A Seat in the House

Committee details ideas for Idaho to deal with energy; school buildings

The Interim Energy, Environment and Technology Committee that I Co-Chair along with Senator Mckenzie of Boise met September 17 and 18 in Boise to discuss current energy issues and possible programs or legislation that the legislature should consider in promoting alternative or renewable energy development.

The committee had been asked to consider the use of tax exemptions or other tax incentives to encourage the purchase of hybrid or electric vehicles. In response, Mr. John Weber of Boise Westside Body Works was invited to appear before the committee to present information on hybrid and electric cars and his thoughts on possible incentives. Mr. Weber’s company has designed, built and have a car currently being used in Boise that has a 45+ miles per hour speed, a 40 mile range and an electricity cost of about 2 cents per mile.

Mr. Weber stated that the benefit of a hybrid vehicle was that of using less gas, along with less noise and air pollution. The downfalls include the higher cost of purchase and the cost of new batteries.

The benefit of electric cars is that they use no gas, produce no local air pollution, and can be recharged with local renewable electric energy resources and have lower maintenance costs. The downfalls include the cost of purchase or conversion, the cost of batteries and a limited driving range.

Mr. Weber suggested that the state could support increased use of hybrid and electric vehicles by offering incentives for the purchase or conversion of hybrids, plug in hybrids, and electric vehicles. He also suggested that additional incentives for Idaho-made or -converted vehicles would be helpful in creating a new manufacturing base in Idaho that would result in good paying jobs for Idahoans.

Mr. Weber also suggested that the state should consider purchasing more hybrids and electric vehicles to promote the use of these vehicles. (Just as a note: Governor Otter, in his 2008 budget recommendations did propose purchase of hybrid vehicles when agencies needed to replace existing vehicles.)

Draft legislation providing an incentive for school districts to use a consistent statewide process for building school buildings with more efficient energy use was also introduced to the committee. The legislation provides that school districts use two processes, integrated design and fundamental commissioning, when designing, building and operating new facilities.

Integrated design “means a process to develop consensus among the project team (architects and contractors) and the owner as to the energy savings and building performance goals of the building and to identify design strategies to achieve the designed goals…”

Fundamental Commissioning means the use of a third party to review building design, building system specifications and to specify and monitor the performance of energy systems used in the building to insure that they operate as designed

Currently, school districts are required to set aside a certain amount of funds each year for maintenance of new buildings; The proposed legislation provides an incentive for the integrated design and commissioning by allowing the school district to use the money that is required to be set aside for maintenance in the first five years of operation of a new school building to offset the additional cost of the integrated design and fundamental commissioning for the new building.

The committee tabled the proposed legislation until its next meeting to allow time for school districts and other interested parties to review and comment on the legislation.

The committee was also asked to consider a change in utility rate design that would allow electric utilities to charge new consumers a specific rate to partially recover the costs of a utility’s capital investment in new facilities to serve new customer growth. Because this is a new concept in electric rate design that may have significant impact on electric use and business development, the committee scheduled time in its November meeting to hear additional public comment on the new rate design proposal.

Jim Yost, one of Idaho’s two members of Northwest Power and Conservation Council, presented a summary of the Council’s draft energy plan to the committee. The Council’s plan still emphasizes conservation and efficiency measures as first priority in meeting the region’s electrical energy needs followed by the use of renewable resources. Highlighted in Mr. Yost’s presentation was the immediate problem of a lack of transmission capacity to integrate wind and other renewable resources into the region’s electric transmission grid to move the resources to the load centers.

The Interim Energy, Environment and Technology Committee is scheduled to meet again in November to continue discussion on legislation to promote building of more energy efficient school buildings, the proposed change in electric utility rate making and the possible use of state incentives to promote increased energy conservation and development of renewable resources.

As our November issue of the River Journal will only be out a few days before the November election, I’d like to take this time to remind you: “Democracy Is Not A Spectator Sport!”

Please be sure to go to the polls and vote for the candidates of your choice on November 4!

Thanks for reading and please feel free to contact me with issues of concern to you. You can reach me by phone at 265-0123 or by mail at P.O. Box 112, Dover, Idaho 83825.        

George