AOT tells Senate panel it is improving garage heating and tracking but data gaps persist

Agency of Transportation environmental and facilities staff told the Senate Transportation Committee on Feb. 5 that the agency is complying with a biannual thermal-energy reporting requirement to the Department of Buildings and General Services (BGS) while working to improve data accuracy and replace aging heating systems.

"It's a really labor intensive and time consuming process," Andrea Wright, the agency's environmental policy manager, told the committee as she described how dozens of staff manually enter facility energy receipts into multiple systems. Wright said the report was produced to satisfy a provision she cited as "section 45" and a 2024 T-bill requirement reported to BGS in support of the comprehensive energy plan.

The agency said the portfolio includes roughly 430 buildings totaling about 1,400,000 square feet, of which about 900,000 square feet are heated, and that non‑heated structures such as salt and storage sheds are included in the headline total. Brad McElwey, the agency facilities manager, said some leased buildings are included in the totals but that lease arrangements often place utilities outside the agency's direct billing.

Wright and McElwey flagged two related reporting problems: (1) staff collect data in different systems and in paper receipts, producing inconsistent categories and potential human error; and (2) the agency sometimes cannot separate thermal loads from vehicle or lighting electricity usage on shared meters. That ambiguity, they said, has led to diesel invoices appearing in the agency's thermal-energy table even though diesel is not used as a primary heating fuel for garages.

McElwey described ongoing equipment conversions at multiple garage sites: 14 solar arrays at garages (10 owned, 4 leased), conversions from oil-fired boilers to heat pumps, and outdoor wood-gasifier boilers that the agency says comply with Vermont EPA-regulated output limits. He said the agency is completing its first pellet-boiler garage project and expects to replace about two to three heating systems a year as funding allows.

"We try to do 2 to 3 heating system replacements a year," McElwey said, and described the Swanton garage pilot — with pellet boilers fed from an 18‑ton silo, Level 2 and Level 3 EV charging, and large solar arrays — as a model for future larger sites.

Wright said the reporting process is new on the analytical side for the agency and that staff are working with BGS to standardize submissions and reduce errors. Committee members asked for the BGS-submitted statewide tables and for the agency to provide clearer ties between the reporting data and the state's broader energy and climate goals.

The agency did not report a formal vote or seek committee action; presenters asked the committee to treat the report as an informational update and said they would continue refining data collection and expanding renewable conversions as funding and site conditions allow. The committee recessed after a short question period.