CC Minutes - 02/16/10 Joint Meeting with EWEB

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Work Session February 16, 2010 Page 2 would allow EWEB to address the inefficient steam system built in 1932, position it to be taken off line and cut energy usage by 40 percent for the buildings themselves by 2012. Mr. Nelson highlighted the federal grant request. He said the financial products would include credit enhancement which would help participants secure loans, direct credit distribution and the establishment of a revolving E-Loan program, the loan terms for which would be linked with those offered by the Oregon Department of Energy (ODOE) loan program. He noted that the E-loan was limited by the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program which directed that no more than 20 percent be allocated into revolving loan programs. He stated that $207,000 would be allocated for building audits, to be completed by a third party, estimated to be $1,000 each, and $40,000 would be dedicated to an outreach campaign. Mr. Logan stated that in addition to the steam production savings and distribution losses, by taking the all-fuels approach, leveraging the programs and working with the agencies, they were identifying a potential energy savings of 17 million kilowatt hours (kWh). He explained that this translated to the amount of energy that it would take to power 1,300 homes for a year. He also related that the consultant had estimated that 800 jobs would be created by this work, over the course of six years which was believed to be conservative. Mr. Nelson outlined the funding sources and what funding was projected to come from them and the grant funding, from a slide entitled “Ramping Up for Retrofits” Leverage. Mr. Logan showed a graph of how an actual large customer would be affected by a change from steam usage that indicated a 50 percent savings, should the customer change to a heat pump. He discussed the implications of the three-year contract with PeaceHealth. He said the contract gave EWEB the ability to work with its other steam customers, including the City of Eugene. He reviewed the projected timeline. He stated that the primary source of funding would be the ODOE through its Small Scale Energy Loan Program (SELP) and once the building reports were delivered, EWEB would be working with each customer to move immediately to the design and construction phase when they were ready. He noted that EWEB was paying $250,000 for the engineering study and they were positioning customers with the recommendations for least- cost options, which ODOE wanted to see. They anticipated that the total loan cost would be $12 to $15 million, though not all customers would qualify for credit and they were seeking other means of credit for them. Mr. Logan showed a slide that indicated what phase of the process each downtown building was in. He noted that staff would be making site visits to the Atrium Building and City Hall in March. President Brown opened the floor for questions and comments. Mayor Piercy asked if staff predicted that the grant would be approved. Mr. Nelson replied that they believed the City of Eugene had a very good chance. He said while there was $380 million available throughout the country, the requirements were that energy codes should meet a certain criteria and Oregon was one of only three or four states that had updated its codes and met that requirement. He added that the steam transition project also looked good because it was a mandate and the transition was deliverable. Mayor Piercy related that the Portland project had been mentioned all over the country. She remarked that one question they would hear was in regard to a continued dependence on fossil fuel. Mr. Logan responded that EWEB was burning 2.5 million therms of natural gas at present and much was being lost through inefficiency. He said the technology today was much more efficient and would save fuel. He pointed out that the