04/11/2023
Tusten Energy Committee Accomplishments 2011-2023 *TEC appointed in 2011 by the Tusten Town Board.🌎
*TEC stood behind the Town of Tusten law banning fracking in October 2011.
*TEC had town hall insulated wherever necessary in 2012.
*TEC had the Tusten Town Board take the NYS Climate Smart Community Pledge in February 2015.
*TEC completed thorough energy audits of all town buildings and facilities completed in October 2015.
*TEC got approval to replace all lighting for municipal buildings and facilities with energy efficient LED lighting inside and outside in 2015.
*TEC was awarded “The UDC Community Service Award” in April 2015.
*TEC installed a solar array to provide power to all town buildings and facilities in 2017.
*TEC instituted a Unified Solar Permit in our building codes in 2017.
*TEC designated an area at town hall for E-Waste.
*TEC began recycling campaign educating merchants and residents about the environmental dangers of plastic bags and straws in 2018.
*TEC offered free reusable "TUSTEN RECYCLES" tote bags to all households in town as an alternative to plastic bags in 2018 in preparation of the expected NYS plastic bag ban. NYS ban signed in 2020.
*TEC created custom stickers labeling all town receptacles for public use separating trash and recycling in 2018.
*TEC was certified the 19th town in NYS a Bronze Climate Smart Community in 2018! Town received a $5,000 grant with certification.
*TEC supported instituting a Tusten Repair Cafe servicing the community four times a year at town hall.
*TEC chairwoman Brandi Merolla was awarded “The UDC Community Service Award” in April 2019.
*TEC received a NYSDEC grant of $138,100 to purchase a town food scrap digester called a H.O.R.S.E. (High solids, Organic waste, Recycling, System with, Electrical output) to reduce food waste, produce nutrient rich probiotic plant food and biogas. Tusten will be the 1st municipality in the US to power a food digester by their municipality solar array. The “H.O.R.S.E.” arrived in Tusten from Seattle, Washington in January 2021. Operations began in 2021.
*TEC began a soft plastic recycling collection initiative town wide with Trex Manufacturing. Since August 2019, our town businesses and residents have collected and contributed more than 10 tons of soft plastic waste to TREX for recycling rather than being put in a landfill. Because of our soft plastic contributions so far, Tusten qualified to receive 6 TREX benches for our efforts. The benches are made from recycled soft plastic. They can be seen throughout town at our town deck, the Beth Peck Memorial Garden at the library, DCS, and Pete’s Market.
*TEC entered a contract for transfer of ownership of our streetlights from our utility NYSEG to the town. The PSC approved our contract with NYPA (NY Power Authority). 6 decorative pendant LED light fixtures adorn Main Street and 105 LED Cobra-head fixtures have been installed on all other streetlight poles. Town receives $20,000 grant for Smart City nodes for lights in 2021. The town board voted to use the grant for WiFi Smart Nodes from Main St to Bridge St to Erie St streetlights. 95% of our LED streetlights were installed in February 2021. The 6 LED Main St pendant streetlights were installed in March 2023.
*TEC got town board approval to apply for a continuing grant for the Tusten H.O.R.S.E. In December 2022, we were awarded the full $200,000 grant to upgrade machine parts for more efficiency, to transport the H.O.R.S.E. to Cornell Cooperative Extension in Liberty, and for training an operator.
In 2023, the Tusten H.O.R.S.E. ownership will transfer to a Sullivan County non-profit Growing SOUL who will operate the unit at Cornell as part of a food recovery effort to feed the hungry with food grown with the Tusten H.O.R.S.E. plant food Second Helpings.
GrowingSOUL is partnering with Cornell Cooperative Extension in The Sullivan County Zero-Waste Food Security Project to create a sustainable, regenerative, self-energized, integrated food security pilot housed at the Cornell Cooperative Extension site in Liberty, NY.
The C.C.E. Project Center will include:
*A kitchen garden for food production run by the Horticulture program at C.C.E.
*The Catskills Kitchen, a commercial kitchen incubator where GrowingSOUL will lead food recovery and food processing.
*The Community Cupboard to lead food distribution for our residents in need; and
Onsite composting and anaerobic digestion, leveraging the Tusten H.O.R.S.E. for processing food waste leftovers and co-producing clean energy and Second Helpings; A Plant Food Solution. The center will expand use of the Tusten H.O.R.S.E. in an integrated system, processing organics in a sustainable manner, and creating a plant food solution. The adjacent garden location will demonstrate the full cycle of the plant food product use; the H.O.R.S.E. will also be upgraded to power itself and/or charge any EV transport vehicles.
*A job for a trained operator will be part of the solution.
*The TEC has brought in just under a half a million dollars in grant money.
The bench pictured will be dedicated to the memory of TEC supporter and friend to all, Glenn Swendsen.
