State recognizes Jay for climate work

Adirondack town reduces carbon footprint with energy efficient upgrades, achieves bronze status in Climate Smart Communities program

By Mike Lynch

The town of Jay has earned a bronze designation through the Climate Smart Communities program to join a handful of Adirondack communities with that distinction. 

The state Department of Environmental Conservation made the announcement last week, recognizing Jay as one of eight communities statewide getting the designation in this round. 

Jay earned the certification through its efforts to reduce its carbon footprint, including installing energy-efficient LED streetlights, switching over to battery-operated landscaping equipment and promoting the use of solar energy. It has installed a heat pump in its senior center so it can serve the dual purpose of being a cooling center. The town has also led community education and outreach, including organizing a sustainability and energy fair last September. 

“It’s been a great experience for the town of Jay,” said Knut Sauer, Jay’s Climate Smart Coordinator and town councilor. “I think we are very excited about it, and everybody’s now looking for the silver certification. It’s an accomplishment and achievement that I think the town can be proud of.” 

The town is already working on some substantial projects for the near future, including plans to install electric vehicle charging stations at its town hall and solar panels on its highway garage. It is also pursuing a pilot program for a town-run composting program. 

These efforts have reduced greenhouse gas emissions but also led to the town receiving more than $80,000 in state grants.

Statewide there 148 communities have been certified bronze, and 18 have been certified silver as part of the program. 

In the Adirondacks, some bronze certified communities include the villages of Lake Placid and Saranac Lake, as well as the village and town of Lake George. There are none that are silver certified. 

Adirondack North County Association’s Climate Smart Communities Coordinator Carlie Leary provided guidance and technical support to Jay throughout the process. She helped them perform a greenhouse gas inventory of municipal operations and write a climate action plan. 

She said a lot of work falls on volunteers and elected officials in the North Country. 

“We don’t have too many communities up here that are certified,” Leary said. “It’s a heavy lift.”

Sauer said the town started on the path of becoming a climate smart community through its participation in NYSERDA’s Clean Energy Community Program, which has overlapping goals. The town was participating in the clean energy program to take advantage of the many grant opportunities and then was encouraged by ANCA’s clean energy program to participate in the DEC initiative.

The town has a 10-member Climate Smart Communities task force. Sauer said the task force has made the town even more environmentally focused, whereas the motivation early on in joining the climate programs was to save taxpayer money through grants. 

“Obviously we’ve seen a lot of the different weather patterns in the Adirondacks,” Sauer said. So I think now it’s as much trying to do what we can to combat climate change. So (the motivation has) shifted a little bit towards that as a priority.”