Three communities across Central New York were recently awarded bronze certification as Climate Smart Communities by the state for their efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change. The villages of Tully and Fayetteville along with the town of Newfield were all recognized for efforts taken to reduce their carbon footprints and energy consumption, utilize […]
Three communities across Central New York were recently awarded bronze certification as Climate Smart Communities by the state for their efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
The villages of Tully and Fayetteville along with the town of Newfield were all recognized for efforts taken to reduce their carbon footprints and energy consumption, utilize greener technology, and promote similar efforts from residents.
To achieve certification, local governments accumulate points for planning and implementing efforts that reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and improve the community’s resilience when it comes to the impacts of climate change.
Fayetteville has been taking such steps for the past decade, Mayor Mark Olson says. “We’ve done all these things and kind of never kept track of scores,” he notes. The village took the initiative because the changes it has made are better for people, save money, and better for the environment, he adds.
When Fayetteville learned it could achieve certification for those efforts, it formed a committee and started tallying up the points it was eligible for. Some of the initiatives the village completed include installing solar lights in the village parking lot and composting food waste along with green waste to make topsoil.
With enough points to earn bronze certification, the village is moving forward with its sights on earning silver certification.
“Right now, we have three projects we’re looking at,’ Olson says. They include installing LED lights at the village hall and hydropower streetlights and adding more electric vehicle charging stations.
Green initiatives in the village of Tully, according to trustee Kathy Vernay, included LED streetlights, installing LED lights with occupancy sensors at the wastewater treatment plant, planting 600 trees and shrubs, and adopting the NYStretch Energy Code, a voluntary and more stringent local energy code designed to help municipalities meet their energy and climate goals.
The town of Newfield spent more than two years working on the climate initiatives that earned its bronze certification, town Councilperson Heather McCarty says. Work included replacing interior and exterior lights along with streetlights with LED bulbs, conducting a fleet inventory, utilizing energy benchmarking, adding recycling bins in municipal buildings, working on a climate action plan, and completing an energy study with Taitem Engineering, PC.
“Reducing carbon emissions is important,” McCarty says. “We want to set an example ... for other small municipalities.”
Newfield has already landed two grants worth $5,000, McCarty says, and is about to receive a third grant worth $10,000. The town should soon qualify for a fourth award totaling $20,000, she added. All the grants will fund climate initiatives in the town.
Established in 2009, the Climate Smart Communities program provides guidance and technical support to local governments to take climate action. To date, 377 local governments representing more than 9.4 million people have adopted the Climate Smart Communities pledge to reduce emissions and adapt to climate change. In all, 118 communities are certified at the bronze or silver levels.