Penfield Advances CCA for a Sustainable, Green Future The Town of Penfield has long been a leader in innovative sustainability projects, earning recognition in March’s Rochester Business Journal. In 1999, while other municipalities continued to lease streetlight fixtures from RG&E, the Town decided to purchase the fixtures directly and replace inefficient mercury vapor lights with more efficient high pressure sodium (HPS) fixtures, ultimately saving tax payers thousands of dollars in equipment charges and reduced energy cost. These streetlight fixtures were updated once again starting in 2018 with even more efficient LED lights, and a complete transition to LED lights is anticipated in the early 2020s. In 2012, the Town of Penfield installed the first public Electric Vehicle charging station, located at the Penfield Community Center. It was soon followed by an EV charging station at the Penfield Town Hall and another in Harris Whalen Park. In 2020-2021, the Town is installing four more EV charging stations
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PENFIELD BUSINESS CHAMBER DIRECTORY | 2020-2021
in the southeast corner of the Four Corners Public Parking lot. The Town of Penfield has also taken great strides in switching to renewable solar energy. The Town’s first venture into solar power was a small self-sufficient sewer pump station that went online in 2012. Next, a solar powered crosswalk signal was installed on Scribner Road at Scribner Road Elementary School in 2013. That was followed in March 2014 with a solar panel array on the roof of the Harris Whalen Lodge that offsets nearly half of that facility’s annual electric use. Most significantly, in 2019, the town completed installation of a solar photovoltaic array at its DPW complex. The energy produced by this array is directly connected to RG&E’s utility grid and is expected to offset approximately 75% of the Town of Penfield’s overall electrical usage at its main facilities. The sustainability focus of 2020-2021, is Penfield’s new Community Choice Aggregation (CCA), a
