1.) Indicator: Annual kilowatt hours and cost of city electricity
Target: Annual 1% reduction in energy consumption
2.) Indicator: Annual therms and cost of city natural gas
Target: 20% increase in heating by renewable resources by 2020
3.) Indicator: Number of on-line renewable energy projects
Target: 20% of renewables' share of overall energy consumption by 2020
4.) Indicator: Number of solar interconnection agreements
Targets: 50% increase in interconnection agreements per year for 5 years
After establishing recommended targets, in our presentation we gave recommended actions that will help reach the targets. Key actions are to have regular and consistent transfer of information such as from utility companies, and to get City Council Approval on targets . The actions we recommended was have a Bloomington Energy Challenge. Bloomington can use the IU Energy Challenge and the Bellingham, WA Energy Challenge as examples on how to implement a Bloomington energy challenge.
Below is a picture of our poster!
Energy Project Initiatives and Questions Plan to Answer:
1. Energy Inventory
2. ECLEI review: setting targets. This needs fleshing out. Get to know ECLEI? Which indicators can we address?
3. How do other communities set targets and measure success? Are there communities with an energy plan for the future? Communities that address peak oil?
4. Recommendations to meet targets. Grants. What is Duke willing to do? Funding opportunities for renewable development, can possibly be broken down by energy source
We are working reviewing/updating the indicators for the STAR report. We have split up the indicators and I am focusing wit Caitlin on the Online-Renewabale Resource Project. The Southern Indiana Renewable Energy Network (SIREN) has been a valuable resource. Here is the website: SIREN Home Page
We are planning on having some recommendations for the Energy Committee about the STAR Report at the BCOS October Meeting. Energy Blitz Article
Another exciting project relating to energy that Bloomington is putting on it an ENergy Audit Blitz in December/January. I don't know if we can incorporate that project into our class project but I have very interested in helping out with the event.
The BCOS Energy group has three goals/research topics that we are working on. The first is the most pressing, the second and third are ongoing. I will leave it to Bill to filter through and assign what is appropriate based on the scope of the SPEA course.
1. Update the Energy section in the 2008 STAR report. Currently, there are 4 indicators that the report tracks - are these the most valuable? Are there others we could track and obtain data for that would be more useful? What do other communities use? In addition, we do not actually have a goal for energy consumption within STAR - it would be highly beneficial to know what other communities with like demographics have used. Lastly, suggestions on, or creation of charts, graphs, maps etc to explain the indicators and show trends over time (2006 was the first report) is desirable.
2. Energy Efficiency. Our group would like to promote energy efficiency for buildings of all types. How best to do this? What have other communities (with limited budgets) done to get the word out about how to raise efficiency within structures? Besides PR, what programs could the City investigate to aid (with educational resources, cost share, etc.) building owners with efficiency upgrades?
3. Alternative Energy Generation. Purdue has implemented a system that uses food waste from cafeterias to generate bio-gas. I'm not sure of the feasibility here for the exact system, but what model did they follow to implement the program? Could Bloomington do something similar with another like system? What would be the cost-effectiveness of such a system, e.g. ROI?
