Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation

Facility upgrades around the state help State Parks meet its energy goals a year ahead of schedule

In recognition of Climate Week, the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (State Parks) today announced it has met its BuildSmart 2025 goal a year ahead of schedule. State Parks is reducing energy use at facilities and building solar projects across the state. This is part of a nation-leading climate goal set forth by Governor Kathy Hochul to reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions at all state properties.

"State Parks is powering forward to mark Climate Week by improving energy efficiency of its 5,000 buildings and facilities," said State Parks Commissioner Pro Tempore Randy Simons. "By adding solar power, electric vehicles and battery-operated tools, we are ensuring a brighter future for generations to come. A goal of our Centennial celebration includes facing the realities of climate change by making park facilities more resilient through the next century."

State Parks has officially met its BuildSmart 2025 goal to reduce energy use at BuildSmart facilities by 53,000 Million Metric British Thermal Units (MMBTU). This has been done recently by building solar at places like Hither Hills State Park and improving building energy efficiency by switching to LEDs at many State Parks and Historic Sites in all 11 regions across the state and replacing old HVAC systems with new more efficient and electric options at places like Rockland Lake State Park.

BuildSmart 2025 is a statewide energy efficiency program aimed at reducing energy usage in state facilities by 11 trillion BTU by the end of 2025—the equivalent of removing nearly 500,000 cars from the road. BuildSmart 2025 was included as part of Governor Hochul's Executive Order 22 (EO22), reinforcing the importance of meeting New York State's energy and sustainability goals.

"I commend State Parks for achieving its BuildSmart 2025 decarbonization goals a year ahead of schedule; it is an accomplishment that illustrates the agency's commitment to advancing New York's ambitious climate and clean energy goals," said NYPA President and CEO Justin E. Driscoll. "As a leader in energy efficiency, NYPA is proud to have enabled nearly 60% of the projects under the program to reduce energy usage at State facilities."

Reducing energy at park facilities and meeting BuildSmart 2025 goal is only one of many goals stated in EO22. State Parks is also committed to transitioning to 100% renewable electricity by 2030 and to a 100% light-duty electric vehicle (EV) fleet by 2035. Additional carbon dioxide reductions have been realized through the reduced mowing program, which began in 2019, has saved nearly 30,000 hours of staff time, reduced carbon dioxide emissions by over 1,400 tons, and saved over $260,000 in fuel costs.

The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation oversees more than 250 parks, historic sites, recreational trails, golf courses, boat launches and more, which saw a record 84 million visits in 2023. For more information on any of these recreation areas, visit parks.ny.gov, download the free NY State Parks Explorer app or call 518.474.0456. Join us in celebrating the Centennial throughout 2024, and connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), and the OPRHP Blog.

NYPA provides a wide variety of energy technology and renewable energy services to its governmental customers under BuildSmart 2025, including energy audits, project engineering, design, installation, and construction management. The energy efficiency projects carried out by NYPA include high efficiency lighting retrofits, occupancy and daylighting lighting sensors, building and energy management systems, boilers, chillers, air-handling systems, thermal storage, microgrids, solar photovoltaic systems, digester gas systems, and emerging energy technologies.