EDC Looks for Innovative Ideas on NYC Renewable Energy
Thanks to Gail Karlsson at Citizens Network for Sustainable Development (CitNet) for this policy update
On August 19, Mayor Bloomberg announced that the New York City Economic Development Corporation had released a Request for Expressions of Interest that will call for innovative ideas to help New York City develop sources of renewable energy, such as off-shore windfarms, wind turbines bridges and skyscrapers, tidal power, solar power and geothermal energy. Responses are due September 19.
"Such projects might, for example, be designed to draw power from the tides of the Hudson and East Rivers - something we're already doing on a pilot basis. They might call for dramatically increasing rooftop solar power production, which we've estimated could meet nearly 20 percent of the City's need for electricity. They could tap into geothermal energy. In fact, some private home and building owners have already drilled their own 'heat wells.' Or perhaps companies will want to put windfarms atop our bridges and skyscrapers, or use the enormous potential of powerful off-shore winds miles out in the Atlantic Ocean, where turbines could generate roughly twice the energy that land-based windfarms can. Windfarms located far off our shores, some evidence shows, could meet 10 percent of our city's electricity needs within a decade."
"More than 100 years ago, a new statue standing tall in New York Harbor gave our nation its greatest symbol of freedom. In this century, that freedom is being undermined by dependence on foreign oil. So I think it would be a thing of beauty if, when Lady Liberty looks out on the horizon, she not only welcomes new immigrants, but lights their way with a torch powered by an ocean windfarm....“When it comes to producing clean power, we’re determined to make New York the No. 1 city in the nation.”
There will be significant challenges in establishing energy alternatives for the city, including considerable time and expense, and new building and engineering requirements. However, the Mayor said "We also have to accept that a lot of alternative power projects now on the drawing boards won't produce their first kilowatts of electricity for many years. But we still have to reach into our own pockets now, or our children won't have the benefits 10 to 15 years in the future. "
He also pointed out that New York is joining cities across the nation in working for new building code standards to dramatically increase energy efficiency in new homes and businesses. www.nyc.gov
Prosperity: How Clean-Energy Policies Can Fight Poverty and Raise Living Standard in the United States
Thanks to Gail Karlsson at Citizens Network for Sustainable Development (CitNet) for this policy update
On June 18 the Natural Resources Defense Council and Green for All released a report “Green Prosperity: How Clean-Energy Policies Can Fight Poverty and Raise Living Standard in the United States” with the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI). http://www.nrdc.org/energy/greenjobs/
The factsheet for New York City shows that in the New York metropolitan area, a $6.7 billion investment in a clean-energy economy would produce 62,949 jobs, over 36,000 for workers with high school degrees or less, and cut unemployment by over one percentage point - in addition to the environmental gains achieved through large-scale investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy. http://docs.nrdc.org/globalwarming/files/glo_09061801a.pdf
Greening the NYC Building Code
Thanks to Gail Karlsson at Citizens Network for Sustainable Development (CitNet) for this policy update
Learn more about 'greening' the NYC building code, in a new report Decoding the Code commissioned by the Sallan Foundation and prepared by the CUNY Building Performance Lab. http://www.sallan.org/Decoding-the-Code/index.php
Climate Change Adaptation Task Force and Panel on Climate Change set up by Mayor Bloomberg
Thanks to Gail Karlsson at Citizens Network for Sustainable Development (CitNet) for this policy update
On August 19, Mayor Bloomberg announced that the New York City Economic Development Corporation had released a Request for Expressions of Interest that will call for innovative ideas to help New York City develop sources of renewable energy, such as off-shore windfarms, wind turbines bridges and skyscrapers, tidal power, solar power and geothermal energy. Responses are due September 19.
"Such projects might, for example, be designed to draw power from the tides of the Hudson and East Rivers - something we're already doing on a pilot basis. They might call for dramatically increasing rooftop solar power production, which we've estimated could meet nearly 20 percent of the City's need for electricity. They could tap into geothermal energy. In fact, some private home and building owners have already drilled their own 'heat wells.' Or perhaps companies will want to put windfarms atop our bridges and skyscrapers, or use the enormous potential of powerful off-shore winds miles out in the Atlantic Ocean, where turbines could generate roughly twice the energy that land-based windfarms can. Windfarms located far off our shores, some evidence shows, could meet 10 percent of our city's electricity needs within a decade."
"More than 100 years ago, a new statue standing tall in New York Harbor gave our nation its greatest symbol of freedom. In this century, that freedom is being undermined by dependence on foreign oil. So I think it would be a thing of beauty if, when Lady Liberty looks out on the horizon, she not only welcomes new immigrants, but lights their way with a torch powered by an ocean windfarm....“When it comes to producing clean power, we’re determined to make New York the No. 1 city in the nation.”
There will be significant challenges in establishing energy alternatives for the city, including considerable time and expense, and new building and engineering requirements. However, the Mayor said "We also have to accept that a lot of alternative power projects now on the drawing boards won't produce their first kilowatts of electricity for many years. But we still have to reach into our own pockets now, or our children won't have the benefits 10 to 15 years in the future. "
He also pointed out that New York is joining cities across the nation in working for new building code standards to dramatically increase energy efficiency in new homes and businesses. www.nyc.gov
Prosperity: How Clean-Energy Policies Can Fight Poverty and Raise Living Standard in the United States
Thanks to Gail Karlsson at Citizens Network for Sustainable Development (CitNet) for this policy update
On June 18 the Natural Resources Defense Council and Green for All released a report “Green Prosperity: How Clean-Energy Policies Can Fight Poverty and Raise Living Standard in the United States” with the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI). http://www.nrdc.org/energy/
The factsheet for New York City shows that in the New York metropolitan area, a $6.7 billion investment in a clean-energy economy would produce 62,949 jobs, over 36,000 for workers with high school degrees or less, and cut unemployment by over one percentage point - in addition to the environmental gains achieved through large-scale investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy. http://docs.nrdc.org/
Greening the NYC Building Code
Thanks to Gail Karlsson at Citizens Network for Sustainable Development (CitNet) for this policy update
Learn more about 'greening' the NYC building code, in a new report Decoding the Code commissioned by the Sallan Foundation and prepared by the CUNY Building Performance Lab. http://www.sallan.org/Decoding-the-Code/index.php
Climate Change Adaptation Task Force and Panel on Climate Change set up by Mayor Bloomberg
August 12, 2008
Press release www.nyc.gov
"We face two urgent challenges - both of which we're responding to as part of PlaNYC," said Mayor Bloomberg. "First, we have to shrink our carbon footprint to slow climate change. Second, we have to adapt to the environmental changes that are already beginning to take place, For example, raise critical infrastructure, like back-up generators, to higher ground in areas prone to flooding. Changes in the way we maintain and operate our infrastructure can help secure our City."
Press release www.nyc.gov
"We face two urgent challenges - both of which we're responding to as part of PlaNYC," said Mayor Bloomberg. "First, we have to shrink our carbon footprint to slow climate change. Second, we have to adapt to the environmental changes that are already beginning to take place, For example, raise critical infrastructure, like back-up generators, to higher ground in areas prone to flooding. Changes in the way we maintain and operate our infrastructure can help secure our City."
The Climate Change Adaptation Task Force was one of the 127 initiatives proposed in PlaNYC, the City's long-term sustainability plan. It is made up of City and State agencies, authorities and private companies that operate, maintain, or control critical infrastructure in New York City. It will create an inventory of existing infrastructure that may be at-risk from the effects of climate change; develop coordinated adaptation plans to secure these assets based on New York City-specific climate change projections; draft design guidelines for new infrastructure that take into account anticipated climate change impacts; and identify adaptation strategies for further study that are beyond the scope of individual stakeholders.
Advising the task force will be a New York City Panel on Climate Change, made up of leading experts from regional academic institutions and the legal, engineering, and insurance industries, chaired by Dr. Cynthia Rosenzweig of the Columbia University Center for Climate Systems Research/NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and Dr. William Solecki of Hunter College's Institute for Sustainable Cities.. The panel will develop a unified set of climate change projections for New York City; create a set of tools to help task force members identify at-risk infrastructure and develop adaptation strategies; write draft protection levels to guide the design of new infrastructure; and issue a technical report on the localized effects of climate change on New York City-similar to the IPCC's landmark 2007 report on global climate change. The Rockefeller Foundation's Climate Change Resilience program has awarded a $350,000 grant to fund the work of the Panel on Climate Change.
Other members of the advisory panel include:
Reginald Blake, New York City College of Technology, Professor of Physics
Malcolm Bowman, SUNY-Stony Brook, Professor of Physical Oceanography
Andrew Castaldi, Swiss Reinsurance America Corporation, Senior VP and Head of Catastrophe Perils in the Americas
Arthur DeGaetano, Cornell University, Director of the Northeast Regional Climate Center
Craig Faris, Director, Oliver Wyman
Malcolm Bowman, SUNY-Stony Brook, Professor of Physical Oceanography
Andrew Castaldi, Swiss Reinsurance America Corporation, Senior VP and Head of Catastrophe Perils in the Americas
Arthur DeGaetano, Cornell University, Director of the Northeast Regional Climate Center
Craig Faris, Director, Oliver Wyman
Vivien Gornitz, Columbia University Center for Climate Systems Research
Klaus Jacob, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Special Research Scientist
Alice LeBlanc, American International Group (AIG), Director, Office of Environment & Climate Change, Corporate Affairs
Valentine Lehr, P.E.Lehr Consulting International, Principal
Robin Leichenko, Rutgers University, Associate Professor and Graduate Director in the Department of Geography
Edna Sussman, Hoguet Newman Regal & Kenney, LLP, Of Counsel
Gary Yohe, Wesleyan/UCS, Woodhouse/Sysco Professor of Economics
Rae Zimmerman, New York UniversityProfessor of Planning and Public Administration/Director, Institute for Civil Infrastructure Systems
Klaus Jacob, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Special Research Scientist
Alice LeBlanc, American International Group (AIG), Director, Office of Environment & Climate Change, Corporate Affairs
Valentine Lehr, P.E.Lehr Consulting International, Principal
Robin Leichenko, Rutgers University, Associate Professor and Graduate Director in the Department of Geography
Edna Sussman, Hoguet Newman Regal & Kenney, LLP, Of Counsel
Gary Yohe, Wesleyan/UCS, Woodhouse/Sysco Professor of Economics
Rae Zimmerman, New York UniversityProfessor of Planning and Public Administration/Director, Institute for Civil Infrastructure Systems
30 US cities, including New York, to measure greenhouse gas emissions
Thanks to Gail Karlsson at Citizens Network for Sustainable Development (CitNet) for this policy update
August 11, 2008
ICLEI, an international local government alliance, and the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) are joining forces with some of the United States’ largest cities to help them voluntarily report their greenhouse gas emissions and other climate change-relevant data. Cities will be able to use the project to learn from peers on climate change management and the project will shed light on the level of awareness and preparedness of the cities on this issue. It will also demonstrate to companies, investors and the general public how individual cities are dealing with the risks and opportunities climate change presents.
Thanks to Gail Karlsson at Citizens Network for Sustainable Development (CitNet) for this policy update
August 11, 2008
ICLEI, an international local government alliance, and the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) are joining forces with some of the United States’ largest cities to help them voluntarily report their greenhouse gas emissions and other climate change-relevant data. Cities will be able to use the project to learn from peers on climate change management and the project will shed light on the level of awareness and preparedness of the cities on this issue. It will also demonstrate to companies, investors and the general public how individual cities are dealing with the risks and opportunities climate change presents.
Each city will assemble comparable carbon emission data within their jurisdiction’s operations -- for instance, fire department, ambulance and police services, municipal buildings, waste transport and other services the cities provide or activities over which they exercise budgetary control. They will follow CDP systems to assess and disclose climate change-related risks and opportunities relating to the whole city. Cities will use the Local Government Operations Protocol – coauthored by ICLEI and the California Climate Action Registry, The Climate Registry, and the California Air Resources Board with input from expert stakeholders across the United States – which details the policy framework, calculation methodologies, and reporting guidance for quantifying GHG emissions from local government operations.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said: “The City of New York joins the world’s leading corporations in providing a complete, accurate accounting of its carbon emissions, the strategies it is employing to mitigate those emissions, and the results of its efforts through the Carbon Disclosure Project and ICLEI. This partnership between the world’s major corporations and, increasingly, its cities, highlights the importance of the cooperative action needed to successfully counter climate change. Working together, and with the best data, we can manage this problem, and leave our children and grandchildren a healthier and more sustainable planet.”
Cities will submit their responses to CDP by October 31st 2008. All responses will be announced and published in the first ever CDP Cities Report and ICLEI Local Action Network Report in January 2009 respectively.
www.iclei.org, Contact: Annie Strickler, annie.strickler@iclei.org
Cities will submit their responses to CDP by October 31st 2008. All responses will be announced and published in the first ever CDP Cities Report and ICLEI Local Action Network Report in January 2009 respectively.
www.iclei.org, Contact: Annie Strickler, annie.strickler@
Coming Soon!
$$$ Green Roof Incentives & Tax Credits for Homeowners!
According to advocates for the bill, applications will begin being accepted in Jan 2009.
Link directly to the State Legislation here
A New York State bill (A10234) passed in 2007--but slated to begin in 2009--requires the commissioner to establish standards and a program of inspection and certification of green roofs prior to and after installation. This includes standards for environmentally acceptable chemical fertilizers and the testing of runoff water for evidence of such fertilizers.
In addition to the standards, the bill further establishes a green roof installation credit in the amount of fifty-five percent of qualified expenditures with a credit maximum of five thousand dollars and provides green roof tax abatement (estimated at 35%) for certain properties in a city of one million or more persons.
Now it is up to building owners, landlords and co-op and condo boards to take the next step and install green roofs on their buildings!
Mandatory Plastic Bag Recycling NYC
from New York Climate Rescue
Earlier this year, the Council, together with Mayor Bloomberg, passed the New York City Plastic Carryout Bag Recycling Law (Local Law 1 of 2008), requiring stores across the City to establish in-store recycling programs for plastic bags and film plastic, such as plastic wrap, dry cleaning bags and newspaper bags. The law, which officially went into effect on July 23rd, applies to stores that use plastic bags and occupy 5,000 or more square feet or have more than five branches operating in New York City.
If you haven't begun to already, we encourage you to recycle your plastic bags and to let your friends and neighbors know about the program as well! If a store you believe should be participating in the program refuses to accept your plastic bags, please call 311 to report the problem.
Plan to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Municipal Buildings and Operations by 30 Percent by 2017
Thanks to Gail Karlsson at Citizens Network for Sustainable Development (CitNet) for this policy update
On July 7, Mayor Bloomberg announced a long-term action plan to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions from the City's municipal buildings and operations by 30 percent by 2017, as promised in PlaNYC, cutting the City's annual output of greenhouse gases by nearly 1.7 million metric tons, and reducing peak demand for electricity by 220-megawatts. City government accounts for approximately 6.5 percent of New York City's total energy usage and 10 percent of its peak electricity demand. The projects in the long-term plan will be partially funded by an annual commitment of 10 percent of the City's energy budget, which in fiscal year 2009 will be $100 million. In total, the plan will require an estimated $2.3 billion investment over the next nine years, of which roughly $900 million has been committed by the City, and another $80 million was already spent in fiscal year 2008. Additional funding is being sought from external sources, including state and federal programs, private foundations and through energy performance contracts. The City is expected to break even on its investment in 2013.
The largest single opportunity for reductions, 57 percent of the total, is through upgrades to existing buildings, like firehouses, police precincts, sanitation garages, offices, and courthouses. Planned improvements include upgrading facility lighting, refrigeration units, boiler upgrades, office equipment, and heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. There are other savings to be found in the way buildings are operated, including developing and implementing preventive practices in buildings that consume large amounts of energy. For example, leaking pipes, clogged steam traps, and inefficient air distribution, pumps, or fan systems will be systematically identified and repaired. The plan also includes retrocommissioning, a process that identifies the most wasteful inefficiencies that technicians can correct in a cost-effective manner. www.nyc.gov/news
Mandatory Electronics Recycling Programs in NYC
Did you know that electronics are only 1% of the volume of of our garbage, but are 70% of heavy metal toxins and 40% of all toxins in landfills?
On Wednesday March 26, the New York City Council passed Intro. 728, the nation's first comprehensive municipal electronics recycling law, which was signed into law by Mayor Bloomberg on April 1, 2008. NYC joins eleven states which have passed similar legislation, based on the principle of 'extended producer responsibility', which creates incentives to improve product design to reduce the use of toxic materials in electronics, thereby protecting the environment and public health.
More specifically, Intro. 728 requires electronics manufacturers to create free recycling and take-back programs for the city's small businesses and residents by July 2009 and starting in July of 2010, the Department of Sanitation will no longer pick up electronics set out with regular curbside garbage. All electronics manufacturers selling their products in NYC must submit an Electronic Waste Management Plan to the NYC Department of Sanitation by September 1st, 2008. This plan will include details on their electronics recycling programs, which must be:
- Free to NYC residents and small businesses;
- Advertised at the point of purchase;
- Have a website and toll-free phone number for questions and comments; and
- Be accessible to you as a consumer.
BY July 1, 2010 you will no longer be allowed to put any form of electronics on the curbside for pickup! If you do, you will face the following fines:
- $100 per violation (individual)
- $1000 per violation (manufacturer/company)
Bloomberg in Bali 2007
Thanks to Gail Karlsson at Citizens Network for Sustainable Development (CitNet) for this policy update
After a trip to China and speeches in Shanghai and Beijing, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg arrived in Bali. Speaking for the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) - Local Governments for Sustainability initiative. On Thursday, December 13, while James Connoughton from the White House Council on Environmental Quality defended the US delegation's refusal to embrace aggressive emission limitation targets, claiming they were premature, Bloomberg was in a nearby hotel arguing the opposite. "People everywhere recognize the time for discussion about whether global warming exists has passed," said Bloomberg, who has called for the implementation of a carbon tax. "Now it's time for action." And Bloomberg could point to the fact that over 700 U.S. cities have signed up to meet Kyoto Protocol-style carbon cuts, while California has mandated a 25% reduction in greenhouse gases by 2020. " www.time.com/time/world
In his Bali speech, Bloomberg outlined New York City's plan to reduce global warming emissions by 30% by the year 2030. "We'll do that by working with our partners in State government to develop a pilot congestion pricing program. We'll create incentives to replace old, polluting power plants with new ones using cleaner-burning fuels. We'll plant one million new trees across our city in the next ten years. Just this week, we took steps to ensure that by the year 2012, our city's 13,000 taxicabs will be hybrid or hybrid-equivalents. That alone will cut New York City's carbon emissions by nearly half a percentage point, and save each cabdriver almost $5,000 a year in fuel costs." See the full text at www.nyc.gov
In Beijing, Mayor Bloomberg announced an invitation to representatives from more than 20 of the world's major cities to come to New York next year for a two-day conference organized by New York City Global Partners. It will address common urban challenges, including reducing urban air pollution and curbing climate change, with input by experts from around the world in transportation, city planning, public health, and other disciplines.
