of glazing (insert Window Dressers URL).  Heavy curtains or insulated plugs to close off the window at night and when it is especially cold or hot are the most cost effective options.

Tenants:
Whether you pay for utilities directly or not, you are still paying for them.  The things you can control include:
Heat. Adjust your thermostat, don’t leave doors or windows open when heat or air conditioning is running.  Wear appropriate clothing for the season.
Electric.  Turn things off when not in use.  Electronics often use some electricity even when “off”.  This can be solved by unplugging them or turning off the power strip that they are plugged into.
Water.  Most units in Brattleboro have municipal water and sewer.  Dripping faucets and running toilets can easily use more water than everything else combined.  Let management know right away when you discover a leak, and then turn off the water to the fixture when not in use.

Housing Providers:
Though residents bear a lot of responsibility for how much utilities are used, you can set them up for success.  Strategic investments in improvements, combined with tenant education can have benefits for residents and owners.  Even where you don’t cover utilities, increasing efficiency will decrease collection challenges and reduce turnover.  
Efficient appliances, whether they use energy or water, are a good investment.
Weatherization is more site dependent.  Opportunities range from inexpensive air sealing to major overhaul of the structure.  Guidance and some funding are available through Efficiency Vermont (link) and some community action agencies (link).

Home Owners:
Those who own the spaces they live in have the greatest opportunity to change their utility consumption.  They also are likely to have much higher per capita utility usage by having larger stand-alone structures.  
All of the recommendations above apply to homeowners.  
In addition, what follows are some ideas that are easier for homeowners to pull off than others.
Foundation insulation with spray foam from the inside is very effective for warmth and humidity control.  Adding a layer of foam to the exterior of the foundation is a cheaper, less effective option that can be done by most people.
Air sealing and insulation, especially the attic, are also important first steps.
Appliances are a major source of utility demand, and among those, the worst are likely to be the refrigerator and the water heater.  These are also likely to be the biggest opportunities for savings.  
All appliances list their energy consumption.  It’s worth looking at these tags.  
Refrigerators are likely to be more efficient if they don’t include extra features.  Those with ice makers are likely to use more energy.  Though extremely convenient, automatic defrosting is energy intensive.
Options for water heating include the heat pump version, which are a vast improvement over conventional electric water heaters.  When placed in the basement, they double as dehumidifiers which can be a big advantage in the summer.  
Adding solar can both reduce your utility bills and keep the sun off a significant portion of your roof.  
Home backup batteries increase resilience, and are a great complement to a solar system.  Just check with your insurance company, since some battery chemistries create more of a fire hazard than others.
For more on innovative ways to approach all of these challenges, especially if you are considering building a new home, check out the section below for Geeks and Architects.

Commercial:
The opportunities for energy/ cost savings in commercial buildings are as great as the variety and complexity if the structures and uses.  Electrical usage for lighting and machinery, mechanical or electronic, tends to be proportional to roof space.  This is a convenient coincidence.  Flat roofs especially are ideal for solar installations, and with the vertical solar panel systems now on the market, weight added to the roof is no longer a factor in most situations.  Sloped roofs can be a bit more of a challenge, but can also have better orientation to the sun.  When combined with a large stationary battery (many affordable options are coming to market), need for backup generators and large demand side costs from the power company can be reduced or eliminated.  
For manufacturers, the Rocky Mountain Institute might be a good resource (https://rmi.org).

Geeks and Architects:
Though there are many new and exciting innovations in building science, a number of which deserve a mention, it is worth noting that there are a lot of buildings out there that are hundreds or even thousands of years old that perform well to this day, especially in terms of what makes a structure resilient.  The oldest tend to be masonry, naturally managing indoor temperature and humidity, along with highly resistant to fire and, if built right, earth quake resistant (Muslin section of Skopje, Macedonia for example).
More modest structures built of local materials that have stood the test of time have been made of sod, adobe, wattle and daub, or even straw with clay plaster.  
The first couple centuries of wood frame construction were draftier, but thanks to masonry foundations, fire places/chimneys, and roofs (slate or tile), they held up fairly well, as evidenced by the number that still remain.  
For most of the last century people have been trying to find ways to make them more comfortable.  Adding central heating allowing for indoor plumbing, then storm windows and insulation.  
Along with these improvements came a steady stream of Industrial Revolution, then Information Technology societal expectations that have become an integral part of our built environment.  All along the way, our buildings have become more complex and less resilient.  At the same time it has taken more expertise to build and maintain our buildings, and the general population has become less skilled at the craft, making them more dependent upon the few who are skilled, or those who at least own tools.

With modern construction techniques have come many short-term benefits, and host of longer-term challenges.  
For at least a half century we have been able to build affordably in a ways that don’t require heating or cooling, in most climates, yet we persist in building the way we always have, with improvements, some very technical and expensive.  
Our wood frame houses have historically been very tolerant of getting wet if the roof leaked because they could dry out easily, resulting in little or no damage. Those built today use materials that are less tolerant of moisture, don’t dry out as well, and have far greater chance of condensation buildup in very tight exterior walls and roof systems.  They are often poorly designed and built due to an inadequate understanding of building science, or worse yet, due to the fact that those who design and build them are not the ones who have to live with them.
Understanding where moisture travels and how it behaves is essential in modern buildings, as never before.   Making sure that any building system can dry out once it gets wet is critical to the longevity of the building.  The biggest challenge is understanding where moisture from inside in cold climates (or from outside in hot climates) is likely to condense.  The more complex the design, the harder it is predict and control these factors.  
State-of-art buildings are designed with, and dependent upon highly engineered materials and equipment.  Complex high performance systems may be extremely efficient when commissioned, but are very dependent upon expert maintenance.   The original owner is likely to have some understanding of the equipment, and have relationships with the relevant contractors in order to maintain their systems.  As a building like this changes hands, it becomes less and less likely that the original systems will be maintained.  History tells us that a majority of them have been decommissioned and replaced with more conventional, less efficient systems, within a couple decades.  

The good news is that there are simple designs that are very high performance, that require very little maintenance, and can be built very affordably.  
A modest shed roof home made with SIPs on an insulated Alaskan slab, with good Southern exposure performs extremely well in New England, needing little to no space heating.  Earth Ships and other bermed or buried structures can be made to perform well in a wide range of climates.  There are local examples, built a half century ago, that have performed well.  Other more conventional structures have been able to perform quite well, when designed with resilience as the primary focus.  It turns out that thermal mass is nearly as important as insulation when it comes to maintaining a stable temperature.   Similarly, there are materials that are good at absorbing excess moisture, that can also help stabilize humidity.  

The key to a building’s resilience involve durability and maintainability, with redundancy where failure is not just inconvenient.  Roof and heating systems come to mind in our New England climate.  The slate-on-board roof is well suited to this environment.  It’s long lasting, self venting, and when a slate or two fall out, dries quickly.  Durability of roofing material, managing moisture in a roof system, and ideally some level of redundancy, are all components of a resilient roof.  The standard asphalt shingle roof meets none of these criteria.  It is designed to have a limited life, and it’s not reusable or recyclable.  A leak that causes some damage to the house is the way most people find out that it has failed.  We are one of the only countries on the planet where disposable roofing is used.

A house made from locally sourced material, in ways that are relatively straightforward, are likely to be more affordable and easier to maintain.  
Many of the cost of building, along with ongoing related expenses can be greatly reduced, with a little planning and creativity.  
A simple building that is not bigger than necessary is a great place to start.  That reduces construction cost, along with many of the ongoing costs, such as taxes, maintenance, and utility bills.  
In most cases, necessary electrical, climate control, and hot water can be provided by solar panels, thus eliminating or at least reducing utility costs.
The volatility of energy prices makes a strong case for as much energy independence as possible.

If we were willing to give up our obsession with the single family house, and look to other places where people live far more affordably (and cooperatively), there are many ways we could have better lives.

The following links are good resources for information and inspiration:
RMI
NESEA
SEON <https://buildingscience.org>
Green Building News
Rich Earth Institute
Fair Companies
Efficiency Vermont
Global Eco Village Network <https://ecovillage.org>

TRANSPORTATION:
As fuel prices rise along with the cost of vehicles, finding ways to reduce the use of, or even eliminate the need for a car, is becoming a more attractive option.  Electric vehicles are a good alternative for those who need them.  Many are finding electric bikes a suitable alternative for most of their errands.  
The health benefits of cycling and walking are well documented, and for those who live closer to downtown have the advantage of not needing to find parking.
There are communities in this country that managed to reduce their vehicle use to one tenth of the average, and completely eliminated use of fossil fuels.  This was accomplished while greatly reducing individual costs for vehicles.  They use a shared small fleet of electric cars, a couple trucks that run on biofuel, and a lot of bicycles.  Ride sharing is another way they make the most of their vehicles.
Though this sort of thing might be difficult to implement in Brattleboro on a large scale, due to both how dispersed we are, and how much of a change it would take in terms of our relationship with our vehicles, it is an inspiring example.  Vehicle and equipment sharing is happening informally on a small scale, and at our public library.  

There are a number of companies that are offering electric vehicle conversions, and some exciting new vehicles coming to market.
Aptera <https://aptera.us>
Slate
Telo <https://www.telotrucks.com>

FOOD:
Our local food production, on farms, as well as community (add link to Edible Brattleboro) and home gardens is something that many take pride in, (when they think about it).  At this point it provides only a small portion of the food we consume.  What it does is give us is a base of knowledge and experience that could be more widely shared.  
We are also the home of a couple of internationally respected organizations involved in agriculture.  The Holstein Friesian Association and the Rich Earth Institute (add links), one a legacy trade association and the other an innovator in nutrient recycling.   Northeast Organic Farming Association of VT <https://www.nofavt.org> has been supporting sustainable agriculture in the region for over a half century. 
All this gives us the resources to be far more self sufficient regarding our food supply, should we choose to be.  

CONCLUSION:
We have inevitable challenges coming our way, and should we choose to put the thought and effort in, extraordinary opportunities to mitigate their consequences.  It’s going to take a combination of individual choices and community level planning in order to achieve meaningful results.
Getting to know your neighbors and building mutually supportive relationships is an essential first step.