Troy Sustainability Initiative: Transforming Troy Troy has been enjoying a recent renaissance in interest from outside sources and renewed influx of money and people. Some would argue that this has been going on for twenty years or more, but like the Hudson River its nature has been tidal and has had its own ebbs and flows over time. The growth has not always been steady and constant until very recently. Since 9-11 and the mass exodus of people from the City, a transitioning crop of baby-boomers, semi-retired entrepreneurs, socially conscious progressive professionals and flocks of artists who typically look for beautiful, old, run down, low cost real estate to improve, have made their way to Troy. Troy has enjoyed this new influx. These people invest their capital, salaries, disposable income, retirement monies, trust funds, and hard earned savings, plus their time, energy and spirit in beautifying and rebuilding their surroundings, establishing a sense of community, patronizing local retail establishments, and embracing the history and charm of what Troy was and could still become. Troy has an enormous new resource in these people. Yet, at the same time, local government is also called to a serious moral and ethical duty to meet this new responsibility, to raise standards of local government, to provide innovative leadership and to guide and foster smart economic and environmental growth. Many citizens of Troy are happily obliged by our fortunate circumstance, and are more than willing to contribute to energy and environmental solutions that increase our own efficiency, save money, and alleviate some of our worst environmental impacts. Business as usual will not be the norm anymore, new ideas will begin to percolate up and take hold. New interests will be involved in local politics and the integrity and conscience of those in powerful positions will be called to action. The Goal: Transforming Troy Troy Sustainability Initiative is a performance based campaign to establish a plan of action toward envisioning and achieving defined measurable energy, economic and environmental transformation in a smart sustainable growth model. As part of a comprehensive approach to smart sustainable economic growth, we want to consider many different aspects of economic development for the city of Troy. Cleaner and better public transportation is a valuable focus in a comprehensive sustainability vision for the City of Troy. Encouraging retail and downtown revitalization efforts are important, but so is Troy’s industrial base. Light-environmental footprint and green manufacturing is also of utmost importance to bring innovation and create sustainable meaningful jobs in the burgeoning new clean industries sector, to which, Troy could become host. This five step plan outlines a method to achieving a sustainable, transformed City of Troy. The metrics we choose to count are those that we will use to shape the growth of our City. 1. Establish a multi-sector stakeholder group to oversee and participate in the process of developing a sustainability resolution , consisting of representatives from all sectors of the community, who will be formally involved in the development and implementation of all actions aiming at the achievement of the Troy Sustainability Initiative milestones.

1. With the active participation of the stakeholder group, complete a sustainability audit considering social, economic, and environmental conditions and trends in the community.
2. Complete a sustainable community vision for the future, based on community review of the audit and assessment of priorities. Cover all aspects of development deemed important by the stakeholders in regard to energy efficiency, green economic development, environmental sustainability, increased quality of life, etc.
3. Implement an action plan, identifying clear goals, priorities, measurable targets, roles and responsibilities, funding sources, and work activities. Establish targets for energy efficiency and carbon emissions reductions.
4. Establish community-based monitoring and annual evaluation and community progress reporting on performance in achieving the goals and objectives, using locally appropriate indicators.

Achievement of the goals may be accomplished by a neighborhood approach. Each Troy neighborhood could participate in the process, but first a prototype neighborhood would blaze the trail. We would focus our efforts on one neighborhood first, go through the five step performance-based process of building-in sustainability, measure results and perform a ‘lessons learned’ assessment to improve our process going forward. This ‘pilot’ would serve as an initiative to work out the bugs first…then apply our experience and knowledge to the next neighborhood project, and so on.

Thus “Transforming Troy” in a swift and efficient manner, making Troy stand out as a lead community in energy efficiency, environmental stewardship, and smart economic prosperity with an affordable high level quality-of-life.

Objectives: Residential • Neighborhood homes will undergo an energy audit assessment through the NYSERDA Home Energy Audit program. Businesses can participate as well in a mixed use or small commercial energy audit.

• Opportunities for energy efficiency upgrades will be recommended in a report to each home and building owner.

• Funding options will be laid out which include NYSERDA funding opportunities, grants, state and federal tax credits and any city incentives Troy local government or residents may want to create. Participation is voluntary but the entire neighborhood participation will be counted in the metrics.

• Results will be aggregated in an annual report on energy savings, dollar savings, and environmental impacts for the neighborhood. Carbon emissions reductions and long range avoided costs of building more power plants may be calculated as societal-benefit metrics.

• Case studies will be published to report on the results of the neighborhood improvements and lessons learned.

Objectives: Municipal (and County) buildings and systems, such as outdoor street lighting, traffic lights, etc. • A sustainability resolution similar to those in other cities and towns in NY, but suitable for Troy will be developed by the larger group of stakeholders, voted on by the city council, (May include county legislature) to guide our actions in Troy (and Rensselaer County). • City (and county) buildings will undergo an energy audit assessment through an energy services performance contracting company participating in NYSERDA’s ECIPP program. • A Needs Assessment will be done to look for opportunities to improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon footprint in buildings, public transportation and other systems serving the city. • A Resources Assessment will be done to determine resources in the community, including looking at reuse and upgrade of existing building stock, energy efficiency, conservation of energy, and existing energy production opportunities and resources. • An Energy Services Performance Contract will be developed to upgrade each building to enable energy savings and energy efficiency at no cost to the city. Upgrades and improvements will be funded by the energy savings revenues. Measurement and verification will be performed as a NYSERDA requirement of this program. • Results will be aggregated in an annual report on energy savings, dollar savings, and environmental impacts. Carbon emissions reductions and long range avoided costs of building more power plants may be calculated as societal-benefit metrics. • A payback period will be guaranteed by the Performance Contractor, energy savings will pay for the upgrades over a portion of the life of the improvements. A lease- to- own or purchase agreement of the equipment upgrades can be arranged. *A full information session will be given on Performance Contracting for municipalities in a scheduled meeting of stakeholders. • Case studies will be published to report on the results of the City improvements. Troy will become a member of ICLEI along with other towns and cities in NYS. Membership in ICLEI makes sustainability planning resources available, gives guidance to the stakeholders and city officials, and provides a proven method to achieve sustainability goals.

The energy audit will outline steps to take to improve buildings on a performance contract basis, so that there is no out of pocket expense for the city to upgrade and green up existing municipal and county facilities. City schools may also be included in the energy performance contract.

NYSERDA incentives and programs will be engaged in offsetting first costs of implementing green high performance design of any new structures and major renovations to city and county buildings.

Barriers to success will be assessed in an ongoing manner and solutions will be proposed and implemented through city officials, energy services companies and citizens groups. Renewables Assessment The Solar industry is poised for a rapid decline in costs that will make it a mainstream power option in the next few years, according to a new assessment by the Worldwatch Institute. Global production of solar photovoltaic (PV) cells has risen sixfold since the year 2000 and grew 41 percent in 2006 alone. Although grid-connected solar capacity still provides less than one percent of the world's electricity, it increased nearly 50 percent in 2006, to 5,000 megawatts, propelled by booming markets in Germany and Japan. Spain is likely to join the big leagues in 2007, and the United States soon thereafter. Many homeowners and businesses in Troy, as part of their energy use reduction strategies, can participate in NYSERDA programs to install grid connected Photo Voltaic systems on their buildings. This further reduces the burden on grid supplied power and actually helps feed the grid during the day when residents are at work. The electric meter spins backward. When residents return to their homes and begin to use electricity, the power is drawn from the grid and the meter spins forward. If energy use is sufficiently reduced through energy efficiency measures, residents begin to approach “net zero” in energy consumption. Net Zero is the goal for homeowners. In addition to residential and small businesses, small industrial as well as district wide wind, solar, fuel cell, combined heat and power, hydro and other renewables may be deployed in Troy. An assessment of available resources, costs and benefits may be done to determine what Troy has to offer in terms of industrial and municipal energy production. The assessment may be done as part of the comprehensive sustainability audit. (Look at Green Island Power Authority, Hudson Valley Community College project, wind at RPI and municipal waste dump) In conclusion, an energy efficient, economically prosperous and environmentally sound approach to creating a sustainable Troy is achievable and benefits everyone. We need only educate ourselves on the opportunities that already exist and then put them into action in accordance with a comprehensive sustainability vision for the City of Troy. Let’s envision.