Clinton converted 177 out of of 184 street lights to LED, which saved  84,200 kwh annually. (iStock image)

High Impact Actions Completed:

Benchmarking, Clean Fleets, Energy Code Enforcement Training, LED Streetlights, and Unified Solar Permit

Energy Champions:

Steven Bellona, Former Mayor, Village of Clinton

Gary Colarusso, Town Supervisor, Town of Kirkland

Carl Wheat, Trustee, Village of Clinton

"The Town of Kirkland and Village of Clinton were spurred on to become designated communities with their local joint climate action group. The joint task force was successful in coordinating efforts within the local government as well as the community," said Mayor Steve Bellona, of the Village of Clinton. "The Village of Clinton will use its Designation Grant to convert building lighting to LEDs as well as convert pumps at the water treatment plant to soft start motors to reduce peak demand. The Town of Kirkland will use its Designation Grant to purchase and install an EV Charging Station and Motion Sensor Lighting at the Police Department to reduce energy use because the Department is active 24/7/365."

Mohawk Valley Clean Energy Communities Coordinator:

Amanda Kaier

akaier@mvedd.org

Mohawk Valley Economic Development District

26 W Main St, Mohawk, NY 13407

Office: (315) 866-4671

(315) 525-1312

Lewis County expects to achieve Climate Smart Communities Bronze Certification in July

High Impact Actions Completed:

Benchmarking, PACE Financing, Unified Solar Permit, Clean Fleets

Energy Champions Include:

Kevin Brouillard, Coordinater, CEC and CSC programs for Lewis County

Alaina Mallette, Planner, Tug Hill Commission

“I’m very excited about achieving Climate Smart Communities certification,” says Kevin Brouillard. "Of the 65 certified communities in New York State, only one (Saranac Lake) is located in the North Country. I’m hopeful that our certification will raise awareness of the program and allow us to support our towns and villages make similar strides toward climate action and adaptation. We are hoping to apply for Bronze Certification on July 2. Our taskforce formed in January 2021, and this quick turnaround was only made possible by involvement from multiple Lewis County departments and partner organizations. Currently, I am working on a climate vulnerability assessment and a greenhouse gas inventory of municipal operations, which will provide a baseline assessment for Lewis County’s Climate Smart Communities Taskforce to begin the climate action and adaptation planning process.”

North Country Clean Energy Communities Coordinators:

Nancy Bernstein 

nbernstein@adirondack.org

Jennifer Perry

jperry@adirondack.org

Matt Price

mprice@adirondack.org

Adirondack North Country Association

67 Main Street, Suite 201, Saranac Lake, NY 12983

Office: 518 891 6200

www.adirondack.org

The Town has four Nissan Leaf electric vehicles and three Chevy Volt plug-in hybrids in its municipal fleet, and has installed 10 public Level-2 EV charging stations in municipal lots.

High Impact Actions Completed:

Clean Fleets, Unified Solar Permit, Benchmarking, Climate Smart Communities Certification (Bronze level).

Energy Champions:

Lauren Steinberg, Senior Environmental Analyst, Town of East Hampton Department of Natural Resources

Peter Van Scoyoc, Town Supervisor

Mellissa Winslow, Senior Environmental Analyst, Department of Natural Resources

Kim Shaw, Environmental Protection Director

Linda James, former Energy Sustainability Committee Chair

Gordian Raacke, Renewable Energy Long Island, Town Energy Project Consultant

"As a coastal community, susceptible to the impacts of climate change, East Hampton has set very large goals for renewable energy, sustainability and reducing its greenhouse gas emissions," says Lauren Steinberg. "In 2014 the Town Board adopted a goal to meet the equivalent of 100% of annual, community-wide energy consumption in the electricity, heating and transportation sectors with renewable sources by 2030. The CEC program and the action items help us work towards our goal." Adds East Hampton Town Supervisor, Peter Van Scoyoc, "East Hampton Town’s growing fleet of electric vehicles is a centerpiece of our expanding group of initiatives promoting sustainability and renewable energy, and addressing the impacts of climate change. With our fleet of  EVs on the road, and almost two dozen public, town-sponsored EV charging stations throughout the town, our residents are getting the message that electric vehicles are a viable option and a good way to help reduce carbon emissions.”

Long Island Clean Energy Communities Coordinator:

Sarah Oral PE, LEED AP BD+C

SOral@cameronengineering.com

Civil Engineering Director 

Cameron Engineering & Associates, LLP

177 Crossways Park Drive

Woodbury, NY 11797

Office: 516-224-5237

www.cameronengineering.com

Town Councilors Elaine Denton (l) and Katelyn Kriesel (r), leading the first meeting of the Sustainable Manlius committee.

High Impact Actions Completed:

Benchmarking, Energy Code Enforcement Training, LED Streetlights, Unified Solar Permit

Energy Champions Include:

Katelyn Kriesel, Town Councilor

"The Town of Manlius is working on a number of new initiatives, including Climate Smart Communities Certification, with the help of its committee, Sustainable Manlius," says Katelyn Kriesel. “Climate change is one of the biggest risks to our people and our planet, and any small step we can take to move the needle and promote climate justice and environmental sustainability, we’re willing to do. One of the first policies we passed was the Unified Solar Permit, which is especially dear to me because I ran the Solarize Central New York program when I was working at the Central New York Regional Planning and Development Board. Since we formed our Committee in January, 2020, we've had enormous community buy-in. There’s a hunger and appetite for this work, for coming together to help the municipality become more energy-efficient. In April we passed a resolution declaring April Earth Month and commemorated it with a Manlius Earth Fest, which included five panel discussions that were very well attended over Zoom."

Central NY Clean Energy Communities Coordinator:

Amanda Mazzoni, Senior Planner

amazzoni@cnyrpdb.org

Central New York Regional Planning and Development Board

126 North Salina Street, Suite 200

Syracuse, NY 13202

LED street lights at an intersection, Town of Richford

High Impact Actions Completed:

Benchmarking, Unified Solar Permit, LED Streetlights

Energy Champions Include:

Cyndi Herrick, Deputy Supervisor, Town of Richford

"We have chosen to pursue Clean Energy Communities designation for several reasons. We adopted the Uniform Solar Permit because we want to be ready if anyone needs to apply for a solar permit. We adopted Benchmarking because we were already trying to track energy consumption in an effort to see where we might be able to find financial savings, and it gave us a structure to do so. We switched our street lighting to LED in order to save money and be more environmentally aware, and we have already saved more than the cost of switching over to LED. The biggest reason that we pursued designation, though, was to be eligible for the $5000 designation grant," explained Cyndi Herrick. "We have been saving money for several years to replace the old, inadequate and very energy-inefficient town hall. The new town hall will be fully handicapped accessible, well-insulated, and possibly have solar panels. It will also have a heat pump to help with heating and cooling."

Three Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicles were purchased by the County through a NYSERDA grant. From left: Brad Bentley, county public facilities director; State Sen. George M. Borrello, R-Sunset Bay; County Executive PJ Wendel; Legislator Mark Odell; Doreen M. Harris, President and CEO of NYSERDA; state Assemblyman Andrew Goodell, R-Jamestown; Jonathan Mayr, Clean Energy Communities coordinator, Southern Tier West; Brendan Cullen, planning technician with the Chautauqua County Division of Planning and Community Development. 

High Impact Actions Completed: 

Energize NY Finance, Benchmarking, Solarize, Clean Fleets

Energy Champion:

Chautauqua County Legislator Mark Odel

"When we first got in touch with CEC Coordinator Jonathan Mayr, we came away with a stack of action items that were possible and usable for Chautauqua County,” says Mark Odell. “The limiting factor was finding someone to champion them, to take the ball and get it done. We ended up with 12 to 14 municipalities participating, receiving awards from $5,000 to $100,000. I feel the most important consideration for undertaking a High Impact Action is that it have utility and benefit for everybody. For example, an early step we took in Clean Fleets, was to become the first municipality in the state to have electric tractor trailers for transfer stations. This eliminated the cold-start diesel emissions that occurred constantly in the transfer process. Three years later, they’re still working great. And last summer, as part of the award, we were also able to add three Chevrolet Bolts to our County’s fleet.”

Southern Tier West RP&DB Clean Energy Communities Coordinator:

Jonathon Mayr, GISP

jmayr@southerntierwest.org

4039 Route 219, Suite 200

Salamanca, NY 14779

(716)-945-5301 ext. 2232

www.southerntierwest.org

City of Buffalo team accepting the Climate Smart Communities Bronze designation plaque from Lt. Governor Kathy Hochul, September 2019

High Impact Actions Completed:

Clean Fleets, Climate Smart Bronze, Open C-PACE, Completed PACE project(s), Benchmarking 

Energy Champions:

Kelley M. St. John, Resiliency Grants Manger, City of Buffalo

Robert Mayer, Director of Policy, City of Buffalo, Mayor Byron Brown

"We feel strongly that we have a responsibility to take as many steps possible to mitigate negative climate impacts in our area," says Robert Mayer. "Of the High Impact Actions we’ve completed, I’m most excited about the Energy Benchmarking. One of the things we’ve been really focused on is how the city’s own carbon footprint can be reduced, and last April, with offices shutting down due to COVID, the mayor announced that a hybrid 60/40 work model was something we should pursue. Benchmarking is helping us establish a baseline to measure our carbon footprint, and giving us a way to hold ourselves accountable now that people are moving into that hybrid model on an ongoing basis.The Clean Energy Communities program has represented an alignment of our values, while providing a framework from the state to help us measure our actions, and generate something to help the public see what the city is doing and our commitment to green global citizenship. We're very excited to be working toward Climate Smart Silver certification in July."

WNY Clean Energy Communities Coordinator: 

Jason Kulaszewski

jasonkul@buffalo.edu

University at Buffalo Regional Institute

77 Goodell Street, Suite 302 Buffalo, NY 14203

716.878.2441  

regional-institute.buffalo.edu