The Adirondacks Gets a New Energy Smart Communities Coordinator for NYSERDA Programs
For immediate release on August 10, 2010
 
NYSERDA Grant to Help Adirondack Residents, Businesses and Communities
 
 
The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), a public benefit corporation, has awarded an “Energy $martSM Communities Program” grant to a Cornell Cooperative Extension of Jefferson County. The purpose of the program is to help residents, businesses and communities in a ten county Adirondack North Country region to take better advantage of NYSERDA’s numerous and diverse energy programs. 
 
The Program will be carried out in partnership with the Adirondack North Country Association (ANCA), the Council for International Trade, Technology, Education and Communication (CITEC), and the Cornell Cooperative Extension Associations in Lewis, Herkimer, Hamilton, Warren, Washington, Essex, Clinton, Franklin, and St. Lawrence Counties. This partnership will provide energy education, outreach services and clean energy business development through implementation of NYSERDA’s New York Energy $martSM Communities Program within the ten North Country counties. 
 
Richard Halpin, Executive Director of Cornell Cooperative Extension of Jefferson County, stated that “the strength of our proposed project design, and why I believe it received NYSERDA funding, lies in the collaborative approach championed by the partnering organizations that are well positioned to efficiently and effectively extend energy expertise and funding opportunities to the local level where they are needed most. With Cornell Cooperative Extension leading the way, and the contributions of ANCA and CITEC, the entire North Country will realize tremendous benefit from this collaborative effort.”
 
Steve Erman, President of ANCA, called the grant award “an important opportunity for ANCA to further support community and economic development efforts in the Adirondack North Country.”   “Our partnership with Cornell Cooperative Extension and CITEC to deliver NYSERDA programs in the region will help to improve quality-of- life in our communities and enhance the region's economy.”
 
Arnie Talgo, an ANCA Director who recently retired from New York Power Authority, added that “the development and implementation of programs to advance energy efficiency as well as investments in the generation and delivery of clean power in the North Country is essential to building economic vitality and positioning our region for the future.”  “Through the education and outreach initiatives made possible by this new grant, ANCA can help build strong grass-roots interest in energy improvements.”
 
The funded project design includes overall coordination and administration of the program by Cooperative Extension from its Jefferson County office, while regional coordinators working out of ANCA, CITEC and County Extension offices will be deployed to oversee and support local delivery of NYSERDA programs and services by trained energy specialists based in the region’s more densely populated rural communities. Together, all staff working to implement the grant will be positioned to help communities in specific ways tailored to individual resident, business, and community energy needs.
 
Kate Fish, ANCA’s Executive Director, confirmed that her group brings to the effort “a wealth of experience and knowledge concerning community economic and development needs, particularly regarding the important role energy plays in the business of everyday life.” “Improving the efficiency of our infrastructure to include buildings, appliances and businesses, reducing our dependence on imported energy, and deploying more regional resources to serve our energy needs will create jobs, save our communities money and help build more resilience into our local economies.”    “In the Adirondacks alone, we spend over a $1 billion dollars a year on energy costs. Even a 15% improvement in efficiency would save the region $150 million dollars a year,” Fish said.
 
CITEC’s Executive Director, William Murray expanded his partnering colleagues’ views. He said that ANCA and CCE each bring their own particular strengths to the NYSERDA mission in ways that fit well with CITEC’s long-standing involvement and documented success in helping bring forward sound technological solutions to critical societal issues. “While technology is never the only solution to business and community problems, Murray said, it almost always is an essential part of arriving at real progress. This especially is the case in the energy arena.”
 
Several services that will be made available to residents, businesses, and communities through the Energy $martSM Communities program stand out and underscore the importance of collaboration to achieve desired results. Energy coordinators, for example, will help communities by:
 
• Matching energy project needs with the available NYSERDA funding opportunities and other economic development resources.
 
• Creating partnerships to encourage the development and implementation of local energy projects.
 
• Educating home owners, community leaders, business owners, and the general public on the benefits of energy efficiency and renewable resources.
 
• Providing assistance to energy-related businesses and entrepreneurs through initiatives that increase awareness of local and NYSERDA business assistance services available to early-stage, clean-energy businesses.
 
• Building support for energy-efficiency and renewable energy projects by providing energy education forums to help achieve the energy savings necessary for successful development efforts.
 
• Helping organizations and businesses build opportunities and create jobs by providing access to job training and recruitment opportunities for local business partners.
 
• Building a network of local organizations and agencies that contribute to urban, suburban, and rural understanding of your project and its energy benefit to the community.
 
 

For follow up information contact:
 
Richard Halpin
Cornell Cooperative Extension of Jefferson County
rlh44@cornell.edu
315-788-8450, ext. 233
 
Kate Fish
Adirondack North Country Association
kfish@adirondack.org
518-891-6200
 
William Murray, P.E.
CITEC, Inc.
murray@citec.org
315-268-3778 x29
 

Additional information about the New York State Energy $martSM Communities Program and other NYSERDA programs, resources, activities and events may be found at www.NYSERDA.ORG.
 
 
 
 
Sustainability of Woody Biomass - What are the Issues?
 
Offering No. 1:  From Allison Grappone at the Northern Forest Center
June 23, 2010
I wanted to update you on a recent study, the Massachusetts Biomass Sustainability Report, which was released earlier this month.  This report has been anticipated for some time as an important look at the carbon impacts of woody biomass energy and it is important to know about given your involvement with biomass energy. 
 
 The report executive summary: http://www.mass.gov/Eoeea/docs/doer/renewables/biomass/Manomet_Biomass_Report_ExecutiveSummary.pdf
The full report: http://www.manomet.org/sites/manomet.org/files/Manomet_Biomass_Report_Full_LoRez.pdf  
 
There has been extensive press coverage of the report across the region and beyond.  Much of it paints biomass in a less-than-favorable light and brushes over complexities of the findings.  Several of the report’s authors have responded to this coverage with the following statements:

• The Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences released a statement yesterday saying that much of the press coverage around the findings have oversimplified the results and that the “wood worse than coal” headline for GHG emissions is “an inaccurate interpretation(s) of our findings, which paint a much more complex picture.”  http://www.manomet.org/sites/manomet.org/files/Manomet%20Statement%20062110b.pdf
• The Biomass Energy Resource Center (BERC), a partner in the study, said that the Associated Press statement that “biomass is worse than coal” is not true and lists out the reasoning as to why this is inaccurate, including that over time the carbon debt is recovered and becomes a carbon dividend.  http://www.biomasscenter.org/about-berc/berc-in-the-news/256-manomet-study.html
• Pinchot Institute for Conservation issued a statement about the study and pointed out in their press release that “Bioenergy technologies, even biomass electric power compared to natural gas electric, look favorable when biomass waste-wood is compared to fossil fuel alternatives.”  http://www.pinchot.org/news/294

 
Many of the organizations involved with this study are core partners in our Northern Forest Investment Zone project, including the Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences, BERC, and the Forest Guild. We are already working with these partners and others to ensure that the full findings of the Massachusetts study are widely circulated and understood around the Northern Forest and beyond, particularly in Northern Forest communities that are considering biomass projects.
 
It would be useful to know what you are hearing about this report in your circles, and please let me know if you have any questions.
 
Allison Grappone
Program Assistant
Northern Forest Center
P.O. Box 210
Concord, NH 03302
(603) 229-0679 ext.114
www.northernforest.org
 
 
Offering No. 2 from Arnie Talgo, co-lead of the ADKCAP Renewables and Biomass Task Force:
Biomass Study Challenged | RenewablesBiz
 
http://www.renewablesbiz.com/article/10/06/biomass-study-challenged
 
Check it out!
 
 
 
For immediate release on August 10, 2010
 
For follow up information contact:
 
Richard Halpin
Cornell Cooperative Extension of Jefferson County
rlh44@cornell.edu
315-788-8450, ext. 233
 
Kate Fish
Adirondack North Country Association
kfish@adirondack.org
518-891-6200
 
William Murray, P.E.
CITEC, Inc.
murray@citec.org
315-268-3778 x29
 
 
NYSERDA Grant to Help Adirondack Residents, Businesses and Communities
 
 
The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), a public benefit corporation, has awarded an “Energy $martSM Communities Program” grant to a Cornell Cooperative Extension of Jefferson County. The purpose of the program is to help residents, businesses and communities in a ten county Adirondack North Country region to take better advantage of NYSERDA’s numerous and diverse energy programs. 
 
The Program will be carried out in partnership with the Adirondack North Country Association (ANCA), the Council for International Trade, Technology, Education and Communication (CITEC), and the Cornell Cooperative Extension Associations in Lewis, Herkimer, Hamilton, Warren, Washington, Essex, Clinton, Franklin, and St. Lawrence Counties. This partnership will provide energy education, outreach services and clean energy business development through implementation of NYSERDA’s New York Energy $martSM Communities Program within the ten North Country counties. 
 
Richard Halpin, Executive Director of Cornell Cooperative Extension of Jefferson County, stated that “the strength of our proposed project design, and why I believe it received NYSERDA funding, lies in the collaborative approach championed by the partnering organizations that are well positioned to efficiently and effectively extend energy expertise and funding opportunities to the local level where they are needed most. With Cornell Cooperative Extension leading the way, and the contributions of ANCA and CITEC, the entire North Country will realize tremendous benefit from this collaborative effort.”
 
Steve Erman, President of ANCA, called the grant award “an important opportunity for ANCA to further support community and economic development efforts in the Adirondack North Country.”   “Our partnership with Cornell Cooperative Extension and CITEC to deliver NYSERDA programs in the region will help to improve quality-of- life in our communities and enhance the region's economy.”
 
Arnie Talgo, an ANCA Director who recently retired from New York Power Authority, added that “the development and implementation of programs to advance energy efficiency as well as investments in the generation and delivery of clean power in the North Country is essential to building economic vitality and positioning our region for the future.”  “Through the education and outreach initiatives made possible by this new grant, ANCA can help build strong grass-roots interest in energy improvements.”
 
The funded project design includes overall coordination and administration of the program by Cooperative Extension from its Jefferson County office, while regional coordinators working out of ANCA, CITEC and County Extension offices will be deployed to oversee and support local delivery of NYSERDA programs and services by trained energy specialists based in the region’s more densely populated rural communities. Together, all staff working to implement the grant will be positioned to help communities in specific ways tailored to individual resident, business, and community energy needs.
 
Kate Fish, ANCA’s Executive Director, confirmed that her group brings to the effort “a wealth of experience and knowledge concerning community economic and development needs, particularly regarding the important role energy plays in the business of everyday life.” “Improving the efficiency of our infrastructure to include buildings, appliances and businesses, reducing our dependence on imported energy, and deploying more regional resources to serve our energy needs will create jobs, save our communities money and help build more resilience into our local economies.”    “In the Adirondacks alone, we spend over a $1 billion dollars a year on energy costs. Even a 15% improvement in efficiency would save the region $150 million dollars a year,” Fish said.
 
CITEC’s Executive Director, William Murray expanded his partnering colleagues’ views. He said that ANCA and CCE each bring their own particular strengths to the NYSERDA mission in ways that fit well with CITEC’s long-standing involvement and documented success in helping bring forward sound technological solutions to critical societal issues. “While technology is never the only solution to business and community problems, Murray said, it almost always is an essential part of arriving at real progress. This especially is the case in the energy arena.”
 
Several services that will be made available to residents, businesses, and communities through the Energy $martSM Communities program stand out and underscore the importance of collaboration to achieve desired results. Energy coordinators, for example, will help communities by:
 
• Matching energy project needs with the available NYSERDA funding opportunities and other economic development resources.
 
• Creating partnerships to encourage the development and implementation of local energy projects.
 
• Educating home owners, community leaders, business owners, and the general public on the benefits of energy efficiency and renewable resources.
 
• Providing assistance to energy-related businesses and entrepreneurs through initiatives that increase awareness of local and NYSERDA business assistance services available to early-stage, clean-energy businesses.
 
• Building support for energy-efficiency and renewable energy projects by providing energy education forums to help achieve the energy savings necessary for successful development efforts.
 
• Helping organizations and businesses build opportunities and create jobs by providing access to job training and recruitment opportunities for local business partners.
 
• Building a network of local organizations and agencies that contribute to urban, suburban, and rural understanding of your project and its energy benefit to the community.
 
Additional information about the New York State Energy $martSM Communities Program and other NYSERDA programs, resources, activities and events may be found at www.NYSERDA.ORG.