Businesses Can Reduce Their Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Business owners can make climate smart choices and achieve cost savings. Ulster County businesses, organizations and municipalities can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, mitigate climate change, and, in most cases, reap considerable savings doing so. Here's how...

What Saugerties Businesses Can Do to reduce greenhouse gas emissions

  1. Energy audit. Ask Central Hudson to give you a free energy audit, to determine where your biggest energy costs are.
  2. Energy retrofit. Undertake an energy retrofit, which can include: air-sealing and insulation; installing ground-source (geothermal) or air-source heat pump for heating and cooling; switching to LED lighting: interior, exterior or municipal street lighting
  3. Join the Town of Saugerties CCA. The Town buys 100% renewable energy at competitive rates, and makes this buying power available to all town businesses. Learn More.
  4. Purchase an electric vehicle or install one or more electric vehicle charging stations. Switching to EVs is a great way to lower your fleet operating costs. And your fleet will emit about one third the greenhouse gasses of a gasoline or diesel powered fleet, even less if combined with renewable energy generation. You can earn a $7,500 federal tax credit, and a $2,000 New York State tax rebate.
    More about EVs in Fleets.
    Adding a charging station for electric vehicles is a great way to attract customers to your business, and NY State can pay most of the costs.
  5. Food waste reuse or composting. Restaurants and other food waste generators implement food waste reuse with Food Bank of the Hudson Valley and/or composting via local haulers who will take it to the Ulster County Resource and Recovery Agency (UCRRA) or other composting facilities.
  6. Significantly reduce single-use plastic. Items such a plastic drinking staws are discarded by Americans 500 million times a day. Consider using paper straws instead.
  7. Install a solar array or other renewable energy system to generate your own power. Wind or small, low-impact hydroelectric would also qualify.
  8. Other actions that reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, or otherwise addresses the climate crisis are welcome.
For more information, please contact the campaign organizers at this email address: ulstercountygbc@gmail.com or, call the Ulster County Department of the Environment at (845) 340-4298.