Committee notes

Green committee supports Village resolution for paper yard bags

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July 19, 2016

Dear Tivoli Village Board,

For years, the Village of Tivoli Department of Public Works (DPW) has picked up Village residents’ grass clippings and leaves and taken them to be composted. If this material is contained in plastic bags the bags must be torn apart manually by DPW workers. The activity of breaking apart the plastic bags and extracting the organic material for composting takes a significant and substantial amount of time on the part of the DPW workers, at a cost to the taxpayers of the Village of Tivoli. Furthermore, the residue of torn plastic bags is not recyclable and must be gathered and sent to a landfill.

Therefore, the Tivoli Green Committee is in support of the resolution, effective July 1, 2016, that the Village of Tivoli DPW will no longer pick up yard waste in plastic bags. Instead, we encourage residents to buy appropriately sized compostable paper bags to contain their leaves and grass clippings. We also recommend that residents choose paper bags that consist of a significant portion of recycled paper.

The Tivoli Green Commitee Village applauds this step toward making Tivoli a greener and more sustainable community.

Mara Ranville

Chair, Tivoli Green Committee

Street Lighting meeting – Kingston 4/2/15

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NOTES ON STREET LIGHTING MTG

KINGSTON 4-2-15

Manna Jo Greene, Chairman of the Climate Smart Committee (Ulster or Kingston?)

Matthew Edge, NYSERDA

Said there’s a NYSERDA Street Lighting Report on line.

— Reduced maintenance,

— Reduced consumption of energy.

Central Hudson has various options for switching over to LED’s.

Up-front financing is high. Recommends sitting down with Central Hudson rep to figure what’s best for us.

  1. A) Cent Hud own and maintain,
  2. B) Cent Hud own and we maintain,
  3. C) We own and we maintain.

Nina Orville, Village of Dobbs Ferry

Took the Climate Smart Pledge in 2009.

Took them 18 months to have their electrician install all LED lights throughout the Village.

Dobbs Ferry saved $100K and reduced greenhouse gases by 40%.

Yonkers followed up on Dobbs Ferry’s example. Brad Tito, Director of Sustainability for Yonkers spoke about project. They had Lumina Lighting Solutionos do the  installations. And they have not enacted mandatory green building standards

(all new constructions or all buildings?).

Jennifer Metzger, on Town Council, Town of Rosendale

Said they had 192 Street lights.

First they did a full assessment of all their lights.

They wanted to decommission those lights they did not need, and wound up eliminating 26. Others they reduced wattage.

Said Cent Hudson was offering FOUR options to convert to LED’s.

Ms Metzger still thinks might be good idea for municipalities to buy their own.

Pat Courtney Strong

Said NYSERDA has money for municipalities, but hasn’t gotten any requests for funding from them. We should all look into the “Existing Facilities Program.”

NYSERDA is looking for projects that could save 250KW hrs per year, and this could also include internal lighting (like Village Hall).

Tivoli should partner with Village of Red Hook and Town of Red Hook, to ensure that we meet this criterion of energy savings on the project. NYSERDA has $30K up to $2 million to give away. Deadline for applying for these monies Dec 31st, but the monies available usually get renewed from year to year.

Think this is the link we should check for NYSERDA monies available for municipalities.

http://www.nyserda.ny.gov/All-Programs/Programs/Cleaner-Greener-Communities

OTHER COMMENTS

One fellow said the Lumineer lights are hideous. Too white and too bright.

Another fellow cited one municipality, which he called “Town X,” which made a wrong decision on the type of lighting choice it made, and will have to pay for that decision for years and years.

You can choose a lower wattage/lumens LED light. Many municipalities like the white character of the light because it helps law enforcement identify the color of a perpetrator’s car or clotting.

LED lighting is directional. So evening light pollution is minimized.

Was suggested to put solar-power source on street lighting poles where applicable.

Good idea for towns to piggy-back with others on purchasing.

Bill Cotting, rep from Central Hudson  

Very willing to sit down with municipalities to discuss possibilities.

NYS is offering a “Prize Grid Facility” award. $100K to the best micro-grid island to service intra-communities in time of emergency. Have to submit for award by May 15th.

Notes prepared by Kathy OConnor.

Tivoli Green Committee