Energy, Climate Change & Enviroment
The Village of Great Neck Plaza, an incorporated village of 6,703 inhabitants, is on its way toward becoming a NYSERDA Clean Energy Community. "It’s part of a comprehensive plan that we call Great Neck Plaza Going Green," said Mayor Jean Celender. "It grew out of our green infrastructure grant for the Maple Drive Sustainable Parking Lot and we expanded into this program to address more ways to lower Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions and address the growing issues of adverse impacts due to climate change. Everyone has helped; from the village’s Commissioner of Public Services to the mayor herself who wrote and received the grants to the New York State DEC for an electric vehicle fleet car and an EV charging station. Thanks also go to our CAC volunteers on the Climate Action Plan.
Most recently, Village Commissioner of Public Services Michael Sweeney and Building Inspector Joseph Diaz will soon be attending energy code training. Consultants to NYSERDA will assist them in assessing the Village's municipal buildings and used them as the basis for training the workers in the state energy code, which was updated in October, 2016.
The four High Impact Actions (HIAs) pursued by Village of Great Neck Plaza are:
- Energy Code Enforcement Training
- Benchmarking
- Unified Solar Permit
- Clean Fleets (via Electric vehicle charging stations)
The Village has also started a program to convert garage lighting and street lights to LEDs. Once the Village has completed the four HIAs above, it intends to continue seeking state and NYSERDA grants available to assist in lowering GHG emissions and in implementing other Clean Energy Initiatives.
Benchmarking reports, the adopted Climate Action Plan and other elements of the program can be found below.
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