Schenectady Energy Advisory Board (EAB)

Meetings are held at 7:00 PM on the second Thursday of every month in Room 110 of City Hall.

For more information, contact mdechiro1@nycap.rr.com.

History:

The Energy Advisory Board was created in May 2007 by Schenectady City Council Members Barbara Blanchard and Frank Maurizio after former Mayor Brian U. Stratton signed the U.S. Mayor’s Climate Protection Agreement pledging to reduce the City’s carbon footprint 7% by 2012. 

Energy Advisory Board Mission statement:

The Mission of the Schenectady Energy Advisory Board is to make recommendations to the City Council and to the Administration in line with the U.S. Mayor’s Climate Protection Agreement, in order to minimize environmental and financial impacts by reducing the carbon footprint of the city infrastructure and the community in general.

Members:

• Mark DeChiro, Vice Chair (2007 - Present), Chair pro tempore (July 2010 - Present) 

• Dana Swalla, Ph.D., Chair (2007 - July 2010), Member (July 2010 - Present

• Andrew Morris, Ph.D., Secretary (2008 - Present)           

• Barbara Blanchard (2007 – Present)          

• Tom Della Sala (2008 – Present)            

• Jeff Corbin, Ph.D. (2007 – Present)     

• Jeff Edwards (2007 - Present)        

• Heather Meaney (2008 – Present) 

• Michael Tamasi (2009 - Present)

Past Members (opens in Word)

2009 Annual Report (opens as .pdf)

City of Schenectady Energy and Carbon Emissions Review - April 2010

Member Biographies

• Implement comprehensive leak detection study. Current leak detection technology can sense even small leaks without digging up ground.

• City Council and Administration should approve performance contract for installation of water meters at all residential properties in City of Schenectady within a year of EAB formal presentation to Council.

• If performance contract is not approved within this period, then residents shall have the option to voluntarily install privately purchased meters by licensed plumber (type of meter and installation to be checked by City inspector).

• Metered water rate to be set similar to surrounding community standards and/or current Schenectady commercial rate.

• Recommend that City pursue possibility of expanding range of plastics recycling in conjunction with new Sierra Processing facility.

• Edit handouts that require separate bundling of paper products in paper bags.

• Consider moving to a recycling reward system, such as Recycle Banks. http://www.recyclebank.com/how-it-works

• Educate about benefits of composting/recycling. Work to develop infrastructure in the region for organics composting.

• Enforce current ordinance requiring registration of private waste haulers.

• Recommend instituting a system of warnings leading to non-collection and/or citations if city recycling set-out requirements are not followed.

• Initiate vehicle purchase policy for all city departments that encourages use of higher gas mileage/lower emissions vehicles (2008).

• Encourage vehicle sharing between departments, when feasible (2008).

• Discontinue personal use of city vehicles (2010).

• Calculate and track emissions from vehicle fleet annually  (2008).

Accomplishments (opens in Word)

Municipal Operations Recommendations 2007-2008:

General:

Initiate and maintain procedures that allow convenient tracking and analysis of carbon emissions across all sectors. 

Buildings Sector

• City owned buildings undergoing major renovations or new construction must meet LEED or equivalent standards.

• Complete Siemens performance contract building upgrades and continue to document energy savings.

• Encourage energy service providers to submit all billing electronically to allow for easier energy usage tracking (i.e. carbon footprint analysis), as well as reduce paper waste and costs associated with paper billing storage.

• Work with Union College to calculate and track emissions from buildings annually using electronic data. 

Water

• Develop a strategy to conserve water in order to save energy, control infrastructure costs and preserve flexibility for future water supplies and needs.  

Vehicle Fleet Sector

• Initiate vehicle purchase policy for all city departments that encourages use of higher gas mileage/lower emissions vehicles       

• Install devices to lower particulates on selected vehicles     

• Encourage vehicle sharing between departments, when feasible   

• Calculate and track emissions from vehicle fleet annually.

Street lights and Traffic Signals Sector

• Work with National Grid to encourage development of more energy efficient street lights.
• Complete work on LED Traffic light replacement and work with National Grid, Siemens, and city departments to fully capture energy savings that have resulted from traffic light replacement.

Transportation Recommendations:

• All new road development projects will make provisions for bicycle and pedestrian traffic, including the new Erie Boulevard corridor project.

• Planning commission should encourage installation of bike racks in all new developments and major renovation projects.

• Install bike racks in areas of commerce and recreation.

• Work with Union College students to formulate a traffic usage summary to estimate carbon footprint of vehicle traffic in Schenectady.  

Community outreach recommendations:

Work with the Energy Advisory Board to develop the following:

• Annual Energy Fair hosting local “green” businesses and teaching best practices.

• Collaboration with local grade schools (ie school forum, science fairs, information booklets to bring home)

• Neighborhood Association presentations Development of residential “Eco-Teams” similar to Burlington, VT

• Set up EAB website available through a link from the main City website to track progress and inform the public of ongoing initiatives, meetings, and minutes.

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