NORTH TONAWANDA: Green task force explored

By Eric DuVall<br><a href="mailto:duvalle@gnnewspaper.com">E-mail Eric</a>

North Tonawanda may soon be asking for residents’ help in going green.

Following a presentation given to the Common Council on Tuesday addressing energy efficiency, Mayor’s Assistant Jeffrey Mis said the city is exploring the creation of a “green task force” to include city department heads and interested members of the public. The goal would be forming a group to examine how to improve energy efficiency both at City Hall and in the community as a whole.

Mis said the city has already undertaken some energy efficiency projects at public facilities like the wastewater treatment plant and in the Department of Public Works. For example, the city’s traffic signals are now using longer-lasting and more efficient LED bulbs, reducing the frequency with which they need to be replaced and lowering the amount of electricity used.

Mis said he was hopeful that a task force could help shape the entire city’s direction for going green.

“A long-term plan, that’s what we need, no doubt,” Mis said.

Presently, Mis said Mayor Larry Soos has asked all department heads to submit ideas for energy savings. Ideas like the new bulbs in traffic lights have helped, Mis said. Added input from the public could help even more.

“There are people out there with more expertise than us,” Mis said. “The first step is create the green task force, sit down and look at the possibilities. Then we’ll make (grant) applications for those things.”

Paul Drof, the superintendent of the city’s wastewater treatment plant, has received multiple grants from state agencies over the years for energy projects in his department. Drof agreed that creating a citywide entity that could evaluate and coordinate energy projects would be helpful.

“Basically, I like the approach (to) get a citizen committee together,” he said. “Anytime you have the backing of the citizens it makes selling it much easier. Sometimes the investments are pretty high.”

Drof pointed to a potential concern, as well. While money is often made available to undertake an energy efficiency project, oftentimes the continuing maintenance costs are not included. A city committee could help to evaluate what plans might sound good initially, but that would carry heavy costs in the years to come.

Much of that planning can be done at little cost.

Ram Shrivastava of Larsen Engineers offered the council a tutorial on the various federal and state grant programs available to municipalities for energy projects. The first one he suggested the city go after is a $30,000 grant as part of the federal stimulus program that helps fund the creation of a “strategic energy plan” for municipalities. From there, Shrivastava said there are millions of dollars available to help offset the costs of new projects aimed at cutting energy consumption.

“Right now, the government is funding these things,” Shrivastava said.

He offered a multitude of examples of municipalities both in Western New York and across the region, where changes large and small are reducing costs and helping move the nation toward a goal of energy independence. Shrivastava showed city leaders a variety of projects undertaken where public buildings are heated and cooled using geothermal methods, rather than by electricity or natural gas. He showed buildings where the roof is covered with solar panels or a layer of grass for added insulation and water retention.

All of this, according to Shrivastava, will help reduce the nation’s dependence on oil from the Middle East.

“They’re building Taj Mahals in Saudi Arabia,” he said. “And it’s my money they’re using to do it.”