ADKCAP is the Adirondack Climate and Energy Action Plan
The ADKCAP Vision: Capping Energy Costs and Building Vibrant Economies
Energy Independence for the Adirondacks in 20 years
 
The Adirondack region could set an example for how other rural places in the U.S. could get off carbon and use the movement to support local economies. Every year more than $1 billion is spent on energy in the Adirondacks. Almost every cent goes somewhere else, and fast. ADKCAP is working to help the economy of the Adirondacks by finding the best ways to decrease waste in energy, decrease our use of carbon fuels, and invest the money we save in the long-term economic health of our region.
 
 
Who is involved
 
The ADKCAP Steering Committee is comprised of participants who self-identified at the close of the November Conference. See list on left for some of those involved. 
The coalition builds on the ongoing hard work of scores of organizations, municipal leaders, universities, businesses, educators, and others around the region who seek opportunity in the current economic climate.  
 
How we got here
 
ADKCAP's work is a follow-on the the American Response to Climate Change Conference held on November 18 and 19 of 2008 at The Wild Center in Tupper Lake, NY.  The Conference, entitled “The American Response to Climate Change: the Adirondack Model: Using Climate Change Solutions to Restore a Rural American Economy” generated enormous enthusiasm for action and interest in creating an economically compelling future for the communities in this region. At the end of the two day conference, there was a call-to-action from participants.

The Wild Center, in partnership with Clean Air Cool Planet and scores of organizations, universities, municipal leaders and businesses around the region are continuing that effort in full force today.  This is the Adirondack Energy and Climate Action Plan (ADKCAP).
 
The Conference focused on the economic benefits of a successful reduction in carbon pollution, and ADKCAP focuses on the economic opportunity presented by taking a big bite out of our carbon energy costs.
 
The Adirondack Conference included presentations on options. You can read the reports below or watch presenters at the conference in our big format videos..
 
Read the Alternative Fuels and Small Scale Power Generation working document
 
Read the Energy Efficient Buildings and Contractor Preparedness working document
 
Read the Green Economics and Local Govenment Strategies working document
 
Read the Natural Resources, Lands and Forest working document
 
The videos below are high resolution. Please be patient while they load. Hitting refresh can hurry up some browsers. 
 
Watch the report on Adirondack Climate Impacts "it's happening now..."
 
Watch presentation on cutting costs and building economic advantage "You guys are entering a new phase in this, which is how our larger areas and regions are going to deal with it..." Part II
 
Watch Report on New Hampshire's experience  "form energy committees to address the rising cost of energy.."
 
Read the Major Draft Report on climate disruption impacts on the Adirondacks.
 
Since late 2008, ADKCAP (www.adkcap.org) has become a growing grassroots coalition of organizations that are acting to address climate and energy, which can benefit the local economy and residents while also protecting the environment. ADKCAP’s main goals include energy independence for the Adirondack region within 20 years by growing local economies, capping carbon emissions, and capping imported energy.
 
The coalition has been defining focus areas, including Forest and Land Management; Transportation; Energy Efficiency and Buildings; and Renewable Energy and Biomass Usage. The coalition has also identified projects including an Adirondack Advanced Building Code; Community Energy Managers; FAQs on Renewable Energy for the Park; Transportation master plan for the Park; Youth Climate Summit (November 2009, 2010, 2011 gatherings for 30 local high schools and 10 local colleges); and more.
 
ADKCAP supported public education: The Wild Center hosted a Fellow from Clean Air-Cool Planet to facilitate energy savings inventories and climate discussion in communities; created the ADKCAP website, to track the progress of ADKCAP and to serve as a comprehensive resource on energy efficiency and climate action; and presented information about ADKCAP at local and state government meetings.
 
The coalition sought funding for ADKCAP organizing and project activities, and strengthened the coordination of local efforts by organizing meeting, recruiting experts for task force work, conducted background research, facilitated steering committee and task force meetings, drafted guidelines for the coalition; recruited a financial oversight team and an advisory council; and drafted a Climate Action Plan to coordinate energy savings and carbon reduction calculations region-wide.
Ultimately, in the Adirondack region, ADKCAP will work to improve efficiency of residential, commercial and municipal buildings; increase the use of renewable energy resources including wind, hydro, solar, geothermal, and high efficiency woody biomass heating systems; increase sustainable management in the region’s 2.6 million acres of privately owned forest lands, to ensure carbon sequestration, protection of biodiversity, and sustainable harvesting of woody biomass; increase public transportation options across this sparse and remote region, and reduce vehicle-related carbon emissions; involve all 103 communities across the Park in this transition; involve the tourism industry and the estimated 9 million annual Adirondack Park visitors in this transition; involve the region’s youth in community and educational actions, and work to establish a basis for ‘green jobs’ and career development.

Learn More about ADKCAP Partners and their Visionary Work on Climate and Energy (this section in formation)
 
The Wild Center
 
 
The Wild Center models – through its “green” facilities, through its educational programming, and through conference activities – how science museums can be an effective disseminator of sustainability and environmental solutions. For example, buildings are the source of an estimated 30 percent of energy usage in the United States. To “walk the walk” addressing this issue, The Wild Center campus is LEED certified and continues to seek ways to increase energy efficiency and lower its carbon footprint. In addition to the 100,000 visitors that can see the Museum’s green facilities during their visit each year, this unique facility is featured on www.wildcenter.org, where visitors can “tour” the green elements. 
 
1. Adirondack Climate and Energy Action Plan (ADKCAP)The Wild Centerfacilitates conversations and promotes the use of natural sciences for positive change throughout the entire Adirondack region. Our climate partnerships however extend to New Hampshire, where the nonprofit Clean Air Cool Planet has made the Adirondack region a focus, due to our impressive organizing efforts to date. 
 
The Adirondack Climate Conference held by The Wild Center in 2008 outlined actions that need to be taken by the region to save energy and address climate change. Our GHG and Energy Inventory, one of the first nationally to catalogue the emissions of a whole region, identified some areas that would be initial targets, particularly in building energy efficiency for heating and power, where we currently spend an estimated $263 million / year. As a region, we created an estimated 2.1 million metric tons of CO2 equivalents in our base year of 2006. To cut this output and to build resiliency into the economy of the Adirondacks, ADKCAP launched discussions to outline workable goals for improving the efficiency of buildings, creating local green jobs, building regional renewable energy capacity, investing in local fuel sources and local food sources, and improving the capacity of regional lands and forests to sequester carbon.
 
2. Adirondack Youth Climate Summit (AYCS) – The Adirondack region is home to 30 high schools and over 10 colleges and college extension campuses. A small group of students attended the Adirondack Climate Conference, held at The Wild Center in November 2008. This conference addressed how the Adirondack region can provide a meaningful and compelling case for how the people, communities, and businesses in a large rural area can turn the effort to limit the effects of climate change into an economic opportunity. One of the young attendees, inspired and motivated by the Adirondack Climate Conference, initiated the planning of the first Adirondack Youth Climate Summit to provide a voice for youth in the climate action planning for region. The Adirondack Youth Climate Summit serves schools throughout the Adirondacks – bringing together more than 150 high school junior and seniors, college students, educators, school administrators, and facility staff for two days to discuss how climate change is affecting them and their future.
 
The objective of the AYCS, which was launched in November 2009 and continues in November 2010 and 2011, is to develop carbon reduction plans for participating schools and institutions.
 
Wildlife Conservation Society
 
 
 
 
 
The Wildlife Conservation Society's Adirondack Program promotes wildlife conservation and healthy human communities in the Adirondacks through applied research, community partnerships, and public outreach.  WCS is responding to globally to climate change as a core conservation challenge.  Within the Adirondacks, WCS' engagement on climate and energy issues is on several fronts:   

• providing critical research and information to rural Adirondack communities on the effects of climate change and possible responses, including through the report version of Climate Change in the Adirondacks, and the book-length version (Climate Change in the Adirondacks:  The Path to Sustainability), to be published in spring, 2010; 
• helping wildlife and land managers develop management strategies that help wildlife adapt to climate change;
• assisting communities to plan for smart growth, utilizing both wildlife sensitive planning principles and carbon-smart development strategies; and 
• integrating the efforts of a number of regional initiatives, including ADKCAP and the Common Ground Alliance, on energy and climate issues.

Additionally, WCS is working with partners to investigate the feasibility of implementing a regional carbon offset fund.