Charting a Course to Green Energy in Vermont

Presentation Descriptions

IT meets ET: The Marriage of Broadband and Renewable Energy – Steve Sharp, VCGI (for the VT Telecommunications Authority)
The Vermont Legislature created the Vermont Telecommunications Authority (VTA) in 2007 in order "to insure that every corner of the State has access to the Internet at high speed, mobile data and the cellular phone network by the end of 2010." In order to identify under-served areas of the state, the Telecommunications Authority, VCGI, and the Vermont Department of Public Service (DPS) are mapping the extent of broadband and cellphone coverage in the State. The state will most likely need to deploy hundreds of towers in order to ensure coverage in under-served areas. The possibility of co-locating wireless antennas onto residential scale wind towers has caught the attention of both wind and broadband advocates. This presentation will explore what the state is doing to leverage these opportunities.

Trees as Biomass: How Much do we Know About the Forest Resource in VT? - Robert Turner, R. J. Turner Company & Robert DeGeus, Vermont Dept. of Forest, Parks, and Recreation
Woody biomass is all the rage. Investors, regulators, policy makers, and communities are concerned about resource capacity and supply. How much of the forest around us is actually available for biomass use and over what time period? As foresters, we present a high-level look at some of the data on forest resources and forest products and we ask the question—is it good enough?

Local Solutions to Global Energy Challenges: GIS as a Tool for Community Energy Planning – Steve Letendre, Green Mountain College
This presentation will provide the results of a community energy assessment conducted for the Town of Poultney, VT using GIS. Many towns across Vermont have formed energy committees that work to promote energy independence. Often the first step in town energy planning involves an assessment of the local renewable energy resource base. GIS expert John Van Hoessen produced renewable energy resource maps for the Town of Poultney that will help residence to assess options to increase the community's use of local, clean energy resources.

Steven Letendre is an Associate Professor of Management and Environmental Studies at Green Mountain College. He holds a Masters degree in economics and a PhD in energy policy. Steven has published widely on a variety of energy economics and policy topics.

Creating Information Infrastructure for a Sustainable (Green) Future: Central Vermont's Organics and Recovered Biomass Facility Projects - David Healy, Stone Environmental, Inc.
This presentation will summarize the historic efforts at creating the information infrastructure to support Food Waste to reusable products in Vermont. The discussion will include the description of the project efforts Stone has conducted with the Central Vermont Solid Waste District. This includes creating Food Scrap Generator's Database, Compost Facility Siting Analysis, Network Analysis for optimal collection, identifying farms and 3-Phase power distribution in Vermont.

Green GIS: The Carbon Management Toolkit – Terry Martin, ESRI
The Carbon Footprint Management Information System is a GIS toolkit for energy or carbon managers to use to collect, store, analyze, visualize, model and disseminate carbon information. It provides a framework for understanding and managing the entire carbon life cycle. This presentation will focus on how the Carbon Toolkit can be applied to energy information management including modeling carbon source and sink data, collecting and populating energy data, analyzing energy consumption, integrating site suitability analysis for alternative energy sources, and distributing data and analysis through reporting dashboards.

Renewable Energy Atlas of Vermont – Mike Brouillette, VCGI (supported by the VT Sustainable Jobs Fund)
Converging with many related renewable energy efforts to accelerate Vermont’ s transition toward a renewable energy and energy efficiency based green economy, the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund’s Renewable Energy Atlas of Vermont will analyze and visualize renewable energy possibilities across Vermont. Building on similar national and local efforts alike, the “Atlas” will conduct analysis of residential, community and commercial scale projects down to the community level to create a foundation for future Atlas website. Using the ESRI Model Builder application to evaluate the “metrics” (costs and constraints) associated with each renewable resource provides a consistent framework to evaluate and compare each site’s “Suitability”. This approach allows myriad practical, ecological and societal values to be captured into the process.

Deferring Transmission Upgrades by Geotargetting of Efficiency Measures - Dave Lamont, VT DPS
As electric load grows and changes over time, the capacity of transmission systems must be increased to adequately serve increasing loads. These upgrades can be deferred by decreasing loads through energy efficiency (DSM) or construction of generation. "Geotargetting" of programs and projects can aid in short term avoidance of projects as well a long term planning for upgrades. This presentation will discuss the current status of efforts in Vermont to incorporate spatial issues in utility planning.

Solar GIS : Promoting Solar Energy in Boston with Interactive Web Mapping - Greg Knight, Boston Redevelopment Authority
Solar Boston is a City of Boston program - developed in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy's Solar America initiative - to encourage the adoption of solar energy throughout the city. This presentation will provide background on the Solar Boston campaign and discuss interactive web mapping tools developed to promote the effort.

Keynote: Vermont's Renewable Energy Future - Challenges and Opportunities - Robert Dostis, Green Mountain Power
Green Mountain Power has a vision for an energy future that is low cost, low carbon and highly reliable. To make that vision a reality, GMP is taking a leadership role in promoting and building renewable generation in Vermont in a way that utilities have not historically done. Robert Dostis of Green Mountain Power will discuss the challenges and opportunities of the new reality of Vermont's energy future. He will present GMP's energy vision, opportunities and challenges in deploying renewable generation in Vermont, and how GIS mapping tools can assist in finding the best sites for generation.

Biography - Keynote Speaker, Robert Dostis:
As a member of the leadership team at Green Mountain Power, Robert Dostis is responsible for the organization’s Customer Relations and External Affairs, as well as facilitating GMP’s investment in renewable energy generation.

Prior to joining Green Mountain Power in August 2008, Robert served in the Vermont Legislature for eight years. He started his political career in 2001 as a member of the House Commerce Committee and was appointed as the vice-chair in 2004. In 2005 he was appointed Chair of the House Natural Resources and Energy Committee, the committee charged with carrying out the legislature’s energy priorities and directing the state’s energy policy.

Also prior to joining Green Mountain Power, Robert served for 14 years as the Executive Director of the nonprofit Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger. He led statewide efforts to alleviate hunger for Vermont’s children and families – gaining national acclaim for himself and the organization. A registered dietitian, Robert holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Fordham University and a Master’s degree in Clinical Nutrition from Hunter College. He received an honorary doctorate from Burlington College in 2004.

This past November Robert was appointed to the Clean Energy Development Fund Investment Committee. He is a past recipient of the Ford Foundation’s Leadership for a Changing World Award; The 2005 Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility Legislator of the Year, and the recipient of Renewable Energy Vermont’s 2005 Legislative Champion Award.