Green Initiatives

Community Power Program for Saranac Lake is a Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) program that enables the Village to pool local electricity demand in order to leverage the collective buying power of their residents and small businesses in an effort to secure more favorable terms on their energy supply. By participating in the program, residents and small businesses can access competitively priced electricity supply with no individual contract and their utility provider will not change.

The Village uses a fleet of vehicles for various functions: snow removal, code enforcement, refuse collection, you name it. One vehicle in the fleet has the advantage to run solely on electric power, with gas as a back-up. This  saves the Village money on fuel and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. The electric vehicle, a RAV4 Prime SE, is used for administrative functions. The purchase of this vehicle was made possible through a NYSERDA grant awarded as a result of the Village's participation in the New York State Clean Energy Communities Program. 

The Village of Saranac Lake applied for and received the Urban and Community Forestry Grant from the NYS DEC. This grant allowed for a Tree Inventory of Downtown street trees, parks, Mount Pisgah, and trees along Park Ave. The goal is to create a Community Forestry Managment Plan. Currently there are varying species of trees and conditions, from healthy to dead, among trees planted in Village parks and in Village right-of-ways. With a complete tree inventory and a comprehensive care and management plan, the Village will ensure that residents are afforded a healthy tree canopy for years to come.

The Village has established a Residential Compost Drop-Off, where residents may bring plant matter to be composted. Compostable materials are considered yard waste, such as leaves, trimmings and brush. In order to drop off compost materials, you must be a Village resident and obtain a compost permit for non-commercial use. Any questions regarding the compost facility call 518-891-4160.

In September 2020, the village earned the designation of Bronze Level Certified Climate Smart Community. This is one of three level designations that a New York State Climate Smart Community can earn. The village is the first Climate Smart Community in the North Country to be recognized for their progress at this level. In May 2018, the Village Board of Trustees adopted the New York State Climate Smart Communities (CSC) pledge. The village pledged to, among other things: inventory its emissions, set goals and make a plan for climate action; decrease energy use; shift to clean, renewable energy; implement climate-smart land use and support a green innovation economy. This work has been undertaken through the appointed Climate Smart Communities Task Force. Learn more about the CSC program and follow Task Force's progress here.

The Village of Saranac Lake became a designated Clean Energy Community in 2017 after completing four high-impact to reduce energy use.  The Village continues to work toward completing additional high impact actions.  Learn more about these initiatives on the Clean Energy Communities project page.

The Village has reduced fossil fuel consumption for heating in some municipal buildings by using clean energy sources.  The Waste Water Treatment Plant uses a digester boiler that is powered by methane produced on site.  The municiply-owned building at 3 Main Street uses geothermal energy from the river to heat and cool the building, which is supplemented with fuel oil during the coldest months. 

The Village of Saranac Lake has installed an electric vehicle charging station for public use in the municipal parking lot at 3 Main St.  Clean vehicles reduce greenhouse gas emissions and pollutants that cause smog and acid rain.

Interior lighting has been converted to energy efficient LED technology in all primary municipal buildings.  Lights in smaller buildings are converted to LED as the bulbs need to be replaced.  LED lighting uses 1/6 of the energy as incandescent lighting.

The Village of Saranac Lake has worked with National Grid to successfully convert traditional street lights to energy efficient LED technology. NYSERDA awarded the Village a $50,000 grant that aided the completion of the project. By replacing conventional street lights with energy efficient LED technology, street light energy use can be reduced by as much as 65%, generating cost savings and significant greenhouse gas emissions reductions. 

The Village is committed to developing and maintaining a safe, reliable, efficient and connected multimodal transportation system so that residents and visitors can walk to and from community destinations.  The Village has policies and plans to ensure that streets are designed and maintained for all users.  The Village received a Walk Friendly Community Award in recognition of the effort put forth to make Saranac Lake a walkable community.