TCCPI is a multisector collaboration seeking to leverage the climate action commitments made by Cornell University, Ithaca College, Tompkins Cortland Community College, Tompkins County, the City of Ithaca, and the Town of Ithaca to mobilize a countywide energy efficiency effort and accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy. Launched in June 2008 and generously supported by the Park Foundation, TCCPI is a project of the Sustainable Markets Foundation.

The rules will go into effect on August 4 in the City on September 13 in the Town. They will require that all new buildings be constructed to produce 40% fewer greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions than those built to the NYS Energy Conservation Construction Code. The ECS will become more stringent in 2023, requiring an 80% reduction in emissions.

Starting in 2026, net-zero buildings that do not use fossil fuels will be required (with exceptions for cooking and process energy). Recognizing the urgency of the current climate crisis, both the City Common Council and Town Board voted to accelerate the implementation timeline from the originally proposed step-up dates of 2025 and 2030.

The ECS offers two options for builders to comply, the prescriptive Easy Path, which is a customized point-based system, or the performance-based Whole Building Path. Using the Easy Path, points are awarded for electrification of space and water heating, affordability improvements, renewable energy and other aspects like walkability and adaptive reuse. Both residential and commercial buildings will need to achieve six of these points to be approved.

The Whole Building Path allows more flexibility in building design but requires that buildings comply with one of the main third-party green building standards such as LEED, HERS, and the National Green Building Standard, or that they use software modeling to show compliance.

Initial discussions about the new code began four years ago with City and Town staff working with a consultant team and internal and external stakeholder groups to create the regulations.

“Collaboration was an integral part of this project," said Nick Goldsmith, ECS project manager and Sustainability Coordinator for the City and Town. "The regulations will cover both the City and the Town, practically doubling the impact, and providing consistency for builders who work across municipal boundaries. We hope to inspire other communities to take strong legislative action to reduce GHG emissions.”

Due to the current pandemic, the monthly TCCPI meetings have moved online. Contact Peter Bardaglio, the TCCPI coordinator, for further details at pbardaglio@gmail.com.

Communities benefit from adopting the stretch code in a variety of ways, including:

Changes in the stretch code compared to the current code includes:

The code was amended into local law and will take into effect Sept. 1 of this year. Before the voting and resolution process, a public hearing took place.

Despite approval from a majority of residents, others disagreed with the language of the code and how it will affect the town in the long run.

Deputy Town Supervisor Dan Lamb said the stretch code “is coming and it’s effective. Why wait until 2023?” Lamb mentioned that nearly 40% of greenhouse gas emissions come from buildings, adding that “we have a lot of buildings here in Dryden.”

The cars will be permanently located at local site hosts 210 Hancock St., an INHS community development, and Diane’s Downtown Automotive. As early supporters of EV charging infrastructure, both have offered publicly available EV charging stations for 3+ years.

This project is supported by New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) to expand community access to the EV market in underserved areas and accelerate EV adoption through innovation and demonstration. It supports New York State’s climate and clean energy goals under the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.

“We are proud of this initiative with Ithaca Carshare and our local partners to expand electric vehicle access to more residents," said Adam Ruder, Assistant Director of Clean Transportation, NYSERDA. "Whether running an errand or traveling, enjoying a clean, quiet, and efficient driving experience in an electric vehicle helps drivers lower their carbon footprint and build a more sustainable future for their community.”

The EVs are part of Ithaca Carshare’s collaboration with Energetics, a clean energy consulting company, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County, and Ridge Road Imports to expand the market for used EV and facilitating EV usage for the low- and moderate-income community.

-Ithaca Carshare Press Release

A historic heat wave has the Pacific Northwest caught in its grip. One of the few places that many believed would largely escape the worst of climate change has seen temperatures reach triple digits this past weekend. Portland, Oregon, hit 112 degrees F this past Sunday, breaking the all-time high of 108 degrees F, which had been set just the day before. Seattle, for the first time since records started being kept in 1897, experienced two consecutive triple-digit days. Despite the Northwest’s reputation for moderate weather, it’s so hot that roads are buckling, even the interstate highways.

Other areas of the West face even worse conditions. “The Southwest is getting hammered by climate change harder than almost any other part of the country, apart from perhaps coastal cities,” points out Jonathan Overpeck, a climate scientist at the University of Michigan. “And as bad as it might seem today, this is about as good as it’s going to get if we don’t get global warming under control.”

Lake Mead, which supplies water for 25 million people in three southwestern states and Mexico, has become a dramatic symbol of a megadrought that has afflicted the region for two decades now. Water levels there have dropped to their lowest point since the reservoir was filled in the 1930s. In California, farmers are being forced to choose which crops to save and which to abandon, and communities throughout the Golden State are considering whether to ration drinking water. Dozens of wildfires are burning across the West even though the peak season is yet to arrive.

These events, dramatic as they seem, are just a glimpse of what awaits us if we stay on the present course.

According to a hair-raising report by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a draft of which was obtained recently by Agence France-Presse (AFP), the outlook is unrelievedly grim if we don’t change direction immediately. Pulling no punches, the report bluntly declares that “the worst is yet to come.”

Entire societies and ecosystems will begin to come apart under the stress. “Species extinction, more widespread disease, unlivable heat, ecosystem collapse, cities menaced by rising seas – these and other devastating climate impacts are accelerating and bound to become painfully obvious before a child born today turns 30,” according to the AFP account.

The 4000-page IPCC draft report, not scheduled for release until February 2022, constitutes the most comprehensive assessment so far of how climate change is disrupting our world. As have numerous other studies, the IPCC analysis makes clear that those least responsible for climate destabilization are suffering disproportionately. In particular, indigenous communities struggle to preserve their cultural practices, traditions, and livelihoods in the face of rapid global warming that they did little to set off.

Perhaps the most urgent point made in the IPCC report is that current levels of adaptation are not nearly sufficient to meet the moment. Even under an optimistic scenario of two degrees Celsius of warming by mid-century, the projections are startling. Billions of people will endure coastal destruction, drought, famine, wildfire, and extreme poverty.

The IPCC emphasizes that the foreboding picture it paints doesn’t relieve us of the obligation to do everything we can to keep the situation from completely unraveling. It notes that there are still significant steps we can take to mitigate the worst consequences of climate change. But, as the AFP dispatch puts it, “simply swapping a gas guzzler for a Tesla or planting billions of trees to offset business-as-usual isn't going to cut it.”

“We need transformational change operating on processes and behaviours at all levels: individual, communities, business, institutions and governments,” insists the IPCC report. “We must redefine our way of life and consumption.”

The question, of course, is whether we can pull off this kind of sweeping makeover. What will it take to convince people and their governments that this is the only viable way forward? The answer remains to be seen, but like the ghost of Hamlet’s father, the question hangs over us, warning of a dire end if we fail to pay attention.

Pointing to past major climate shocks, the IPCC report observes that they upended the environment and wiped out the vast majority of species. "Life on Earth can recover from a drastic climate shift by evolving into new species and creating new ecosystems," it cautions. "Humans cannot."

P.S. It hit 116 Degrees F in Portland, OR yesterday. Three days, three records in a row.

Peter Bardaglio

TCCPI Coordinator

309 N. Aurora St.,

Ithaca, NY 14850

207-229-6183