Category Archives: Environment / Development

By Christine Graf
The town of Greenfield Lions Club and the Southern Adirondack Audubon Society have partnered to create a bird-friendly perennial garden in Greenfield Center Park.
The 20-acre park is located in Saratoga County, just off Route 9N on Brigham Road. Jesse Peters, owner of local landscape company Jessecology, was contracted to design and oversee the installation of the garden.
Peters has a degree in ecology, botany, and horticulture from Skidmore College. She opened her sustainable landscaping business after graduating in 2008. Sustainable landscapers create landscapes that are functional, cost efficient, visually pleasing, environmentally friendly and easily maintained.
Peters also owns and operates the Saratoga Wildflower Farm.

By Jennifer Farnsworth

It’s probably not just the 42 years of being a successful architect that defines Jeff Anthony’s career.

The business he is building with his daughter encompasses his love of nature, his daughter Kirsten Catellier’s inherited talents and a respect for combining architecture with the natural landscape that defines the North Country. It is an art that Anthony and Catellier take seriously, and their growing Saratoga Springs-based firm Studio A Landscape and Planning is proof of it.

Studio A is a multi-disciplinary landscape architecture and environmental planning firm, been providing design services to both public and private clients. Studio A works to create low-impact design solutions, using the site’s natural resources and the clients’ goals and objectives, the owners say.

Over the past the six months the business has been growing at a rapid pace. Catellier credits much of the success to the relationship she and her father have, both professionally and personally.

“It is amazing working with my dad. It has been a goal of mine for many years. He is not only a wealth of information, but he really understands how to explain information and teach me the ropes. He’s very patient and understanding. I think we make a really good team. He is seasoned and I’m still learning, so we both bring to the table a variety of traits and information. Every day is fun too, it doesn’t feel like we are at work,” said Catellier.

Catellier graduated from Bolton Central School and then moved on to receive her Bachelors of Landscape Architecture degree from the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse, where her father also received a degree in landscape architecture.

Nurture green salon & spa, a newly green circle-certified salon, is now part of a comprehensive recycling and sustainability program that sets out to significantly reduce the industry’s impact on the environment.

From the sourcing of ingredients, to the disposal of packaging and products, the salon and beauty industry has long posed many challenges to the environment, Nurture officials said.

The business is located at 182 South Broadway in Saratoga Springs.

According to the company, 63,180 pounds of hair clippings, 42,122 pounds of hair color, 109,512 pounds of foil and color tubes, and 206, 392 pounds of wastepaper, salon bottles, and other paper and plastic items are being tossed out by hair salons across North America every single day.

“With this in mind, we wanted to join forces with Green Circle to take a stand for our planet and work together to reduce our ecological footprint and make our industry more sustainable,” the company said in a news release. “Through our partnership with Green Circle Salons, we will be redirecting what was once considered garbage out of our water streams and landfills to be re-purposed into innovative green solutions.”

Since May 1, all hair clippings, extensions, any excess color and developer, papers and plastics, foils, aerosol cans and color tubes from Nurture will be collected by Green Circle Salons, effectively cutting down the salon’s total waste by 85-95 percent, the company said.

“As our customers continue to take increasing interest in the ethical and environmental impacts of their purchasing power, we wanted to give our customers a genuinely more responsible and greener choice when it comes to looking and feeling beautiful,” officials said.

Local solar installer Apex Solar Power was named one of the top solar contractors in the U.S. by Solar Power World magazine.

Apex was 136 out of 500 solar companies ranked by the magazine.

The Top Solar Contractors list is developed by Solar Power World to recognize the work completed by solar contractors across the country. Produced annually, the list celebrates the achievements of U.S. solar developers, subcontractors and installers within the utility, commercial and residential markets.

The list was released on July 25.

“The 2017 Top Solar Contractors list features 500 of the best solar contractors in the United States,” said Kelly Pickerel, managing editor of Solar Power World. “From solar hotbeds on the coasts to the up-and-coming Midwest solar market, every installer adding even the smallest solar array to the grid is making a positive impact on our communities. We’re proud to recognize these companies and their efforts to bring solar power to U.S. homes and businesses.”

The U.S. solar market installed more than 14,700 MW of solar in 2016, nearly doubling the capacity installed in 2015, according to the magazine. For the first time ever, solar was ranked as the No. 1 source of new electric generating capacity additions brought online throughout the year.

GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) predict the cumulative U.S. solar market to nearly triple in size over the next five years. By 2022, more than 18 GW of solar photovoltaic capacity will be installed annually, and Apex Solar Power will continue to be a major player in adding solar to the grid, company officials said.

By Jill Nagy

Boat N RV Condos, an indoor storage facility for boats, RVs, and similar recreation equipment, has gone solar at all three of its facilities—in Saratoga Springs, Glens Falls and Latham.

The most recent project, in Saratoga Springs, was completed in July. The Glens Falls facility went solar last February.

Concord Pools in Latham, the company’s flagship facility, has had solar panels on its roof for 10 years.

The buildings have “massive roof square footage,” said Michael Giavanone, who heads the company.

He said it seemed like a “socially responsible approach” to making use of that area. “We want to do everything we can to improve the environment.”

The company is renting its rooftop space to Monolith Solar on a 20-year lease, said Giavanone. That company supplied and installed the equipment and maintains it. The panels produce enough energy to keep the host facility in electricity and Monolith feeds the rest back into the grid.

Through the agreement, Boat N RV gets free electricity as well as rent payments from Monolith. Monolith, in return, gets paid for the energy it returns to the electricity grid. The boating storage areas “are not high-demand facilities,” Giavanone said, so the bulk of the power produced on the rooftops goes into the grid.

Dan Reilly, division manager of environmental services for C.T. Male Associates.

©2016 Saratoga Photographer.com

By Susan E. Campbell

Every building site, redevelopment and manufacturing company faces a complex set of regulatory requirements at the federal, state and local levels designed to protect the environment. Even the public sector and green spaces like trails, parks and cemeteries must comply.

This is the challenge of environmental engineering and consulting, a highly specialized, professional field that is thriving here in Saratoga County. Companies like C.T. Male Associates and The LA Group navigate the ever changing regulatory process by seeking permits, performing research and testing, and resolving when and how a project should best proceed so that the strict standards of the regulators may be met.

“Avoid, minimize and mitigate” is the mantra at The LA Group, said Kevin Franke, director of environmental services.  

The LA Group serves a wide range of clients but specializes in open spaces. The firm designed the National Cemetery in Stillwater, jump-starting a relationship with the Veterans Administration and ongoing projects both statewide and nationwide.

The avoid-minimize-mitigate process flows this way: A building site has been identified by the Army Corp of Engineers as having wetlands. Priority one is to avoid building on the affected acreage if possible. Otherwise, minimize any environmental risk by reconfiguring the site plan or adjusting the building design.