Roslyn Harbor wins $50K grant for ‘going green’

Max Zahn
Pictured (from l to r) Roslyn Harbor Deputy Mayor Jeremy S. Rosof, Mayor Louis Badolato and Trustee James Friscia.

The Village of Roslyn Harbor qualified for a $50,000 state grant when it was designated as a Clean Energy Community by the state of New York, according to a village announcement last Tuesday.

The village will put the money toward the completion of an initiative to upgrade the village’s street lights to energy efficient light-emitting diodes, or LEDs.

“We in Roslyn Harbor are excited to be doing our part to contribute to the Clean Energy Communities initiative,” Deputy Mayor Jeremy S. Rosof said. We “are using the grant monies received from the state to replace aging street light infrastructure with state-of-the-art brightly burning energy-efficient LED lights that will advance the village’s environmental objectives and promote safety on the streets of our community.”

Roslyn Harbor received the designation for completing four of 10 high-impact clean energy actions identified by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority as part of the Clean Energy Communities initiative, the village statement said.

The actions included the provision of energy code enforcement training for compliance officers as well as the upgrading of 50 percent of its street lights to LEDs.

Additionally, the trustees implemented benchmarking at Village Hall, which satisfies the accreditation requirement for reporting energy use at all local government buildings that exceed 1,000 square feet.

In its fourth action, the village began using a New York Unified Solar Permit when processing applications for small-scale solar installations, which are defined as those costing less than $23,000. The permit is a statewide standardized document “expected to cut costs by creating a uniform permitting process in municipalities across the state,” the agency website said.

“Congratulations to the Village of Roslyn Harbor for taking meaningful actions to reduce their energy use and impact on the environment,” said John B. Rhodes, the president and CEO of NYSERDA. “Local governments play an important role in advancing Governor Cuomo’s nation-leading energy strategy to create cleaner, healthier communities.”

Roslyn Village is also in the process of pursuing the environmental accreditation.

“We are going green,” village Clerk Marla Wolfson said of the efforts in February.

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