Board of County Commissioners Staff Report Matters from Staff Agenda item #25 (pending addition to agenda) Meeting Date: June 17, 2014 Submitting Dept: Energy Prize Letter of Support Presenter: Charlotte Reynolds Subject: Georgetown University Statement / Purpose: To consider signing a letter of support on behalf of Energy Conservation Works for an application to the Georgetown University Energy Prize. If awarded the prize ECW would be able to enhance their services to the community, while also providing technical support for the town, county and LVE for our sustainability efforts- such as establishing goals and/or identifying projects to achieve the Board’s goals. Background / Description (Pros & Cons): From the GUEP website: What if communities across the country came together, in the spirit of friendly competition, to significantly raise the bar on energy efficiency? That’s where the Georgetown University Energy Prize comes in. This multi -year, $5 million prize was born of a mission to tap the imagination, creativity, and spirit of competition between communities across the country to develop sustainable energy-saving innovations. Through this competition, communities will be challenged to work together with their local governments and utilities in order to develop and begin implementing plans for innovative, replicable, scalable and continual reductions in the per capita energy consumed from local natural gas and electric utilities. Participating communities will be asked to develop a long-term energy efficiency plan and to demonstrate initial effectiveness and sustainability over a two-year period. Communities will be judged in part on their ability to: • • • • Spur innovative approaches for communities to decrease their per-capita energy usage; Highlight best practices for communities working with utilities, businesses, and their local governments to create and implement inventive plans for sustained energy efficiency; Educate the public and engage students in energy efficiency issues including methods, benefits, and the environmental costs of the full fuel cycle; Increase the visibility of Georgetown University and competition sponsors who are working to facilitate new and creative approaches to energy efficiency. A city, town or county need not finish first in the Georgetown University Energy Prize in order to win. Every competing community that demonstrates energy savings over previous years will be winners—providing benefits to members of the community not only today, but for future generations as well. To find out if your community is eligible to apply for the Georgetown University Energy Prize, click here to learn more. Organizational Excellence * Environmental Stewardship * Vibrant Community * Economic Sustainability ^Back to Top STAGE 1: April - June, 2014 - Applications: all credible applications from eligible communities will be accepted as Quarterfinalists and invited to compete in Stage 2 STAGE 2: August - November, 2014 - Quarterfinalist Energy Efficiency Program Plans: Quarterfinalists will each submit a detailed Plan for their community’s energy-saving program. These should be long-term Plans, with commitments by residential associations, governments, institutions, or businesses in the community to policies and projects that will yield continual improvement. Based on the submitted Plans and proposals, the Energy Prize team will select communities who will be invited to compete as Semifinalists in Stage 3. STAGE 3: January 2015 - December 2016 - Semifinalist Performance Competition: the Semifinalists will compete for 2 years to reduce their utility-supplied energy consumption in a manner that is likely to yield continuing improvements within their own community and replication in other communities. STAGE 4: January - June, 2017 - Finalist Selection, Judging and Awards: Finalists will be selected based primarily on energy-saving performance during Stage 3. These Finalists will be invited to submit Final Reports covering relevant aspects of the community’s plan, performance, and future prospects. The Judging Panel will score the final reports in specific, weighted categories and select the winners based on a combination of these scores and the Stage 3 energy-saving performance. The highest-ranking community will be awarded first place, with the requirement that the prize purse benefit the community at large in accordance with spending proposed in the community’s Stage 2 Program Plan. Second and third place will also be awarded; these additional winners will receive special recognition and additional benefits, which may include cash purses. Statement of Strategic Intent addressed by this item (Identify BCC goals accomplished/addressed): Environmental Stewardship: We actively protect and enhance our unique landscape and environment, which underpin our economy, community, heritage and future well-being. Attachments: Letter of Support Fiscal Impact: The prize is $5,000,000 to carry out residential and public sector energy efforts. There is no cash match required of the county. Staff Impact: The County would be required to commit to energy tracking and reporting on a monthly basis throughout the project period (August 2014-June 2017). Phil Cameron of ECW has offered to assist/work with LVE directly to collect the county’s electricity data, if necessary. Legal Review: Non required Recommendation: Organizational Excellence * Environmental Stewardship * Vibrant Community * Economic Sustainability Suggested Motion: I move to approve and request and require the chairman to sign a letter of support on behalf of Energy Conservation Works for their application to the Georgetown University Energy Prize program. Organizational Excellence * Environmental Stewardship * Vibrant Community * Economic Sustainability LETTER OF SUPPORT The Board of County Commissioners of Teton County, through this letter of commitment, express our support of Jackson Hole’s effort to compete in the Georgetown University Energy Prize (“GUEP”). We will, to the extent possible, support other l o c a l g o v e rn m e n t officials and staff, work with stakeholders, speak to the public and the press, and otherwise engage our residents in energy savings efforts. We understand that, if our community receives a monetary award from the GUEP, Energy Conservation Works will be the recipient of the funds and will be required to use those funds to the benefit of the whole community, as described in the Competition Guidelines. By: Hank Phibbs (Name of Official) (date) Commission Chairman (Title) Teton County (Organization) PO Box 3594 (Street Address) Jackson, WY 83001 (City, State Zipcode) guep.georgetown.edu