Jammel Cutler reports for Columbia-Greene Media that the towns of Canaan, Ghent, Hillsdale, Taghkanic, and the village of Kinderhook are signing up for certification as New York State Climate Smart Communities. To receive the designation, municipalities must implement actions that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve community resilience to the worsening impacts of climate change. Ghent Town Supervisor Craig Simmons said, “Our carbon footprint went through a lot of energy-saving windows. How often we run the highway truck, adding two people to a truck instead of having two trucks out. We’re looking forward to taking this to the next level.” Ghent has retrofitted all interior lighting in municipal buildings with LEDs, replaced 82 street lights with LEDs, installed an EV charging station in the village of Chatham, and a 5.6 kW solar array at the town garage that produces 5.571 megawatts per hour per year. Chatham Town Supervisor Donal Collins said, “Chatham is dedicated to working toward a cleaner environment and a reduced carbon footprint through multiple projects that include Community Solar Enrollment Program, Heat Pump Enrollment Program, LED upgrades within a special lighting district, Electric Vehicle Charger on Municipal property, Biomass Boiler on Municipal Property, Heat Pump on Municipal Property, and Energy Benchmarking.” Read more about this story at HudsonValley360.com.