Environmental Board hears about clean energy grants

From page 1

As New York municipalities collect more points, they are eligible for higher grant amounts.

Twelve types of Clean Energy actions are NYSERDA-approved for the accumulation of points. These actions include Energy Code Enforcement training, offering a Unified Solar Permit, Community Choice Aggregation which can help reduce carbon emissions by transitioning to a clean and renewable energy supply, and a Clean Heating and Cooling Demo with conversion of a municipal facility to all-electric, with ground or air-source heat pumps.

“Action grants are typically shortterm local efforts aimed at the adoption of new and innovative technologies in order to reduce our usage of fossil fuels and to encourage the use of clean energy through widespread outreach and education,” Borroni said.

Community campaigns include the Community Solar, Electric Vehicle, the Clean Heating/Cooling and Energy Efficiency campaign and the “DemandResponse” campaign, in which local governments develop partnerships with New York-based independent system operators and utility Demand-Response programs.

Community Solar promotes the use of solar energy over fossil fuels to power a home. For Electric Vehicle education and outreach, the municipalities can partner with local car dealerships to promote the use and benefits of electric vehicles.

HVAC system at Village Hall

The current “High-Impact Action” project the Village of Garden City is completing is the new HVAC system outfitting Village Hall, with utilization of an air-source heat pump by installing a Variable Refrigerant Flow heating and cooling system at the facility.

The third and last category of NYSERDA’s Clean Energy grants are Designation grants, as 42 Long Island communities have participated in this program having obtained the “Clean Energy Community” designation –including the Incorporated Village of Garden City. A community needs to complete four High-Impact Actions in order to achieve this designation.

Garden City has completed the HighImpact Action of “Benchmarking” in 2017; LED Street Lights in 2016, offering a Unified Solar permit (2017) and fourth being village staff’s completion of Energy Code Enforcement training, also in 2017. Borroni said the ECE training is now considered an expired version so village staff must receive new training on it. Borroni spoke with Superintendent of Building Giuseppe Giovanniello and code enforcement officials will be taking the training so the village can obtain the required NYSERDA points. Code Enforcement staff are registered for the next training session.

“By completing these four HighImpact Actions without the Energy Code Enforcement points, the village has earned 1,000 points. But within the next few months we should be able to earn the Energy Code Enforcement points,” he said.

DPW Superintendent Borroni outlined two straightforward short-term goals for the Village of Garden City to consider: participation in Nassau County-hosted trainings, which could net up to 1,500 points, as well as pursuing the Climate Smart Communities certification, which would tally 800 points towards the NYSERDA score. EAB member John Reilly asked for collaboration with Borroni on a timeline to achieve these relatively simple goals. Reilly suggested the village strategize for moving up to the 3,000 and 4,000point thresholds fairly soon.

Long range goals Borroni presented on February 15 varied from “clean fleets” for municipal and police vehicles – worth up to 1,000 points; Action grants for Community Campaigns, which are worth up to 1,100 points; the use of 100% renewable electricity village-wide worth 500 points, and clean energy upgrades which would also be worth 500 points.

EAB member Kelly Smith asked how the NYSERDA grant monies are allocated, and what the money can be spent on for Garden City. Borroni spoke about the correlation between the points a community achieves and the increasing grant levels.

“Once you complete the High-Action item you apply to NYSERDA for the grant, and then they provide the funds. The LED Street Lights project is a good example as Garden City put a bid out when we converted more than 75% of our street lights to LED cobra head lights. After we completed that we applied to NYSERDA and got the grant money. First you have to lay the money out and then NYSERDA reimburses the municipality,” Borroni noted.