Problem Solving Partnerships

NY4Cool: New Yorkers for Cool Refrigerant Management. SHV helped to form NY4Cool in 2018, bringing together experts and thoughtful advocates to address the most potent - and least considered - greenhouse gases: the refrigerants that are essential for our fridges and supermarket chillers, home and car air conditioners, and the heat pumps that are so critical to the clean energy transformation. “The Cool Ones” have educated governments and climate advocates on all the ways that refrigerants leak into the atmosphere, from leak-prone supermarket refrigeration systems to improper recycling of air conditioners. Their expert testimony has helped to drive several state policy initiatives. Most recently, NY4Cool has piloted The Coolest Recycling Drive, a grassroots project to collect and properly dispose of refrigerant-containing appliances. The Coolest Recycling Drive will go regional in 2024 in partnership with SHV!
The Reuse Innovation Center. SHV worked under contract with Ulster County to develop a strategic plan for a ReUse Innovation Center inspired by Repair Cafe Hudson Valley founder John K. Wackman. We collaborated with the top national expert in reuse based economic development, Dave Bennink of Reuse Consulting in Bellingham, Washington. Dave has created several Reuse Innovation Centers: ecosystems of businesses that share a space or district and profitably reuse a spectrum of materials. Click here to learn more and view the reports.

YIMBY: YES (Renewable Energy) in My Back Yard. SHV and partners New Yorkers for Clean Power, Scenic Hudson, Vassar College and Mid-Hudson Energy Transition are helping communities and property owners that want to install community-scale renewable energy systems to get local plans and policies into shape, and coordinating a dialogue with Central Hudson to address the need for upgrades to the distribution grid. This includes a serious focus on historically disadvantaged communities.

Circular Economy Collaborative. To address the role of waste hauling and landfill emissions as 12% of New York’s carbon footprint, Sustainable Hudson Valley is nurturing the shift from an extractive to a circular economy based on reuse, recycling and regenerative practices. Building on the Repair Café network and analysis done to support Ulster County’s development of a Reuse Innovation Center, SHV is working with several mid-Hudson resource recovery agencies and other partners to achieve sharp increases in the diversion of one material at a time from the waste stream, by re-envisioning collection strategies and creating small business opportunities in upcycling and reprocessing. This effort starts with textiles and will continue with building and structural materials, then other materials flows as determined by the partners.

Public Libraries as Resilience Hubs for Climate Safe Neighborhoods. To address the need for changes in the local landscape and built environment that are far more extensive than government alone can accomplish, SHV has sought partners who can reach deeply into neighborhoods and provide resources for extensive local action. To assist ordinary people in shoring up their surroundings for resilience in the face of extreme weather and climate related disasters, SHV is working with the Mid-Hudson and Ramapo-Catskill Library Systems on a two-phased project to establish public libraries as “resilience hubs” – safe havens and learning environments. In the first phase, library boards and staffs will be trained on the needs and approaches, and will identify initial projects to undertake. In the second phase, library teams will be supported in implementing these projects to create safe havens at the libraries and safer neighborhoods as well.

To develop a strategy for increasing demand for sustainable transportation options such as bus rapid transit, micro-transit, walking and biking , and develop solutions that are responsive to community needs, by conducting an in-depth need and opportunity assessment in key population centers with transit users as well as the organizations that rely on transit to provide services (such as health care institutions and workplaces).
To support emerging industries connected with climate solutions beyond the clean energy and transportation industries that arepresently supported by New York State, such as sustainable landscape practices, composting and recycling based industries, low-carbon building materials, vehicle electrification, building deconstruction and more. SHV will conduct research on the promising industry clusters that can expand and enrich our green economy.
To create a science-based, community-guided program to demonstrate carbon dioxide removal technologies that are appropriate for our rural region, starting with those that fit with Hudson Valley soils and working lands, benefiting farmers and foresters by enriching soils and expanding revenue streams for rural landowners. Our initial program of demonstration projects and stakeholder education is inspired and guided by the 4Corners Carbon Coalition in the southwestern US.