Program paid off

Last year, Chico’s Sustainability Task Force (STF) was accused of a conflict of interest in doling out part of a $400,000 PG&E efficient-energy grant to two of its members, Jon Stallman and Scott McNall (see “Charges fly over PG&E grant,” Newslines, Dec. 15, 2011).

Since then, not only has the task force been cleared of the charges, but the accused men also have used the money to create dozens of local jobs while helping 100 homeowners save money and improve their health.

“We trained 30 unemployed or underemployed contractors in clean-energy construction, and all of them got jobs in that field,” said Stallman, director of The Energy X-Change, which trained the contractors in partnership with McNall and Butte College.

Stallman represented Butte College on the Task Force and received $70,000 of the grant money to help contractors and homeowners increase residential and commercial energy efficiency. McNall, representing Chico State, received $10,000. The grant was part of a program called Energy Pioneers, which coordinated a group effort involving Butte College, Chico State and the city of Chico.

“Energy Pioneers created an energy model education program using the contractor workforce, the local community and municipal education,” Stallman said.

It was Chico City Councilman Mark Sorensen who leveled the original ethics charges in a late-2011 complaint to the state Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC). The charges were echoed in a Chico Enterprise-Record editorial.

Sorensen filed a second conflict-of-interest complaint because, he said, Mayor Ann Schwab, who chaired the task force, was a Chico State employee and thus conflicted.

The FPPC looked into both charges and ruled them baseless. “The FPPC found no cause for a conflict of interest and told Sorensen to stand down,” Stallman said.

Sorensen says the grant was clearly for a worthy cause, but he believes the task force is in a gray area when it comes to decision-making. “Moving forward, we want to avoid things like this,” he said.

Schwab is unsure of the motivation for the charges but said she felt miffed when she had breakfast with Sorensen at Mom’s restaurant one morning in late 2011 and he didn’t mention the charges. That night she received word of the complaint from the FPPC.

“Talk about a way not to build a partnership,” she said.

The Energy X-Change used some of the grant money to conduct free detailed home-energy efficiency analyses on 100 test homes in Chico. Stallman, who has a master’s degree from Chico State in technical education, used specialized meters and machines to determine where the homes were wasting the most energy and money. Detailed tests were conducted on windows, doors, walls, vents and air conditioners in what Stallman calls a “whole-home science approach.”

Results of the tests were then given to the homeowners in the form of verbal instructions, checklists and computer-generated graphics. Any upgrades recommended were left to the homeowners’ discretion.

“Some homeowners feel they are paying too much in energy costs, so they install $30,000 in solar panels,” Stallman said. “But with a more customized diagnosis like ours, they might need to spend only a tenth of that.”

Stallman said they also uncovered dangerous situations in several homes.

“Three of them had serious asbestos problems,” he said. “One was catastrophic and had several vents inadvertently pumping asbestos insulation into their bedroom.”

The owner of another home, he said, complained of feeling constantly sick and lethargic. A meter showed extremely high readings of carbon monoxide, which led to the discovery that the home’s clothes dryer exhaust duct was completely clogged, causing carbon monoxide to backfill into the home.

Overall, Stallman said, he thinks the project was a great success. Schwab agrees.

“It was such a good program with thorough explanations to the households and great job training for the contractors,” she said.

Final, overall results for the project will be reported in February. Now, anyone wishing to have a home evaluated by Energy X-Change must pay for it, Stallman said.

“People got jobs from this program, such as the contractors we trained and those hired to make the recommended home upgrades,” he said. “Plus we educated and empowered the community in having environmentally friendly and proficient homes.”