WHITE PLAINS: Power Authority Expands ‘Green’ Investments—NYPA is planning new investments in energy efficiency features for some of its facilities around the state. Power Authority trustees on Feb. 27 authorized expenditures of $2.5 million for the NYPA Energy Efficiency Facilities Program. The funding will include energy efficiency and environmental sustainability initiatives at the St. Lawrence-FDR Visitors Center in Massena, the Charles Poletti Power Project administration building in Queens and the Clark Energy Center in Marcy. Preliminary audits for planning the work are scheduled for 2007 and 2008. Another $8.5 million was previously approved for the facilities program. “Our job as a state-owned public power organization is to lead by example,” said NYPA President and CEO Timothy Carey. “That’s what we’re doing for energy efficiency, along with expanding ‘green’ sustainability practices to protect the environment and conserve vital resources.”

WHITE PLAINS: NYPA Joins Nationwide Energy Effort— The Power Authority and 35 other electric utilities around the country have teamed up with the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) to develop “smart energy” technologies designed to reduce electricity consumption. The Dynamic Energy Management (DEM) initiative will test new technologies that could provide consumers with up-to-the-second energy usage and pricing information through the internet, allowing users to better manage their consumption and save money, particularly during higher-priced peak-demand periods. DEM will also evaluate commercial and retail appliances for optimal power usage. Lower power demand also reduces reliance on fossil fuels and decreases greenhouse gas emissions. EPRI is a nonprofit industry organization for energy and environmental research.

MASSENA: NYPA Eel Ladder Wins National Hydro Award— A simple-yet-innovative fish passage facility has earned the Power Authority a National Hydropower Association (NHA) award for recreational and environmental enhancements to power plants. The $2 million installation at NYPA’s St. Lawrence-FDR Power Project helps juvenile American eels migrate upstream along the St. Lawrence River, past the 800,000-kilowatt power dam, toward Lake Ontario. NYPA unveiled its eel ladder last August as one feature in a package of improvements being implemented in conjunction with the St. Lawrence-FDR project relicensing. During last year’s four-month migration season, more than 8,000 eels successfully traversed the 100-foot-tall ladder and an adjoining 900-foot-long pipe that delivers the eels to a safe release site upstream. The entire facility was designed and built by upstate contractors, reflecting NYPA’s efforts to use local businesses for its relicensing activities. The NHA award, part of its Outstanding Stewardship of America’s Waters program, will be presented at an association conference in Washington, D.C., on March 15. Last year, NYPA received a Hydro Achievement Award from the NHA for its recreational improvement efforts, which are also related to the St. Lawrence-FDR project relicensing.

KINGSTON: ‘Power to Schools’ Program Set for Thursday— Area school officials will learn about a major opportunity to save energy and money when the Power Authority conducts a forum on its “Power to Schools” program at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, March 15, at the Quality Inn, 114 Route 28 in Kingston. The forum, for officials from Ulster, Columbia, Greene and Sullivan counties, will offer information on energy-efficiency projects for school facilities and how public and private schools can participate. “Power to Schools” was created by state legislation in 2004. NYPA oversees all phases of a project, from an energy audit through installation of new lighting, boilers, chillers and other energy-efficiency measures. Clean energy technologies such as solar power and fuel cells are also involved. School officials wishing to attend or to arrange energy audits of their facilities may contact Andrea Phillips at phillips.a@nypa.gov, or 914-391-5420.

BROOKLYN: Innovative Engines Use Waste Gas to Power Plant— A trio of innovative, low-emission Stirling external combustion engines will power the New York City Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) Owl’s Head wastewater treatment facility in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. Now undergoing initial tests, the 165-kilowatt generation system will be one of the first in the nation to power a wastewater plant. The NYPA-installed system features a number of “green” advantages, including the ability to run on anaerobic digester gas, a wastewater byproduct normally flared into Brooklyn’s air, and lowering the plant’s operating costs while eliminating up to 765 tons of carbon dioxide emissions a year and reducing nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide emissions. Just as important, by generating electricity on site, the DEP will help decrease congestion on the city’s electricity grid. The four-cylinder Stirling engines are driven by compression and expansion of hydrogen gas sealed inside the cylinders, but combustion occurs external to moving parts, minimizing maintenance and fuel preparation. The system has received grants from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, the American Public Power Association, the Canadian Electricity Association and the Electric Power Research Institute.

NEW YORK CITY: ‘Green’ Buildings Can Also Be Profitable—Buildings that incorporate energy conservation measures and other environmentally sound practices can also deliver a higher profit margin, NYPA President and CEO Timothy Carey told a recent gathering of the Greater New York Chapter of The Institute of Real Estate Management. Carey recounted NYPA’s own success at its White Plains office building, where energy costs have dropped by nearly half a million dollars a year as a result of effective conservation measures. The improvements earned the 17-story structure the first LEED® Gold-EB rating for an existing building in New York State from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). Carey noted green buildings have shown rental and occupancy rates 3 percent higher than others; building values as much as 7.5 percent higher; and rates of return as much as 6 percent higher. Studies also show that green workplaces can raise employee productivity by up to 15 percent a year, he said. At the close of 2006, about 700 buildings nationally had been certified by the USGBC, with another 5,000 submitting applications. Citing figures from the McGraw-Hill 2006 SmartMarket Report, Carey noted that green nonresidential construction alone is predicted to make up about 10 percent of construction starts in another three years.