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Week of April 25, 2004
About NYPA Notes

NYPA Notes provides periodic updates on the New York Power Authority's statewide activities to stimulate economic growth, promote energy conservation and develop new, environmentally friendly energy technologies.

It also reports on the Authority's efforts to facilitate solutions to New York's energy problems and on its potential benefits to the state as the electricity industry shifts from regulation to competition.

Please feel free to reprint any of the information in NYPA Notes. We hope you find the newsletter informative and useful and would welcome your comments and inquiries (nancy.ames@nypa.gov).

NYPA Calendar

April 27: The Power Authority's trustees will meet in NYPA's White Plains office, 123 Main St., 11 a.m.











 
WHITE PLAINS: EPRI Elects NYPA President as Chairman—NYPA President and Chief Executive Officer Eugene Zeltmann has been elected chairman of the board of directors of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), the electricity industry's research consortium. Zeltmann will serve a 12-month term. He has been on the EPRI board since 2001, most recently as vice chairman. EPRI, headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif., was established in 1973 as a non-profit center for public interest energy and environmental research. Innovative technologies developed by the Power Authority with support from EPRI include the world's most advanced electric transmission control device, at NYPA's Marcy Substation in Central New York. The equipment allows transmission lines to carry more electricity, reducing the need to build new lines and strengthening the reliability of the state's power grid. Since the 1980s, the Power Authority and EPRI have also worked together on the development of numerous other projects to improve the efficiency of electricity generation, transmission and use.

BRONX: New Heating System to Trim Medical Center's Costs—A new NYPA-installed heating system will replace half-century-old equipment at Jacobi Medical Center, reaping annual cost savings of close to $725,000 for the largest public hospital in the Bronx. The new system will allow retirement of an aging boiler plant and a deteriorating underground steam-distribution system and produce significant maintenance savings. New boilers, to be fired with natural gas, with No. 2 oil as a backup fuel, will greatly reduce air emissions. Installation of gas-fired hot-water heaters will permit the boilers to be shut down during the non-heating season, further reducing costs and emissions. Work began on the $4.8 million project in April and is expected to be completed early in 2005. As with NYPA energy services projects at other public facilities across the state, the Power Authority will recover its investment through Jacobi's savings.

STATEN ISLAND: NYPA Electric Vehicle, Funding Benefit Zoo— The Power Authority on April 20 presented a neighborhood electric vehicle (NEV) and a $1,000 donation to the Staten Island Zoo, which opened in 1936 as America's first educational wildlife center. The electric TH!NK Neighbor, built by Ford, will be used to transport zoo personnel throughout the grounds of the eight-acre park and on local streets, where the NEVs can reach a top speed of 25 miles per hour. The donation is part of NYPA's statewide effort to demonstrate the benefits of the zero-emissions vehicles to governmental agencies and other public entities. The Power Authority has placed some 330 NEVs into service around the state. The $1,000 check, presented to John Caltabiano, the zoo's executive director, by Joe Leary, NYPA senior intergovernmental relations specialist, will be used for educational programs at the zoo. Calling itself the "biggest little zoo" in the metropolitan region, the New York City-owned facility is home to more than 400 animals inhabiting an aquarium, serpentarium, tropical forest and new African savannah exhibit.

NORTH BLENHEIM: NYPA to Host Capital Region Envirothon— High school students are scheduled to test their knowledge of New York State's natural resources in the Capital Region Envirothon, on the grounds of NYPA's Blenheim-Gilboa Power Project visitors center, on April 29. In a daylong, hands-on competition, teams of students will demonstrate their problem-solving abilities in five areas: forestry, aquatic ecology, soils, wildlife and a current environmental topic. This year's topic is Resource Management in the Urban Environment, covering such issues as storm-water control, urban planning and open-space preservation. NYPA is also co-sponsoring the Oneida County Envirothon at Verona Beach State Park and the Long Island Envirothon on the campus of St. John's University in Oakdale, both on April 28; the Northern Adirondacks Region Envirothon at Paul Smiths College, Paul Smiths, on May 4; and the Niagara and Orleans counties regional event in Lockport on May 6. Students from the top-scoring teams will win scholarships and prizes and represent their regions in the statewide Envirothon at the State University of New York at Morrisville on May 26 and 27.

KINGSTON: NYPA Machine Tools to Help Restore Locomotive— Machine tools no longer needed for maintenance work at the Power Authority's Blenheim-Gilboa Power Project in Schoharie County will contribute instead to restoring a 1910-era steam locomotive undergoing repairs here. The engine hauled iron ore in the Midwest for half a century before being retired and adopted by the Empire State Railway Museum, based in Phoenicia. Joe Michaels, a NYPA senior mechanical engineer and an antique railway buff, spotted the locomotive and worked with Blenheim-Gilboa project staff to arrange a donation of the machine tools, essential for machining parts for locomotive running gear. The museum is dedicated to preserving the history of 19th-century railroads that brought tourists to the Catskills' grand resorts. (Visit www.esrm.com to learn more.)

In the Community: The Power Authority co-sponsors the annual North Country Sustainable Energy Fair, which provides the public with information on energy technologies and issues involving energy production, distribution and financing, Canton, April 24….NYPA played host to a breakfast meeting for the Westchester County Association Board of Directors, White Plains, April 22….Steve Ramsey, senior community relations representative, displayed an exhibit on the Blenheim-Gilboa Power Project's visitors center at The 2004 Summer Get-away Travel Show, Empire State Plaza, Albany, April 21….Chris deGraffenried, director, marketing development, demonstrated a NYPA electric-drive vehicle to students at Mahopac High School, April 21….Brian Warner, senior policy specialist, spoke to the Flushing AARP Chapter 3334 on Energy Sources of the Future, Queens, April 19….The Power Authority's White Plains office was the venue for a job fair sponsored by the African-American Chamber of Commerce, April 19….NYPA co-sponsored the annual Nancy Price Power Run, which was open to runners, walkers and skaters of all ages, Youngstown, April 18….Joe Leary, senior intergovernmental affairs specialist, spoke to the Clinton Hall AARP Chapter 2194 on The Power Authority: Working for New York City, Brooklyn, April 16….NYPA's employees contributed $1,647 to the American Cancer Society through the Daffodil Days fundraising event.