How the Town of Clinton is Meeting Climate Smart Goals
The Climate Smart Communities Certification program is organized around the ten CSC Pledge Elements, with various actions available under each one. The following includes some of the actions that the Town has completed, as well as those planned for the future:
Build a climate-smart community:
PE1 Action: National/Regional Climate Program: The Town is participating in NYSERDA’s Clean Energy Communities Program, which provides rewards and recognition to local governments that demonstrate clean energy leadership. Communities that complete four out of the ten available High Impact Actions can become New York State ‘designated’ Clean Energy Communities. The Town has currently completed three High Impact Actions and plans to achieve Clean Energy Communities designation by 2020. The Town’s completed Actions, as well as all statewide participating Clean Energy Communities can be viewed here: Participating Clean Energy Communities Map.
Inventory emissions, set goals, and plan for climate action.
Decrease energy use:
PE3 Action: Energy Benchmarking for Government Buildings: Gauge greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from our municipal buildings (Link). Establishing the baseline energy use and GHG emissions associated with the Town’s municipal buildings will allow us to measure our progress towards achieving a 10% reduction by 2020 and even further reductions over time.
PE3 Action: Energy Code Enforcement Training: The Town’s code enforcement officer completed this NYSERDA training, which focuses on what code enforcement officials need to know about the Energy Code in the context of its practical application on active construction projects.
Shift to clean, renewable energy.
Use climate-smart materials management.
Implement climate-smart land use:
PE6 Action: Unified Solar Permit: The Town has adopted this permit, which streamlines the approvals process for small-scale residential and commercial solar installations.
Enhance community resilience to climate change.
Support a green innovation economy:
PE8 Action: Community Choice Aggregation (CCA): The Town of Clinton is joining the Hudson Valley Community Power CCA Program. CCA is a New York State policy that puts control of choosing energy supply in local hands, allowing local leaders to pool demand and negotiate fixed-rate, potentially lower pricing with private suppliers. Communities are also able to choose cleaner energy.
The Town hosted two open house events to educate our community on the CCA Program on October 12, 2019, at the Clinton Town Hall and on October 22, 2019, at the West Clinton Firehouse. The speakers were Jeff Domanski and Hannah Karp of Hudson Valley Energy, a nonprofit focused on fostering sustainable communities with emphasis on people-focused strategies. Their team serves as the within-community support for the Hudson Valley Community Power CCA.
Youtube Video available of this meeting.
Slides from this meeting HVCP Clinton event slides 10.12.2019 v1
Hudson Valley Community Solar’s website
Inform and inspire the public:
PE9 Action: Local Climate Action Website: The Town and the Conservation Advisory Council are involving our community in this important work, in part by making this webspage available. We are always seeking additional opportunities to engage with and be a resource for our residents.
Develop an evolving process of climate action.