SARANAC LAKE — The village of Saranac Lake has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 37% since 2017. Now, its Climate Smart Communities task force has crafted a plan to reduce emissions even further to meet goals set for 2030 and 2050, and will be presenting the plan to the public soon.

Last week, task force members Becca Halter and Garrett Marino spoke to the village board about the plan, the first formal comprehensive plan from the task force. Before the village votes on whether or not to adopt it, it will go before the public for comments and input.

New York established the CSC program in 2009. Saranac Lake joined in 2018. Since then, the village has made major infrastructure improvements, reduced spending and emissions and received a total of $426,288 in state funds.

The more actions a municipality takes to be greener, the more points it earns. These points add up to certifications. Saranac Lake has a bronze certification. This allows the village to apply for certain grants, especially ones pushing them toward more environmental objectives. The recent $482,164 grant the village got from the state to install 30 Level 2 electric vehicle charging ports in municipal parking lots — the largest such grant in the state in this round of funding, and one which requires zero match from the village — was awarded in part from the village’s environmental efforts. The village also got a $500,000, 50% match grant to do a survey of installing a geothermal system.

The CSC’s goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030 and by 85% by 2050. This mirrors the state’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act goals. Though the state’s goal is to reduce emissions from a baseline set at 1990, Saranac Lake’s data only starts in 2017, so that is the baseline it is seeking to reduce by 40% before 2030. This creates a “more aggressive” timeline, Halter said.

The village has already made significant progress on that goal. The task force’s study shows that it has reduced its emissions since 2017 by 37% — nearly at the 40% goal set for five years from now.

However, the study also states “these reductions will become more difficult to achieve as the most impactful actions are completed.”

The study calculates that the village government produced 1,120 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions in 2017 and 704 in 2024 — a difference of 415 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions. The 2030 goal is to reduce 448 metric tons of emissions from baseline. The 2050 goal is to reduce 952 tons.

To achieve these goals, the task force proposes the village improve its energy efficiency, to use less energy, to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels and to ensure all electricity used is 100% renewable.

This involves insulating buildings, switching from fuel oil to electric heat pumps, making sure equipment runs at optimal capacity, using electric vehicles when possible and purchasing or generating more renewable energy.

Fuel oil contributed the largest portion of the village’s greenhouse gas emissions. In 2017, it accounted for 37.4% of village emissions. Electric accounted for 26.9%. Diesel for 22.2%. Gas for 13.6%.

Transportation accounted for the largest sector of emissions in the village — 38%. Buildings for 32%. Wastewater treatment plant and wells for 28%. Street lights for 2%.

The village’s emissions consistently decrease every year — with a big drop in 2022-23 and a slight drop in 2023-24.

Shifting from fuel oil to electricity for heating at 1-3 Main St. alone led to a 7% villagewide reduction in fuel oil consumption.

But, this progress is hindered by climate change.

“As average temperatures rise, the needs for building cooling in the summers will likely increase,” the study states. “As winter temperatures also rise, the electricity used for snow making at the Village owned and operated ski hill Mt. Pisgah is also expected to increase.”

Since 2017, electricity usage by the village has dropped by nearly 50%, which the study chalks up to the LED lights installed in 2021 to 2022. This also has cut electric costs nearly in half.

“In 2023 it was 56% of the village’s energy costs, but only 24% of the village’s (greenhouse gas) emissions,” the study states.

Electricity also saw a big dip in 2021 because the village started “net metering” of its dam — instead of selling electricity to the grid at wholesale prices, it creates credits for the village to defer its expenses on electricity. This decreased electricity costs from $237,000 to $68,000.

Saranac Lake is in “Zone E” of the electric grid which uses more than 80% renewables — largely from hydropower from Quebec. The village’s own hydroelectric dam between Lake Flower and the Saranac River offsets around 37% of its energy.

“However, to go from 80% to 100% renewable energy, the village will have to purchase Renewable Energy Credits or reach an agreement with a Community Choice Aggregation Program,” the study states. The village’s pursuit of a CCA has been stalled, but is ongoing.

The study found diesel usage saw a 24% drop and gasoline saw a 12% drop from 2017 to 2024. The usage of diesel and gas varies quite a bit, and cannot drop beyond a certain point because currently, there are not electric options for “high impact” work vehicles.

The wastewater treatment plant is required to install a new UV light water sterilization system, which will increase the already high energy use there.

In 2024 the plant made up 47% of the village’s electricity usage. Wells and water pumps made up another 25%.

Marino said the CSC program isn’t really made for rural communities like Saranac Lake.

“They’re made for bigger towns. They’re made for cities,” he said.

But Marino and Halter added that Saranac Lake has made it work and that the village staff and board have been very helpful.

Halter said it took a large amount of effort to create this greenhouse gas inventory — collecting receipts, invoices and bills from every account the village has for each month every year.

This Climate Action Plan only focuses on government operations, and is not an all-encompassing plan for Saranac Lake’s climate resiliency, mitigation and adaptation efforts.

The pledge the village signed when it started states: “We believe that even if emissions were drastically reduced today, communities would still be required to adapt to the effects of climate change for decades to come.”

Halter said businesses and organizations can use the framework the task force created to take emissions inventory to pursue their own footprint reduction. She said she’s proud of her local government taking leadership in reducing its footprint.