Lucy I. Rifenburgh (1931 – 2025)

By DEBORAH E. LANS

GHENT–The levels of heat-trapping greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the global atmosphere reached all-time highs in 2023, according to research just released by NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. For the 12th year in a row, levels of carbon dioxide, CO2, the GHG of greatest concern, rose by more than 2 parts per million (ppm) last year.

Broadly speaking, efforts to keep the planet from catastrophic warming, i.e., warming more than 1.5ºC (2.7ºF) above pre-industrial levels, have led most countries, the U.S. included, to set the twin goals of reaching “net zero” emissions by 2050 and of reducing GHG emissions by 50% by 2030. Net zero means that GHG emissions will be reduced and those that continue will be fully offset by absorption or removal, such as by trees, resilient agricultural or mechanical techniques.

“Buildings are responsible for more than a third of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions,” according to the federal Energy Department, which has set a goal of reducing GHG emissions from buildings 65% by 2035. A local non-profit, Partners for Climate Action Hudson Valley (PCA), just announced $660,000 in grants to support that goal in the Hudson Valley.

Given the substantial GHG emissions that buildings — both through the manufacture of construction materials and the construction process itself and through their operation — contribute to GHG emissions, “building decarbonization” is essential to reaching the net zero goal.

Accomplishing decarbonization is realized through a variety of measures: employing materials and products whose manufacture does not emit gases and which do not themselves emit gases, using heat sources that do not rely on burning fossil fuels, and tightly insulating buildings to reduce their energy consumption, among them.

For existing and older buildings, decarbonization typically also results in healthier indoor air quality and in lowering heating and cooling costs, as increased energy efficiency is achieved through retrofitting structures with improved insulation, new and tighter windows and doors and electrified heating and cooling systems with heat pumps running on renewable energy sources.

While federal and state monies are available to assist in achieving building decarbonization, generally municipalities and non-profits need to find additional sources to fund the studies that inform them as to the projects to undertake and then to design and implement the changes.

In deciding to make its first-ever round of decarbonization grants, PCA was heavily influenced by input from the “Local Champions” it works with. Its Local Champions program brings together municipal and non-profit representatives who are working on climate smart initiatives and provides them with training, peer-to-peer learning, technical assistance and even field trips to inform their local efforts.

When polled by PCA, the 60 respondent-Local Champions identified building decarbonization as their number one priority, with heating and cooling costs a substantial budget item and funding for initial studies, design and implementation an ever-present hurdle.

PCA decided to provide the decarbonization grants, as part of its overall strategy to help groups surmount obstacles to taking necessary climate actions, according to Paige Ruane, one of PCA’s partners. The grants are also particularly pertinent, according to PCA’s Bob Dandrew, because the Hudson Valley has some of the nation’s oldest building stock.

Ms. Ruane says that completion of the full scope of PCA-funded projects will result in the estimated reduction of over 750 metric tons of CO2. According to an MIT publication, one metric ton of CO2 can be pictured this way: imagine a cube 27 feet tall, wide and long — as tall, wide and long as a telephone pole. That is the space that would hold a single metric ton of carbon dioxide.

Four of the 20 grant recipients are in Columbia County. Hawthorne Valley Association was awarded $63,000 toward its campus-wide plan to achieve net-zero by 2033. Their ambitious and holistic plan is not limited to energy but also aims to achieve “net zero water” (minimizing consumption and recycling water back into the watershed), “net zero waste” (reducing, reusing and recovering would-be waste) and “net zero biodiversity” (sustaining beneficial local fauna and flora), all by 2033. HVA then plans to turn all those areas “positive” by generating more renewable energy and water than is used, converting waste to a usable resource and increasing biodiversity.

The Village of Philmont was awarded $15,000 by PCA to analyze the specific measures that it might take to decarbonize its 1970s Town Hall — a complex two-level structure that houses its Police Department, Justice Court, Village Offices, hosts all its village meetings and also garages its emergency vehicles (fire, ambulances). The study will help the village determine the scope of a possible implementation plan to address the building envelope (roof, walls, windows, doors, insulation) and then to size and select appropriate, new HVAC systems not reliant on burning fossil fuels.

Nearly two-thirds of the PCA funding went to New York State Designated Disadvantaged Communities, of which Philmont is one.

The towns of Claverack and Germantown each received $5,000 grants. Claverack will use its grant and a matching NYSERDA award, according to John Bradley of its Climate Smart Committee, to conduct an energy audit of its 17,000 square foot town garage, which was built in 1992 and still has its original boilers. Heating the garage, alone, now costs the town $36,000/year, and the oil burning boilers emit substantial GHG.

Mr. Bradley sees the grant as allowing the town to take the first steps toward implementing a cost-saving and carbon-smart plan to retrofit the garage.

In Germantown the PCA grant will likewise fund an energy study of aging municipal buildings, before the need to replace them becomes urgent. The town will analyze how to make the buildings “airtight enough to accommodate a better, cleaner technology down the road,” according to Germantown CSC co-chair Christina Bohnsack. “Having building condition information will guide a plan, and budget, for the preparation work allowing for the greatest efficiency in the future.”

New, “green” HVAC systems replace oil burning boilers with electrically-powered heat pump technology, but the pumps can rely on different electricity sources. While solar is most typical locally, in Ulster County’s Marbletown a PCA grant will fund a geothermal-sourced system for their community center — a solution that was possible because the building uses a ducted heating system at present, albeit with “a giant, old furnace that’s a major pollution source,” according to resident and grant-writer Wendy Saul.

Geothermal technology draws heat from the ground during cold months via an underground piping system, which is then distributed by heat pumps through the building via ducts. In warm months, the process is reversed to provide cool air. Although costly to install, geothermal is considered the most efficient technology over the long term.

The Marbletown building, which morphed from a post office to a parsonage to a community center, is located on U.S. Route 209, one of the original highways in the 1926 U.S. Highway System plan and a route that dates to colonial times. Against this historic background, the town is excited by the possibility of being a showcase for a cutting-edge technology, and plans to host programs on decarbonization when its project is completed — in about one year.

Apart from the decarbonization grants, PCA is currently raising funds, and hopes to issue requests for proposals, for a second round of Ecological Restoration Grants in the fall. Those grants support native habitat restoration and community and urban forestry projects that, in turn draw carbon and other GHGs out from the atmosphere.

PCA is also working on large-scale bioregional projects, convening groups to exchange information on current activities and to foster collaboration to address large scale projects crucial to the climate health of the Hudson Valley.

Finally, recognizing that the important global goal of sustaining biodiversity can also be fostered through small actions, PCA has worked with experts to identify, collect and propagate the seeds of the 20 most at-risk native plant species. Seeds for these endangered indigenous plants will be offered for sale soon through the Hudson Valley Seed Company, with a portion of the proceeds returned to PCA to, well, seed other projects.