MINUTES: January 20, 2015
Posted
on Jan 27, 2015
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Rotary Club
Hattiesburg, Mississippi
Meeting January 20, 2015
President Wes Brooks presided over the meeting. Thanks to Mike Ratliff who gave the invocation and to Chase Munro who led the Pledge of Allegiance. Thanks to Ryan Kelly for serving as our greeter today.
Aaron Ladner welcomed our guests and visiting Rotarians. A.G. Crowe is a visiting Rotarians from the Slidell club. He has Brian Trasher as his guest. Jaclyn Adams has Ashley Reid as her guest today.
Wes reminded members and board members of next week’s monthly board meeting. It will take place immediately after the January 27 meeting and will be held at Southern Oaks. Everyone is invited to attend.
Wes and Jonathan Shemper than presented Greg Silberg as our club’s newest member. Wes installed Greg, welcomed him and asked for a few words of introduction. Greg thanked Scott Hummel and Jonathan Shemper for mentoring him along the way to this membership. He is a service oriented individual and believes that Rotary is the organization in which he can make a meaningful contribution to hopefully move the world forward.
Bill McLeod reminded members that sponsorships are needed for this year’s district conference. If you or your company is interested, please see Bill.
Tom Martin from the Rotary Foundation will be in town next week. If you are interested in learning more about the Foundation or considering a contribution, see Bill McLeod and let him know. An evening meeting next Tuesday is being organized for those interested.
Bill then introduced today’s guest speaker, Herb Stonebrook. Herb is a retired Energy Management Administrator for the State of Tennessee. He talked about a number of energy conservation projects that he worked in during his career.
Bill noted that, regardless of where you come down on the equation, there is increasing concerns about climate change and the impacts these changes have and will have on society. He suggests that the most effective way to deal with the issues surrounding climate changes is to build better partnerships that can pave the way for future generations.
There are thousands of energy saving concepts and devises available today. The challenge, according to Bill, is finding the best alternatives that meet your needs. In order to determine that, you must first know what your energy consumption patterns are and then deciding your priorities. If you have or can develop a method to measure your energy savings, you can often increase energy conservation with the gained knowledge.
In one of the Tennessee projects electrical usage for a government building’s lighting system was established. The building was then retrofitted with energy savings lighting fixtures. After the job was completed it was monitored for another year. The project saved 53% on the building’s lighting costs.
Bill recommends an energy audit done by a professional if you are interested in seeing what can or should be done in your office or home. After the audit you can determine where your best alternatives exist and will then be able to measure the payback for a chosen project.
You can learn more about energy conservation and a pilot demonstration program underway with Pearl River Community College and the University of Southern Mississippi by visiting the Mississippi Public Service Commission’s website at http://www.psc.state.ms.us.