HIGHLIGHT: Nelson is looking into providing low-interest loans for home retrofits to increase heating efficiency. The loans would be provided through the City of Nelson. See item 3. Buildings below for details.

This post is background for the special committee of the whole meeting, scheduled for 4 p.m. today, Thursday, Oct. 6.

This afternoon, starting at 4 p.m., city council will hear about Nelson’s Community Energy and Emissions Action Plan.

Dave Wahn, the manager of development services and sustainability (who I usually refer to as the city planner), and Daphne Powell, planner, will go over the material.

There isn’t much on the agenda but it says the relevant documents can be viewed at this page on the city’s website.

Watch for the live blog to start at 4 p.m.

3:59 p.m.

From council we have Mayor John Dooley and councillors Deb Kozak, Bob Adams, Donna Macdonald, Kim Charlesworth and Robin Cherbo. From staff is Frances Long, manager of legislative and administrative services, Kevin Cormack, city manager, Colin McClure, chief financial officer, Dave Wahn, manager of development services and sustainability, and Daphne Powell, planner.

There’s a few members of public, but I believe one is a contractor the city has hired to work on sustainability projects.

Adams is the last councillor to arrive, which seems to be a real event given the ribbing council gives him. He asks if there’s any coffee ready and Kozak says that’s his job.

Dooley is about to start the meeting, wielding the gavel, but Macdonald is chatting with someone in the audience.

“It’s like herding cats here,” says Dooley. “No more of these Thursday meetings.”

Coun. Kim Charlesworth introduces the project.

My job is to remind everyone how we got here, says Charlesworth. Back in 2008 the city started on the first phase of their integrated community sustainability planning process. The city got a $5,000 grant from the province to start this.

Nelson hosted some meetings to get strategic directions from the public. Volunteers from the public, including Dr. Mel Reasoner (who’s in the audience), have been part of the community aspects of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Charlesworth hands the presentation over to Wahn.

Wahn says the whole process is incredibly technical. He’s a planner, he says, and he’ll review the process they went through. The appendix of the report has those technicalities.

HB Lanarc led the public engagement.

What’s interesting is they looked at reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) but also energy use. The city is working on an energy plan and an emissions plan, says Wahn. The two pie charts below show why they’re looking at energy use and emissions. Buildings use most of the energy while transportation generate most of the emissions.

Nelson is a compact, community with its own power producing plant (Nelson Hydro). Regardless, the vast majority of spending on energy leaves town. Here’s an excerpt from the report:

With rising electricity and oil costs, these expenditures – along with the economic vulnerability of many people – will dramatically increase. The conservation, efficiency and renewable energy strategies in this Plan are intended to keep a larger portion of these expenditures in the community, stimulating the local economy.

The goal is to become more efficient so the city can spend its money on other projects instead of fuel, says Wahn. This is crucial to keeping the community resilient in the future, he says.

4:27 p.m.

Should the city follow the strategy set out in the report, the city could achieve the following targets, based on a baseline set in 2007

• 57% reduction in per capita GHG emissions (from 7 to 3 tonnes per year)
• 43% reduction in community-wide GHG emissions
• 26% reduction in community-wide energy use.

The most controversial charts are coming up, says Wahn. They show the city’s emissions should Nelson decide to do nothing.

The upper wedge graph shows what would happen with the emissions.

The lower graph shows the ways the City of Nelson can reduce emissions. The only methods the city has power over are the top three items. The major impact is the blue wedge and that is the responsibility of the federal government, says Wahn.

That blue wedge, the part the feds have power over, includes building code standards and tail-pipe emissions.

The City of Nelson can affect about 10,000 tonnes per year, says Wahn.

Macdonald says she recently heard Ida Chong, B.C.’s Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development, tell municipal leaders the province is counting on the local governments like the City of Nelson to lead the charge on reducing GHG emissions.

Macdonald didn’t hear much leadership from the province.

Charlesworth says if communities like Nelson can effect what changes they can, it gives them more clout to ask the province to take their own action.

The plan can be broken down into six major actions.

1. Land use

Nelson is a compact community where people walk, says Wahn. The report calls on the city to encourage that. It also suggests allowing infill (building in unused lots and adding basement suites, secondary suites etc) to increase the density without increasing the size of Nelson’s footprint.

Also, every home should be within a 10-minute walk a service. People shouldn’t have to jump into the car every time they need something, says Wahn.

Cormack notes much of Nelson’s undeveloped land is close to grocery stores and other services. Infill is going to happen close to services and Nelson is lucky, says Cormack. Cherbo says there used to be grocery stores in Uphill and upper Fairview and it’s ironic they’re gone but we’re supposed to have them now.

2. Transportation

We want to ensure people are aware of low-carbon opportunities, says Wahn. That means enhancing public transit as best they can as well as working with car co-ops.

This is interesting given council just cut transit service because Nelson Transit was costing the city too much money.

Cherbo says they should plan for electric vehicle parking stations. Wahn says they’re considering new zoning requirements. Perhaps instead of having large parking requirements, they might require parking for bicycles or charging stations for electric vehicles.

3. Buildings

The city has to retrofit their buildings so they’re more efficient, says Wahn. New buildings have to be more efficient, which comes from the building code, set by the province. Nelson can encourage secondary suites and infill cottages, however.

Cormack notes multi-family residential houses are more efficient and the city can require some developments to include that.

Wahn says they could also encourage people to get more efficient wood stoves or encourage renewable heating options, like solar.

4;50 p.m.

Dooley asks if it wouldn’t be better to ask people not to use wood heat at all. Wahn says he doesn’t know the science, but it would make sense to have people use more efficient stoves because they would be going into the bush to get wood less often. Less driving.

Charlesworth says this is the time to get excited. (She’s clearly excited and actually waving her arms around.) She asks Cormack to go into the low-interest loans they’re exploring.

Cormack says pre-1960s buildings make up the majority of Nelson’s housing stock. They’re inefficient. Home energy retrofits are a natural solution, says Cormack. There are rebate opportunities through FortisBC and other services, but Nelson is looking to offer something more.

Low interest homes for home retrofits

Nelson is looking at low-interest loans for residents who are retrofitting their homes. Nelson Hydro would cover this. It sounds like Nelson has done some major research into this possibility.

So a homeowner could go to retrofit their home, putting in new insulation, windows, etc that costs $10,000. Rebates already in existence might cover $3,000. Nelson Hydro could be able to provide a low-interest loan to cover the remaining $7,000. The loan would be repaid each month along with the usual electricity bill.

Federal and provincial departments have given Nelson very positive reactions to this proposal. Both senior levels of government might have money to contribute to this as well.

No wonder Charlesworth was excited.

“This exciting folks!” says Charlesworth, patting the table. “Yes!”

This could start rolling out in 2012.

Cormack says they’ve been talking with Columbia Basin Trust who haven’t committed but are interested. This is a model that can be replicated across the province, says Cormack.

Macdonald says Nelson is on the cutting edge.

[I spoke with Kevin Cormack after the fact and got some more details. Nelson is working to get some funding from Natural Resources Canada, CBT and FortisBC to set up a program to offer low-interest loans, around four per cent, to home owners who make their homes more energy efficient.

The home owner will have to have an energy audit done on their home, do the retrofit and then get another audit done to measure the improvements.

The City of Nelson will help cover these costs, offering low-interest loans to do so. The loans would be added to the Nelson Hydro bills the city sends out. Cormack expects this will be ready by early 2012.]

4. Energy Supply

Nelson is considering creating a district heating system using wood waste from local mills.

5. Solid Waste

This is something they’re working on with the Regional District of Central Kootenay. The goal is to encourage zero waste in the public, increase recycling, and push senior government to regulate excessive packaging.

5:07 p.m.

6. Community Wide

What can we as a community do to reduce GHG emissions? asks Wahn.

The answer involves things like engagement with the community, non-profits and the public sector to be more progressive in energy use.

Local food support is also crucial.

Cormack says the city can be a great influencer in the community. For example, the city’s fire inspectors are out in the community everyday. Through a partnership with FortisBC, they’re able to encourage business owners and residents to be more efficient in their building’s infrastructure. That has the result of making buildings cheaper and safer, he says.

Wahn says the city is putting a lot of energy into these goals (Dooley says: “But we’re not actually putting energy into it.” Wahn takes the hint and says they’re putting their resources into it.)

Questions and comments

Cherbo wonders about getting composting bins that dissipate the compost into the ground (“It’s called a coffin,” says Dooley). Cherbo would like to see if it’s possible to find some kind of group-buying scheme.

Dooley says the Regional District of Central Kootenay is looking to divert compostable waste. Cherbo says it would be better if residents took care of their compost at their homes, saving the RDCK from having to truck the waste around.

Kozak says she recalls feeling overwhelmed when presented by the GHG emission reduction goals. This report seems to make it look easy.

“What this plan lays out in clear terms is what we can actually do,” says Kozak.

People can feel overwhelmed by the problems of climate change, she says, but to have a community plan that is manageable and exciting.

This plan is going to go to the Tuesday regular meeting for adoption into the Official Community Plan.

Meeting adjourned.

5:33 p.m.

I got some more details on the low-interest loans from Cormack and will include them once I get back to the office.