Capital District August
1, 2005
Clean Communities
Capital District Clean Communities
July 28, 2005 Meeting
Meeting Notes
Attendance
Patrick Bolton, NYSERDA
Dale Button, HVCC
Rayna Caldwell, Saratoga
Springs Resident
Lawrence D’Arco, NYSDEC
Peter Dobo, World Energy
Glenn Havens, Cummins
Northeast
Jerry King, NYS Office of
General Services
Chris Reville,
Roadfry.com
Deborah Stacey, CDTC Staff,
CDCC Coordinator
Robert Steff, NY Thruway
Authority
Summary Notes
Deborah Stacey opened the meeting with introductions. A Roundtable discussion followed:
SUMMARY NOTES:
1. USDOE:
Mike Scarpino was unable to attend the meeting, but he emailed a short
status report regarding USDOE Clean Cities activities.
a. USDOE indicated that the Special Energy Projects (SEP)
grant awards will likely be announced by mid or late August.
b. The Senate Energy and Water development committee has
proposed a consolidation of the six regional offices. Unfortunately, the USDOE office in Boston,
Mike’s home base, is slated to close. It
is not known at this time what will become of Mike’s position with the Clean
Cities program.
2. NYSERDA: NYSERDA reported on several fronts:
a. NYSERDA reported that they are involved in a
multi-state initiative for a 20 bus procurement of hybrid-electric school
buses. NYS is one of the participating
states. Two school buses will be
assigned to NYS; schools will receive the buses on a rotating basis and will be
asked to collect data on their performance.
Each bus will cost approximately $200,000 (versus approximately
$56,000-$75,000 for a traditional diesel powered school bus). This project will likely begin in 2006.
b. SLA Transport is once again using bio-diesel in their
fleet. The gelling problem experience in
November was due to the fact that the temperature plummeted and SLA was still
using a summer blend of bio-diesel in their tanks. SLA plans to use bio-diesel
for the next year or so, including the upcoming winter season.
c. Mirabuto is moving forward with the deployment of dispensing
facilities near Oneonta and Cooperstown.
The company plans to retail bio-diesel and supply bio home heating
oil. A typical residential oil furnace
can use up to a 30 percent bio-diesel blend without modifications to the
furnace.
d. The Vice president of Price Chopper has contacted
NYSERDA to discuss potential Clean fuel projects. NYSERDA suggested that Price Chopper join the
CDCC coalition.
e. The next NYSERDA sponsored Clean Cities Challenge
grant opportunity will likely be announced in September 2005.
3. OTHER NEWS:
a. Albany County Airport Authority: The Albany County Airport Authority Airport has
applied for a Airport Improvement Program Grant for 20
electric ground support vehicles, 20 electric charging stations and two CNG
Parking Lot Shuttles. The ACAA is the
first airport in the country to apply under the Voluntary Airport Low Emissions
(VALE) program. The VALE program allows airport sponsors to use the Airport
Improvement Program (AIP) and Passenger Facility Charges (PFCs)
to finance low- emission vehicles, refueling and recharging stations, gate
electrification, and other airport air quality improvements. The ACAA is also pursuing the expansion of
their CNG station (doubling its capacity) and is considering opening the
station to the public.
b. NYSTA: Bob Steff
is working with OGS and NYSERDA on establishing ethanol fueling stations in the
Capital District at Exit 23, Syracuse and Nyack. There are 995 ethanol vehicles in the state’s
fleet. The goal is to fuel all 995 vehicles with ethanol.
c. NYSOGS—Jerry
King reported that Clean Energy is now operating the Rotterdam and Valhalla
stations. The Schenectady Department of Public works is now, once again, using
CNG in their dual fuel trucks. There has
been a marked increase in usage in the public CNG fueling stations across the
state, including the McCarty Avenue station.
d. HVCC—Dale
Button introduced himself to the group.
Dale has been in the automotive program at HVCC for 16 years, and
involved with the alternative fuels program for six years. Dale distributed three draft course
outlines. He is proposing to expand the
alternative fuel aspect of the automotive degree program from one course to
three. He asked the CDCC members to
review the course outline and provide input.
The courses must be approved by the HVCC curriculum committee before
they are offered. It is anticipated that
the courses will be offered in the Spring and fall
semesters, and possibly during evenings as well.
e. World Energy—Peter
Dobo reported that Sprague is going to begin selling bio-diesel in the Capital
District at the rack (terminal) which will likely make the price competitive
with diesel. Under the American Jobs
Creation Act, there is a federal excise tax credit that equates to one penny
per percent of bio-diesel if the fuel blend is made from agricultural products
and one half penny per percent if the blend is made from recycled oils. The incentive is taken at the blender level
(distributor) and passed on to the consumer, which makes the price competitive
with diesel. This is good news for the
Capital District, but does not bode well for World Energy’s market share in
this area.
f.
Rayna
Caldwell—Rayna reported that she will
no longer be a member of CDCC, as she will not have the time needed to devote
to the coalition. However, Rayna will
speak with Jay Goodman, who is also a member of the Saratoga Springs Climate
Control Committee inquire if he would be willing to take her place at the CDCC
table. Rayna would like the CDCC to
potentially contact horse owners at the Saratoga Raceway and educate them about
the health benefits (particularly to the thoroughbreds) of bio-diesel over
diesel.
g. Cummins NE--Glen
Havens reported that Cummins is working on a new retrofit for particulate
reductions. Cummins is looking to do two
demos--on off road and one on-road.
Cummins would like to do the demonstration project in NYS. The E-4 conference will be held in October in
Saratoga Springs; Cummins will be at that event.
Next Meeting
This
group will meet again on Thursday November 3, 2005 from 10:00 am to noon
at CDTC's offices (1 Park Place Main Floor, Albany, NY 12205).