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Clean Energy Communities News
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Moving our communities toward sustainability.
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 Todd Fabozzi / Director of Sustainability, CDRPC, todd@cdrpc.org
Welcome to the third edition of the Eastern NY Territory's Clean Energy Communities (CEC) quarterly newsletter. As we enter the 10th month of our effort to execute NYSERDA's CEC program, we are excited to report that with the support of our outreach coordinators, communities are diligently completing High Impact Actions in their pursuit of CEC Designation.
As of this writing, 54 communities have submitted completed actions within the Eastern NY Territory, over a dozen communities have become officially designated and are developing projects to be funded through the program, and numerous others are nearing the designation finish line and will likely pass it by the time you see this article. Read on to learn about some of the exemplary actions local governments are taking to become sustainable and energy efficient. And please contact your regional outreach coordinator if your community is interested in becoming a Clean Energy Community.
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| Answers To Your Most Frequent Questions About Solar: |
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Buying Power 101: Municipal Solar Workshop
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Building a more energy resilient New York starts with creating clean energy opportunities for communities. Local governments can encourage smart and cost-effective energy choices in their communities, not only in government operations but in homes, businesses, and community institutions.
New York State municipalities can help decrease the cost of government operations through municipal solar, solar legislation, group purchasing, and locally-organized community education and outreach
The Hudson Valley Regional Council is hosting a municipal solar workshop on Tuesday, May 9th, from 8:30am - 12pm at The Episcopal Church of St. Mary-in-the-Highlands
in Cold Spring, NY, to help local governments understand the
opportunities available to increase the number of solar rooftops in their jurisdiction through legislation, group purchasing, locally-organized community education and outreach.
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| NY-SUN Deputy Director Houtan Moaveni will be keynote speaker May 9. |
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Attend the Buying Power 101: Municipal Solar Workshop to:
- Learn about municipal and large scale solar and community choice aggregation.
- Access resources such as templates for legislation, procurement, and contracts.
- Take advantage of available funding and technical assistance opportunities.
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Village Incorporates Energy Code Training
Into
'Goshen Goes Green'
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| Goshen Mayor Kyle Roddey |
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Goshen Mayor Kyle Roddey is justifiably proud that his Orange County village (population 5,454) is on its way towards becoming a NYSERDA Clean Energy Community.
"It's part of a comprehensive plan that we call Goshen Goes Green," said Roddey, who has been mayor for six years. "It grew out of our 2015 visioning process. Everyone helped - from the village engineer who wrote the electric vehicle grant application to our volunteers."
Most recently, Village Building Inspector Ted Lewis and two Department of Public Works employees attended energy code training. Consultants went on site with them to assess the Village's five municipal buildings and used them as the basis for training the workers in the state energy code, which was updated in October, 2016.
The four High Impact Actions (HIAs) pursued by Village of Goshen are:
1- Energy Code Enforcement Training
2- Benchmarking
3- Unified Solar Permit
4- Clean Fleets (via Electric vehicle charging stations)
Roddey hopes to fund a conversion to LED street lights with a $50,000 grant the Village is applying for from the Clean Energy Communities program, once they complete the four HIAs.
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City of Rome Uses Real-World Scenario To Demonstrate
High Impact Actions
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Mayor Jacqueline Izzo |
Under the leadership of Mayor Jacqueline Izzo, the City of Rome has been working steadily toward achievement of four High Impact Actions (HIA) that will allow the city to qualify for $100,000 in NYSERDA Clean Energy Communities funding. The city initially documented its success with Clean Fleets, Benchmarking and Unified Solar Permit. Chief Code Inspection Officer Mark Domenico then took an innovative approach when he agreed to tackle Energy Code Enforcement Training as a fourth HIA, working with T.Y. Lin, an independent contractor to NYSERDA. Two teams of local design professionals were at the time seeking city building permits for a convenience store and a commercial building retrofit, respectively. Domenico drew T.Y. Lin into the review process for the two projects as a way of providing hands-on code training for both his staff and the design teams.
Following site visits, T.Y. Lin, led by Scott Copp, audited the design documents for compliance with the newly updated state energy code, which went into effect in October, 2016. Deficiencies were noted and a follow-up meeting was held to review the findings.
"It provided a great learning experience for the design professionals," said Domenico, who also is a registered architect. "And it was a great way to make the design community aware of T.Y. Lin's services, which are free of charge."
Domenico's team experienced benefits as well.
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Community Solar Takes Off -
With a Home Heating Oil Company Leading the Way
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Tom Kacandes, President, Inside Track Solar, Inc.
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One of the first Community Solar projects in New York State has come on line, developed by an Ulster County building owner who employed a sophisticated tax strategy in the construction of a unique solar array. The discount electric power was then marketed to a small group of customers already doing business with a home heating oil company.
SMCBC, LLC hired Inside Track Solar, Inc. to lead the contracting, development, and construction of 532 bi-facial panels on a medical arts building at 918 Ulster Avenue, Kingston.
The solar panels were made in nearby Highland by Prism Solar Technologies, Inc. Inside Track Solar President Tom Kacandes specified the system to maximize the amount of power produced by elevating the panels higher above the roof than any previous system so that the bi-facial panels can make additional power from light reflected by a white roof installed for the purpose. The roof not only adds to the solar kilowatt-hours per year, but also rejects infrared solar rays to keep the building cooler in the summer, reducing cooling demand and improving tenant comfort.
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Here's a selection of news stories from around the Eastern New York Territory that demonstrate the great work that communities are doing, as they learn about and join the Clean Energy Communities Program:
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The Tally: Clean Energy Communities Announced To Date
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Congratulations to the newest municipalities that have
been designated as Clean Energy Communities in Eastern NY. Each of these communities has completed at least four of 10 "high impact actions" that save energy and money and contribute to lowering greenhouse gas emissions - activities such as tracking energy use in municipal buildings, training for improved energy code enforcement, and policies to support solar energy.
Under the program, grants are available to 18 communities in each region of the state. All city, town, village, and county governments, tribes, and nations may apply. The grants range in size from $50,000 to $250,000 depending on the community's population. No local match is required.
MOHAWK VALLEY: City of Gloversville
HUDSON VALLEY: Village of Hastings-on-Hudson, Town of Rosendale, Village of Croton-on-Hudson, City of White Plains, City of Yonkers, Town of Ossining
CAPITAL REGION: Schenectady County, Town of Bethlehem
These communities join Ulster County, Kingston, Dobbs Ferry, Red Hook, and New Castle, which were previously designated.
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May 9, 8:30AM - 12PM
Workshop: Buying Power 101: Solar Opportunities for Municipalities.
June 7, 2017
Webinar: LED Street Lights: Can Your Municipality Afford To Wait?
October 25th-26th
ANCA Presents the 2017 Clean Energy Conference
The Queensbury Hotel, Glens Falls, NY
For information on sponsoring the conference, exhibiting, attending or staying at The Queensbury, please call 518.891.6200 or email
[email protected]
Please also see the
NYSERDA Calendar for sustainability events around New York State.
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