SARANAC LAKE — On Monday night, village trustees adopted a resolution to keep track of energy use in municipal buildings, a practice known as “energy benchmarking,” to put the village in line for state grants that will help it use less energy.

They also discussed possibly adding an electric car charging station.

“Energy benchmarking means we’re going to look at village-owned buildings and keep track of their energy consumption,” Community Development Director Jamie Konkoski said. “The idea is to find where we can improve energy efficiency.” The data is to be posted yearly on the village website.

Konkoski explained that the resolution would be the fourth “high-impact action” the village has achieved in the Clean Energy Communities program, and that by passing the resolution Sept. 25, it got in under the grant deadline of Sept. 30. With these four actions, the village can be designated a Clean Energy Community.

The CEC program, sponsored by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, promotes energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy sources to collectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions, grow the economy and cut down on energy costs.

“This makes the community eligible for pots of money,” Konkoski said. For instance, NYSERDA offers Clean Energy Communities a $50,000 grant for more energy-efficiency projects. To be eligible, the village would have to perform five high-impact actions. But even with only four high impact actions, Saranac Lake can be eligible for more modest grants.

“A Zero Emissions grant could offset the cost of an electric vehicle,” Konkoski said.

The village already gained $2,500 through past high-impact actions, Konkoski told the board. This money could be applied toward, among other projects, installing an electric car charging station.

Village trustees kicked the idea of a charging station around. Mayor Clyde Rabideau said he’d thought about having one behind the Harrietstown Town Hall, where the village rents office space.

Electric car manufacturer Tesla has provided three Level 2 electric car charging stations — places where you can plug in your car to receive a full charge over several hours, as opposed to plugging it into the wall of your home and leaving it overnight — within a 50-mile radius of Saranac Lake: one at the Point Resort on Upper Saranac Lake and two in Lake Placid, at the Best Western Adirondack Inn and the Whiteface Lodge. Other charging stations are at the Wild Center museum in Tupper Lake and the Price Chopper supermarket in Lake Placid.

To install an electric car charging station would add another high-impact action to the village’s list of achievements. The town of Brighton, for instance, is listed as having a “clean fleet” on the NYSERDA Clean Energy Communities website. That could either be deploying alternative fuel vehicles or installing the charging station.

The village has already performed three high-impact actions for the CEC designation: undertaking a “Solarize” campaign to increase the number of solar rooftops, streamlining the approvals process for solar installation, and energy code enforcement training.

Konkoski was optimistic about the village receiving its Clean Energy Community designation after the passage of the resolution.

“It’s not official yet, but we’re on our way,” she said.