The Energy $mart™ Park initiative is a collaborative partnership launched by the Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks (AfPA), Community Energy Services, Inc. (CES), and the Environmental Business Association of New York State, Inc. (EBA/NYS) in the summer of 2005 to deal comprehensively with the myriad challenges and demands of energy related issues in the Adirondack Park. Using the facilitation services of the Center for Economic and Environmental Partnership, Inc. (CEEP), the partnership works closely with various New York State agencies and authorities, elected officials, energy conservation/efficiency practitioners, and with residents and business owners in the Park. It seeks to promote and facilitate energy conservation, efficiency, and wise use through the deployment of sustainable technologies and a diverse set of research, economic incentive, and educational programs.

The initiative is supported by North Country Energy $mart Communities SM and Capital/Saratoga Energy $mart Communities SM, which operate under the umbrella of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and the United States Department of Energy's Rebuild America Program. Together, the service area of these two Energy $mart programs encompasses the entire Adirondack Park. The ultimate goal of this initiative is to help make the Adirondack Park a model of sustainable energy production and use in a setting that promotes the well being of both the natural and human communities of the region.

Historic Context and Outlook

The production, distribution, and use of energy - both within and without the Adirondack Park — have affected the region for centuries, and these forces continue to play a major role in the health and vitality of Adirondack communities and ecosystems.

For example, over the past several decades, lakes and forests in the Adirondack region have suffered the devastating effects of acid and mercury deposition, much of it produced in the burning of fossil fuels to produce electricity. We are now beginning to see impacts on the region from global climate change, which also results largely from gases produced in conjunction with energy production and use.

Today, energy issues directly affect the lives and livelihoods of Adirondack residents, who must bear the increasing costs of heating and lighting their homes and businesses, driving their vehicles, and paying for the delivery of goods and services in a remote region. They must suffer the consequences of energy-related environmental degradation in terms of lost income and a diminished quality of life.

Adirondack communities will also be affected by the so-called "oil peak", expected by some experts to occur within the next decade. As world demand grows and petroleum production peaks and falls, prices will rise and shortages grow.

A Time of Transition

In response to the growing demand for clean, dependable, affordable energy in the Adirondacks and elsewhere, a variety of projects and initiatives aimed at increasing energy efficiency and availability are being proposed in the Park. These efforts bear directly on the work of the partnership.

For example, a new 46-kilovolt electric transmission line is now planned to serve the Tri-Lakes area. Construction of this line will increase the reliability and amount of electricity available for existing homes and businesses and for a limited amount of future development. It will also have environmental consequences that must be weighed and mitigated. In response to this challenge, a reported 30% of the projected increase in electricity demand in the Tri-Lakes area is to be met through improvements in energy efficiency. These improvements would free up existing generating capacity for new uses and cost less than building new capacity.

The feasibility of a wood-fired electric co-generation facility will soon be assessed for installation in Tupper Lake. This facility would add to the supply of energy produced from renewable resources in the area. It would draw low-grade wood fiber from the region's forests, enhancing the economic base of the forest industry. It could also promote intensive timber harvesting that could in turn place additional stresses on ecosystems already weakened by acid rain, mercury deposition, global warming, and by an ever-increasing burden of exotic pests and pathogens.

A cluster of 400-foot wind generators are proposed to be built on a mountaintop in the south-central Adirondacks that would supply clean, renewable power to the regional grid. But the visual impact of those towers would encompass some 1,200 square miles of largely pristine landscape of exceptional scenic, cultural, and recreational value, much of it protected by the State Constitution as a "forever wild" public preserve. And the potential impacts of wind generators on the bats and birds of the region have not been fully assessed.

Meeting the Challenges

Our preliminary analysis indicates the absence of a comprehensive energy plan for the region, a lack of accessible baseline information that could inform such a plan, a lack of information about existing government energy programs among Park residents, and the presence of mismatches in some of those programs. If such programs were altered in strategic ways, they may benefit Adirondack residents and business owners who currently do not qualify for the cost-saving incentives those programs offer in return for energy conservation and efficiency.

Initially, the Energy $mart Park initiative will focus on gathering baseline information concerning electrical energy demand, production, delivery, and use in the Adirondack region, and on spreading the word about existing programs. Using this knowledge, we intend to help develop a set of strategies to promote and sustain the conservation and efficient use of electrical energy in the Park that is derived from a mix of environmentally compatible generation systems.

We have already initiated an analysis of existing energy efficiency incentive programs in New York, and we are in the process of exploring the possibility of program changes with the responsible authorities that would provide a better "fit" with the needs and circumstances of Adirondack residents. This segment of our work has the potential to effect a widespread, significant lowering of the demand for electricity in the region, and a concomitant savings in energy costs borne by consumers. We are challenged by the fact that two of the Tri-Lakes communities (Tupper Lake and Lake Placid) operate municipal electric systems. Since residents in these communities do not contribute to the "systems benefit charge" that non-municipal customers must pay, they do not qualify for many of the incentive programs which that charge supports. Furthermore, the relatively low electric rates paid by municipal system customers have the effect of encouraging the use of electricity while lessening the value of energy conservation measures relative to the savings those measures produce.

We see many benefits that would accrue from requiring new construction in the Park to meet the energy efficiency standards embodied in New York's Energy $mart program (including use of many of the standards for appliances, construction, and materials encompassed under the Energy Star® program). We intend to explore ways to implement this approach to complement incentive programs aimed at promoting the building of Energy Star Homes and retrofits of existing homes and businesses.

Over the past few years, a segment of the Park's business community has expressed an interest in "greening" their industry, in part by implementing energy conservation and efficiency measures. We intend to work with these people to explore this approach to energy management, since it holds the promise of strengthening the regional economy through green tourism, while lowering the overall demand for energy and increasing the profits of participants.

Initial Partnership Activity

The three initial partners — the AfPA, CES, and the EBA/NYS — convened a meeting of possible stakeholders at the Adirondack Park Agency Headquarters in Ray Brook on July 11, 2005. Facilitated by CEEP, the meeting provided much input from attendees from which initial points for discussion were developed. The text that follows is a first draft of what we hope will become a consensus document on the vision, need, mission and goals of the Energy $mart Park Initiative:

Vision — We envision an Adirondack Park in which the well being of the natural and human environment is secured through a sustainable energy economy based on energy conservation and renewable energy production. This vision is achieved through a dynamic, collaborative process that involves Park residents and governmental, commercial and non-governmental agencies and organizations. This process is well documented and publicized and serves as a model for other regions in the United States and abroad.

Need — The Adirondack Park is a special part of New York State facing a unique set of energy-related developmental challenges and opportunities: large area with small population, limited road and transmission infrastructure, disparate income demography — very rich and relatively poor - seasonal unemployment, a large second home market creating skewed property values and infrastructure requirements, a regional set of environmental regulations, and well-developed organizational structures dedicated to promoting economic development while protecting the environment.

Mission — The Energy $mart Park Initiative will address energy-related issues in the Adirondack Park through a broad, comprehensive, collaborative process that promotes and facilitates energy conservation and sustainable technology deployment in the Park by applying an integrated package of existing and specially created programs.

Goals —

• Create a comprehensive, non-binding, framework for addressing energy issues in the Park that is widely endorsed, publicized, and used as a guide by decision-makers in public and private sectors. Energy-related decision-making should include an informed, creative review of all available conservation, efficiency and renewable energy options along with their costs and benefits to the environment and to Park residents, including residents with low and moderate incomes.
• Maximize economic opportunities for Park residents by deployment of energy efficiency measures and renewable energy systems;
• Engage the broadest possible spectrum of organizations and individuals, some of which have not traditionally worked in partnership with one another, in a common mission of seeking and identifying ways to conserve energy and utilize renewable energy sources in the Park;
• Make the Park an internationally recognized model for sustainable energy development; and
• Limit and reduce the negative social, economic and environmental impacts of conventional energy technologies and their use by promoting and facilitating the transition to a sustainable energy economy in the Adirondack Park.

We invite you to join with us in developing and implementing the Energy $mart Park Initiative in the Adirondacks. As a next step, we seek your suggestions for improving the above statement of vision, need, mission, and goals with a view to crafting a consensus document that you and your organization endorse as we move forward with the Energy $mart Park Initiative.

We are confident that, with your help, we can realize the goal of making the Park a model of sustainable, environmentally attuned energy production and use, to the benefit of present and future generations.