Eugene Sustainability Commission to finalize public fact sheet and council memo on backup power and resiliency hubs

Members of the Eugene Sustainability Commission spent the meeting refining a plan to finish a public-facing fact sheet and a companion memo to City Council that describe cleaner backup power options and local resiliency hubs.

The commission said the fact sheet will be a two-page, illustrated primer on portable and stationary backup systems (from phone-sized battery banks to larger grid-tied systems), and the memo will provide additional case studies and policy options for council consideration. Lexi Miller, a commission member, said she would draft the public fact sheet and aimed to produce a draft for commissioners to review by the end of the week.

Why it matters: the documents are intended to give residents practical information about what different backup systems can power and to offer City Council concrete examples and policy levers—such as resiliency hubs that combine batteries, solar and vehicle-to-grid resources—to integrate into emergency-preparedness planning.

Commission discussion and next steps Commissioners discussed the fact sheet’s content and visual layout, including a simple chart showing typical loads and how long common appliances could run on varying battery sizes. One participant suggested framing examples by outage scenarios (ice storm, wildfire, extended summer outages) because seasonal differences affect solar availability and heating vs. cooling loads. Miller said the fact sheet should include short, plain-English examples such as “run my fridge for a day and charge my phone,” and the memo should supply longer case studies and policy interventions.

Miller described a local example she is familiar with: an electric school-bus–powered resiliency hub that uses a microgrid to power a community gym during outages, allowing residents to charge portable batteries and access critical services. Commissioners said such case studies would help City Council see practical policy options.

Timeline, approvals and outreach The commission set a schedule: a draft fact sheet to be circulated to commissioners soon after the meeting, a draft memo to the commission in February, commission approval in March (or vote via the March packet), and presentation to City Council targeted for April. Staff noted the city manager’s office and the city attorney’s review typically require about one to two weeks once a final draft is submitted.

Roles and coordination Lexi Miller agreed to draft the fact sheet and a rough infographic; Miller said she would post the draft in the shared Google Doc and welcomed comments in-line. Commissioners asked that graphics staff be notified so city graphic designers can queue any final artwork. The group also asked Miller and other volunteers to check the draft with county resilience and city emergency-management staff to confirm locations and descriptions of resiliency centers and to verify operational details.

Clarifying technical and cost examples Commissioners discussed examples of scale and cost to help the public understand options: small phone-charge battery banks typically cost in the tens of dollars; mid-size portable battery units (about the size of a cooler) are portable and can power refrigerators or charge phones for days; and full home, grid-tied battery systems can cost on the order of $10,000. The commission recommended presenting both total-cost ranges and relatable run-time examples (hours/days for specific appliances) rather than only kilowatt-hours.

Public-facing distribution and commission process The group agreed to publish the two-page fact sheet publicly (on the Sustainability Commission website) and to prepare a longer memo for City Council and staff. Commissioners discussed presenting a short overview at the council meeting and providing the memo in advance so council members have time to review. The commission also planned to include the fact sheet in the packet for the next commission meeting for formal review and a vote in February or March, depending on final edits.

Immediate tasks and unresolved items Miller committed to drafting the fact sheet and a sketch of the infographic and posting it to the shared Google Doc for comments. Commissioners asked members to add any reference numbers or local examples as comments in the document. The group also agreed to reach out informally to county partners and to city emergency staff to confirm details about resiliency hubs; staff availability and turnover were noted as constraints.

No formal motions or votes were recorded in the meeting transcript; the items above reflect working decisions and assignments captured in the discussion.