Let’s build a more efficient & resilient
Rhinebeck Village together
Village Compost: Coming Soon!
Take the Climate Adaptation Survey!
Deadline December 2, 2024
At long last, the Village’s municipal program is moving forward.
The Village Board has signed an agreement with local horse farm, Ellerslie Stables. With help from the DEC grant, the stable will be upgrading its existing manure/shavings composting site to be able to incorporate food scraps. Participants will drop off their food scraps at a central collection dumpster in the Village municipal parking lot. The program will be free and open to any resident of the Village of Rhinebeck.
Participants can pre-register now. We plan to launch the program in the New Year!
Welcome to Climate Smart Rhinebeck, a task force of the Village Government. Explore what we are doing about climate change.
Find out what you can do too!
We participate in NY State's Climate Smart Communities Program, representing the Rhinebeck Village government in collaboration with volunteers. Village Trustee Vanessa Bertozzi is the task force coordinator.
Communitywide Carbon Footprint
Do you know what our community in the Village of Rhinebeck generates in terms of greenhouse gas emissions?
Over 27,000 metric tons of CO2e!
The #1 contributor is transportation (44%).
We should walk and bike more. Switch to electric vehicles. And fly less.
The #2 contributor is heating and cooling our homes (23%).
We should tighten our houses’ envelopes and add insulation. Switch to heat pumps or geothermal to get off oil or propane. And subscribe to a solar farm for electricity.
Climate Adaptation Planning
The Village’s Climate Smart Task Force is leading a process called “climate adaptation planning.”
This entails:
researching which impacts are and will continue to have an adverse effect on the village
identifying groups particularly vulnerable to these impacts and listening to their experiences and needs
formulating a vision statement about our shared future
creating a plan to adapt to the impacts—and hopefully get us to the vision we want for our future
In 2020 we started hosting workshops to hear from the public, community stakeholders, and officials and staff. We are researching impacts and vulnerabilities. We combed through municipal policies that affect resiliency. In the summer of 2024, we turn to visioning and creating a plan, as one of the municipalities in a Climate Action Planning Institute cohort.
Photo by Avery Gilbert “Contemplating Sea Level Rise” used in the Natural Resources Inventory
EV Campaign
Thanks to community members who bought a new electric vehicle or plug-in hybrid between August 25 and December 31, 2023, the Village has earned a $5000 grant from NYSERDA!
The Village and Town governments partnered on this campaign as part of our Clean Energy Communities program under NYSERDA. Pictured here is our “EV-Curious?” event on Sept 30. Folks learned about EV ownership from Ruge’s, who came with 4 models, and volunteers who brought their own cars. And Mayor Bassett brought Evie, his appropriately named pooch!
Energy Bills Piling Up?
Learn more about ways to reduce your bills and lower your household’s carbon footprint. We recommend a free consultation to give you the confidence to take your next step.
Public Reporting
The Village of Rhinebeck publishes benchmarking reports to show energy usage in municipal properties.
Each year we give a review of what we accomplished. This is our 4th Annual Climate Progress Report.
Trustee Bertozzi submits a monthly Climate Smart report, as a piece of the public Village Board Meeting materials. You can find them easily all in one place here.
Our completed Natural Resources Inventory and your favorite nature photos of Rhinebeck
Photo by George Beckwith
Researching the Landsman Kill
Check out our ongoing collaboration with Marist College students. In fall 2021, Computer Science students created a browser-based dashboard to act as a flood warning mechanism for when to open the Asher Dam’s valves: https://mari.st/adas (Disclaimer: this is a student prototype and it is still a work in progress!)
Previous projects include a Trees for Tribs Riparian Planting: On May 2, 2021, we planted over 100 trees and shrubs.
How We Are Getting to Silver
We are working on a whole host of actions, but getting to the 300 points necessary for silver certification is a steep climb!
How We Earned Bronze
In March 2020, Rhinebeck Village achieved Bronze certification in the NY state Climate Smart Community program—one of only 47 municipalities at the time.
Events
We create climate-related, public events and highlight worthy goings-on in our local area.
Do Something
We believe that climate change is a huge catalyst for education, personal growth and community connection. We gather resources that will inspire you to take action and that make sense for our area.
