An Update on the Energy $mart™ Park Initiative
The Adirondack Park has long been a model for the conservation of wild nature in a lived-in landscape. But the ultimate success of this model is threatened by the devastating effects of acid and mercury deposition, much of it produced in conjunction with the burning of fossil fuels to produce electricity. And we are beginning to see impacts on the region from global climate change, which also results largely from energy production and use.
What can residents and businesses in the Adirondack Park do in the energy field that would help sustain the wild character of the Park while much more efficiently providing needed electricity? What can the Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks offer in this regard?
Since conserving energy and using it more efficiently is always less costly than building new capacity, we propose a concerted program of energy conservation and efficiency. Such a program will not only mark the Adirondack Park as a role model for the state and region in terms of environmental health, it will also result in lower costs for consumers, more dollars spent locally, and fewer dollars sent out of the region to purchase more polluting, nonrenewable oil and gas.
In an effort to deal comprehensively with the myriad challenges and demands of energy-related issues in the Adirondack Park, the Association is collaborating with key partners to promote and facilitate energy conservation, efficiency, sustainable technology deployment, and wise use.
Following the official launch of the Energy $mart™ Park initiative at the Association's 104th annual meeting in Schenectady on July 1st, 2005, the Association and its coalition partners have made significant progress toward implementing this exciting new program.
On July 11th, the Energy $mart™ Park collaborative sponsored a meeting in Ray Brook at the Adirondack Park Agency headquarters to explore ideas and to broaden the coalition to include Park residents, local officials, NYS agencies and authorities, business people, and energy efficiency/conservation experts. An overview of the current Energy $mart™ Park initiative, which was discussed at that meeting, is presented in a draft summary document.
The Energy $mart™ Park Initiative paper gives an overview of the program, places it within the context of the Park, suggests ways to begin to meet the energy-related challenges of today and tomorrow, and it proposes a set of vision, mission, need, and goals statements for stakeholders to consider and respond to.
On August 10th, the Association's Director of Special Projects, Mike DiNunzio, participated as a panelist in a Low-Income Forum on Energy (LIFE) workshop in Lake Placid. Mike explained that the Association's programmatic commitment to address energy issues stems from the fact that energy production, delivery, and use result in profound impacts upon the Park's natural environment as well as its human communities and its economic vitality. He also learned a great deal about the human dimensions of the unfolding energy crisis from workshop participants. As a result, we fully expect to improve the emerging design of our Energy $mart™ Park program.