Town looks to negotiate solar programs and expand water system to school

TOWN OF HOOSICK, N.Y. >> On the April 11 Town of Hoosick board meeting, it was apparent that progress is being made in the areas of solar energy, water contamination and distribution and support for volunteer firefighters.

Solar

Deputy Supervisor Jeff Wysocki revealed that a presentation would not be made from the solar committee due to a wait on a state report about unified zoning. Wysocki said the report was supposed to be unveiled in March. The solar committee was due to present its findings on the benefits of solar energy for April.

“We’re waiting for that [the report] to see where we fit in with all that,” he said. “The committee is still working.”

He added that two preliminary progress reports have been made.

Meeting minutes have not been posted from the past two meetings for the solar committee. The solar committee meets every first Wednesday of the month.

Resident Kevin Allard suggested payment of taxes from the proposed solar PILOT program should be dedicated to a recreation fund for children.

“I’d like to consider doing a PILOT program in which solar farms that have a direct positive impact on the Town of Hoosick,” he said acknowledging Wysocki’s farm that is offsetting the school’s energy costs. The solar farm that’s going up on Route 22, doesn’t have the same impact. Do something like $100 per acre for something like Mr. Wysocki, but for something that doesn’t have a direct impact do like $250 an acre.”

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A motion was made to allow Attorney John Schopf to draft a proposal to enter into negotiations on the town’s behalf to set up a PILOT program for the commercial solar farms in town.

Councilman Eric Sheffer suggested building pilot ideas by utilizing non-vested companies and without using already established applications.

“It’s been brought to my attention both within the town and outside of the town that there’s some pretty big growing pains of these ongoing projects,” Sheffer said. “We should reach out to see where these projects are at before we spend any money trying to negotiate anything.”

On May 3 at 6 p.m., Brighten Energy solar company will visit the Town Hall to discuss community solar and pilot programs.

Water

Supervisor Mark Surdam spoke with Mayor David Borge, the Village Water Department and the Engineering Firm MRB to delve into the idea to expand the Municipal Water & Sewer into the town. This is the result of many conversations about the PFOA contamination.

Hoosick Falls school Superintendent Kenneth Facin suggested having water and sewer coming south to the school, according to Surdam’s report

Further conversation was conducted between Surdam, Mayor Borge and the NYS Environmental Facilities Corporation (EFC), the NYS Bureau of Water Supply Protection and Design Engineer Michael Montysko.

Mayor Borge addressed infrastructure issues in the village that were created and discovered during PFOA flushing process.

“There are options for getting some money. Probably, most likely a combination of grants and either low interest or zero interest loans,” Mark Surdam said. “It comes to a point where we vote to spend money to do a study, I imagine that would be reimbursable money.”

“I think this is something good that can happen for us,” Sutton said. “Would it involve theoretically sidewalks down at the school as well? We’re looking into it.”

A motion was approved by the board in order for Dave Sutton to work with the Village of Hoosick Falls and get more information on growing the distribution of the municipal water system into a reasonable distance, i.e. south on Route 22 to the Hoosick Falls Central School.

Fire

On April 23 the North Hoosick Fire Department will host an open house to allow the public to view the apparatus, equipment and facility. There will be 911 reflective signs for sale, 50 smoke detectors will be given away and there will be fire extinguishers available as a door prize.

On the same day, the Village of Hoosick Falls Fire Department will have an open house on Griffin Ave. from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

These events are in recognition of the Firemen’s Association of the State of New York (FASNY) “Recruit NY 2016” initiative to bring in more volunteers.

The North Hoosick department, like many volunteer facilities, utilize a service reward program. Points are gained by a volunteer for participating in training, drills, fire calls, etc. These points are exchanged into money or retirement benefits. The 2015 points earned form has been completed and was approved by the board.

Additionally, Resolution No. 54, 2016 Protection District was approved to adopt the updated plan document prepared by Penflex Inc. This sets trust in which assets accumulated by the town are held for payment of the Service Reward Program Benefits.

Events

In an effort to recover from the water crisis, the Community Celebration Committee has planned an Earth Day event at Brown’s Brewing Company at the Walloomsac facility (50 Factory Hill Road, Hoosick Falls, N.Y.). The band “Flood Road” will play on April 22 from 7 to 9 p.m.

Admission cost $10 and includes a brewery tour, a pint of beer and samples of new menu items. Proceeds will benefit local watershed protection through the Rensselaer Land Trust. The event is sponsored by “I Heart Hoosick” to kick-off their season of events and recognize and thank all involved in making Hoosick Falls’ water safe again. Free sunflower seeds will be available.

Brown’s is committed to sustainable infrastructure and practices by using solar energy, LED light bulbs, reduced cooling needs due to geography, hydroelectric energy, aerobic water digestion system, by using local and ingredients and also by giving spend grains and yeast to local farmers to be repurposed.

Love Your Village clean up day will happen on May 7 from 9 a.m. to noon in partnership with St. Gobain. More information on this can be found at hayc3.org.

The Town Board meets every second Monday night of the month at 7 p.m. For more information visit townofhoosick.org.

—Makayla-Courtney McGeeney can be reached at (802)-447-7567, ext. 118.

Town looks to negotiate solar programs and expand water system to school

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Report: Filtration System Reduces Pollutants Inside the Bus

A recent study by researchers at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health concluded that a filtration system designed especially for use in school buses can diminish on-board pollutants by up to 88 percent.

“School buses are by far the safest way to transport children between school and home,” said Yifang Chu, senior author of the study and associate professor at UCLA’s department of Environmental Health Sciences. “Our goal is to make it also the cleanest way.”

Researchers designed a prototype high-efficiency cabin air (HECA) filtration system and installed two units in the rear of six school buses used for testing. The units drew in air through diffusers located on its sides of the bus and passed the air through the HECA filters. Researchers tested the air inside and outside the buses for emissions such as black carbon and fine as well as ultrafine particles.

The study, funded by the California Air Resources Board, tested buses without passengers both while they were parked and while they were running on major arteries and highways in the Los Angeles area.

Interestingly, researchers found that the decrease in pollutants was greater in freeway driving conditions. This was surprising due to the higher concentration of pollutants that come from the highly congested Los Angeles freeways. The study stated that the quality of the filtered air inside the bus was comparable to that of the beach in Santa Monica, California.

According to Zhu, exposure to pollutants can take a toll on children’s health.

“During school bus commuting, children can be exposed to significantly greater levels of air pollutants than a typical resident in the South Coast air basin,” she said. “Studies have shown that exposure to high levels of vehicle pollution is associated with pulmonary and cardiovascular health risks, including oxidative stress, mitochondrial damage and acute pulmonary inflammation.”

UCLA said in a statement that another study funded by CARB over a decade ago found “air quality problems” inside diesel-powered school buses. 

“That study led to efforts to retrofit school buses with exterior pollution-reducing devices. While that method is promising for minimizing emissions from buses’ tailpipes, it doesn’t always provide cleaner air inside the buses,” the statement read.

A prior study also conducted by Zhu and her team found that air purifiers designed for home use can decrease levels of pollution inside the school bus by approximately 50 percent. However, these filters are not designed for use inside moving vehicles.

A long-term follow-up study will test the HECA systems on a greater number of school buses with children on board.

Photo: UCLA

Report: Filtration System Reduces Pollutants Inside the Bus

Column: Germany's energy transformation based on unsustainable subsidies, an unstable system

On Dec. 3, while 190 governments were meeting for two weeks of climate change talks in Lima, Peru, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet agreed to a package that continues Germany’s optimistic but unrealistic goal and increases subsidies for measures designed to cut emissions.

Regarding Germany’s “climate protection package,” Barbara Hendricks, Environment Minister, admitted, “if no additional steps were taken, Germany … would miss its targets by between five to eight percentage points.”

The results of the German agreement will require operators of coal-fueled power plants to reduce emissions by at least 22 million tons — the equivalent of closing eight of them. The Financial Times believes the plan will “lead to brownouts in German homes.”

With the goal of generating 80 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2050, Germany has aggressively pursued a green dream with unsustainable subsidies that have produced an unstable system described by the Financial Times on Nov. 25 as “a lesson in doing too much too quickly on energy policy.”

So what should the U.S. and other countries learn from Germany’s generous subsidy programs and large-scale deployment and integration of renewable energy into the power system? These are the questions U.S. legislators should be asking themselves as they argue over a tax extender package that includes a retroactive extension for the now-expired Production Tax Credit for wind energy.

Fortunately, the answers are easy to determine. Finadvice, a Switzerland-based adviser to the utility and renewable industry, did an exhaustive study, “Development and Integration of Renewable Energy — Lessons Learned from Germany.”

The report’s introductory comments include the following statement, “The authors of this white paper would like to state that they fully support renewables as a part of the power portfolio. … a couple (of the authors) have direct equity interests in renewable projects.” The authors’ viewpoint is an important consideration, especially in light of their findings. They wanted Germany’s experiment to work; yet they begin the executive summary with these words:

“Over the last decade, well-intentioned policymakers in Germany and other European countries created renewable energy policies with generous subsidies that have slowly revealed themselves to be unsustainable, resulting in profound, unintended consequences for all industry stakeholders. While these policies have created an impressive roll-out of renewable energy resources, they have also clearly generated disequilibrium in the power markets, resulting in significant increases in energy prices to most users, as well as value destruction for all stakeholders: consumers, renewable companies, electric utilities, financial institutions, and investors.”

After reading the paper, I was struck with three observations. The experiment has 1) raised energy costs to households and business; 2) the subsidies are unsustainable; and 3) without intervention, the energy supply is unstable.

Anyone who reads the paper will conclude there is far more to providing energy that is effective and economical than the renewable fairytale storytellers want consumers to believe. The German experiment proves butterflies, rainbows and pixie dust won’t power the world after all — coal, natural gas and nuclear energy are all important parts of the power portfolio.

If only U.S. legislators would read the paper before they vote for more subsidies for renewable energy, maybe we could learn from Germany’s expensive and destructive experience what they haven’t yet learned themselves.

The author of Energy Freedom, Marita Noon serves as the executive director for Energy Makes America Great Inc. and the companion educational organization, the Citizens’ Alliance for Responsible Energy.

Column: Germany"s energy transformation based on unsustainable subsidies, an unstable system

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NUS develops new air filtration system

SINGAPORE: With the haze possibly on the horizon again, a new locally-developed market alternative to air filtration systems will soon hit the shelves.

The indoor air filtration system was developed by a team at the National University of Singapore (NUS), and is touted as being twice as effective as regular air purifiers.

At first glance, it looks like just a regular fan, but it’s actually an air filtration system.

It targets PM2.5 — particles that are smaller than the width of a human hair.

Short-term effects of inhaling such particles include eye and lung irritation.

Longer term, it could lead to serious illnesses such as lung and bladder cancer.

“I was at home trying to innovate and protect my children from high haze exposure indoors,” said Dr Jeff Obbard, Dept of Civil & Environmental Engineering, NUS. “And I realised quite quickly that there were no air purifiers left in stores so I started playing around at home with the fans I had and basically came up with a basic system there and then and thought perhaps I can develop this further at the university.”

The system will be suitable for areas such as classrooms, homes and dormitories.

It traps pollutants, before re-circulating clean air.

It can do this 13 times an hour, 13 times more often than regular air purifiers.

The NUS team took about 10 months to develop the system, and that includes testing it in the harshest of environments.

“We decided to go over to Pekanbaru in Riau province, where a lot of the haze in Singapore comes from, and worked in real haze conditions,” said Dr Obbard. “And quite sadly what we found was in a school classroom, children were working at levels of pollution up to nine times over the world’s health standard.

“And that really spurred me on to develop this system and do something for them.”

And so, from the middle of next month, consumers will be able to purchase it — in three variations — online, and there are plans to roll them it at convenience stores soon after.

It will be marketed and sold by AiRazor Technologies, an NUS spin-off company.

The product will also be launched in Taiwan, China and Indonesia, markets that have what AiRazor called ‘immediate needs’.

Prices start from 150 dollars.

Consumers also have the option of retrofitting existing fans for 50 dollars; disposable, replacement filters will cost 30 dollars each.

During a haze crisis, developers estimate that filters will have to be changed about once a week.

Andrew Yap, Managing Director, AiRazor Technologies says that his company is prepared to meet demand for the filters.

“We are bringing in the first two thousand units with the hope that it will fly off the shelves and we will be ready with the next thousands of units within the coming weeks,” he said. “So we are hoping that we can deliver about a hundred thousand a month.”

Next up for the company: developing masks that make air safe to breathe in yet fit more comfortably than existing market options.  

NUS develops new air filtration system

Charlesworth Nuts installs solar system

Charlesworth Nuts, a South Australian owned and operated business processing nuts and dried fruit, has installed a new solar power system at their factory in Marion.

Installed on the roof of their factory and office complex, the 98kW system is one of the largest privately owned solar installs in the state, with the 392 solar panels on the north of the roof spanning 50 x 20 metres. On a sunny day, the solar array provides nearly all of the power needed to run the 4,000m² factory.

Mark Charlesworth, Financial Director, Charlesworth Nuts explains that their move to solar power reflects their contribution to the preservation of the local environment while also taking some pressure off the electricity grid.

The successful implementation of the solar power system is the result of a collaborative effort between South Australian businesses. The solar solution was managed and implemented by South Australian business Adelaide Solar Safe, with panels and inverters distributed through local solar distributor Oz Roll Industries. The inverters are manufactured by Schneider Electric.

Established in 1934, Charlesworth Nuts operates several retail outlets and also has a purpose-built manufacturing site in Marion, which has become the head office and processing and distribution centre. This site was expanded approximately six years ago to take on an adjoining block and create more room for the operations. With this expansion and rising electricity costs, the company was looking for ways to reduce their energy costs, and also to appeal to the more environmentally conscious consumer.

The solar solution, implemented by Adelaide Solar Safe, has achieved both of these outcomes.

According to Andy Turner from Adelaide Solar Safe, the energy produced by the solar solution at Charlesworth Nuts is a perfect fit for the company. As the power needs of the factory increase in the lead-up to Christmas, which is the factory’s busiest time, the solar power system will be generating higher yields as a result of increased solar irradiance levels. Additionally, the warmer months have higher electricity usage as the company uses its cool rooms more to keep their perishables safe and run the air conditioners.

Patrons visiting the retail store located at the factory and office complex are also able to see how the solar system is operating in real time, thanks to the remote monitoring software on display.

Stace Tzamtzidis, Director of Business Development Oceania, Solar Business, Schneider Electric observes that they have an ongoing focus to provide renewable and solar energy solutions to their customers; Charlesworth Nuts is setting an example of how businesses in South Australia and beyond can implement energy saving solutions across their business and then reap the rewards.

Charlesworth Nuts installs solar system