Hopes to reduce emissions by 31% by 2030
When it comes to mitigating the effects of climate change, the City of Beacon has been a trendsetter.
Beacon is one of just 14 municipalities in New York to achieve “silver” certification in New York’s Climate Smart program, and its electrification building codes passed last year anticipated state laws and will be implemented sooner.
The city’s Climate Action Plan, scheduled to be presented to the City Council on Aug. 5, pushes the envelope further. It lays out a roadmap to reduce the city government’s 2021 emissions levels by 31 percent before 2030, which is in line with the state goal of a 40 percent reduction by 2030 over 1990 levels.
“Beacon is committed to achieving our climate goals,” said Ben Swanson, the secretary to the mayor and one of the plan’s authors. “This plan gives us a structure to do so and a way to strategically time and take on new projects.”
Beacon has taken the first steps toward its goal by installing a solar array over the former landfill at Dennings Point, converting street and traffic lights to more energy-efficient LEDs and launching a community solar project that provides lower-income residents with up to 20 percent off their electric bills (see bit.ly/beacon-community-solar).
The solar program’s energy comes from arrays in the Mid-Hudson Valley at closed landfills and other brownfields, similar to the installation at Dennings Point.
“There’s a direct relationship between subscriptions to a community solar project and the construction of new renewable energy projects in the area, making our electricity a bit cleaner with every participating household,” said Faye Leone, Beacon’s Climate Smart coordinator. The city plan says community solar will be crucial in reducing emissions because Central Hudson’s default energy mix includes a lower percentage of renewable sources than other New York utilities.
Another of the plan’s projects is nearly done and hard to miss. Except for its emergency generator, the central firehouse across from City Hall will be powered by geothermal. The city is also installing another batch of EV chargers at the station and considering other sites for private and city-owned vehicles.
Related: Dutchess Goes for Silver
The plan calls for installing solar panels on the firehouse’s roof after it opens in the fall. Panels are also planned for the Highway Department garage and wastewater administrative building. Heat pumps will be installed at the wastewater building and treatment plant next year.
The largest reduction in emissions will come from biofilters installed at the former Dennings Point landfill to mitigate the 1,000 metric tons of greenhouse gases it emits every year. If federal funding is available, the filters are scheduled to be installed by 2029.
The plan is not legally binding and can be amended. “It needs to be flexible, because a lot can change between now and 2030,” Swanson said. “It’s more like a mechanism for restructuring our thinking and planning in the short, medium and long term, and how we go about projects and initiatives to make sure that we’re achieving the goals that were already set. It’s better to under-promise and over-deliver.”
Even if the city only undertakes the projects outlined in the plan, Leone said that everyone’s daily lives will be better because of the improvement in air quality.
“Beacon has a problem with air pollution, and it’s not just wildfires from hundreds of miles away,” she said. “It’s also from Interstate 84. Making it easier for people to drive electric vehicles, starting with the city’s fleet, is an important step.”
If the city really wants to reduce its climate impact, it should reimpose a building moratorium. It’s going to take a long time for that central firehouse through its use of renewable energy to offset its total (process + materials) carbon footprint.