THE PRAGMATIC ENVIRONMENTALIST :The Greening of New York State

Good evening. I’m very happy to be with you to discuss “green buildings” and other energy initiatives.

As we use them today, the words “building” and “environmentalism” can seem very much at odds.  Polar opposites in a nation that drives a brisk trade in polarization. The truer state of affairs is that the two terms are cozying up to one another.

I am reminded of the words of Noel Coward in his naval epic, In Which We Serve.  “A happy ship is an efficient ship,” he said.  “An efficient ship is a happy ship.”  To take liberties with his words, a green building is an efficient building.  An efficient building is a green building.

The lesson was taught us by Buckminster Fuller whose famous Dymaxion house was, conceptually, the world’s first green building in that it made “maximum” use of resources as it minimally depleted them.

These days green buildings must conform to a set of environmental design and performance guidelines established by the U.S. Green Building Council, and they come in various shades of green as arrived at by the Council's LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating system. What they all have in common is an astonishingly low impact on the environment.

Typically, they save close to 30 percent of the energy and 50 percent of the water that buildings of comparable size waste. Turning your building green might entail feathering the interior walls with insulation, applying special glazing to windows and installing high-efficiency lighting, heating, cooling and ventilation systems. It might also involve new plumbing fixtures emphasizing water conservation. Then, to ensure clean, ambient air and water quality, contractors typically agree to avoid using toxic paints, sealants, cleansers and floor coverings and use special filters and monitoring equipment to reach clean-room levels of air and water purity.

Those occupying these buildings claim improved health and lower utility bills, not to mention a clear conscience, as even the building materials themselves are recycled.

Three years ago – as the president and chief executive of the Battery Park City Authority -- I led a team that created the nation's first "green" residential high-rise building: The Solaire, at 20 River Terrace in Battery Park City.

This building achieved levels of energy efficiency 35 percent greater than prescribed by the state's energy code. It consumes 65 percent less energy during peak summer periods than buildings of comparable size. It relies on solar energy for 5 percent of the building's base electrical load. The building even includes its own wastewater treatment facility — the first in the nation inside a multi-family residential building — alongside another innovative system that re-uses storm water.

The impetus behind The Solaire was Gov. George Pataki, who has been advancing a pragmatic environmentalism since assuming the governorship more than 11 years ago. The governor spearheaded legislation to provide significant tax relief to developers of green buildings. He also mandated a 35 percent cut in energy use at state buildings by 2010. In effect, he ordered state buildings to turn green as well.

The governor turned the latter initiative over to the New York Power Authority. It was a good choice because, over the last decade the Power Authority has invested more than $900 million in energy-efficient refrigerators, lighting, heating and ventilation, and energy control systems in public buildings throughout the state.

Today, state office buildings, state university buildings, housing projects, schools, libraries — even police precincts and fire houses — are astonishingly energy-efficient, despite the fact that the majority of these structures were built in an era when energy was cheap and plentiful.

These green enhancements save taxpayers $92 million dollars each year through reduced energy and maintenance costs. They also help avoid the importation of more than 1.5 million barrels of foreign oil every year.

At the Power Authority's headquarters in White Plains, which houses some 600 of our employees and a number of private tenants, we took some of our own medicine.

We made more than $3.5 million in energy-efficiency investments. This cut the annual energy use in our building not by 35 percent, but by more than 50 percent. That's a saving of more than 5 million kilowatt hours annually. Since the Power Authority is self-supporting, the benefit to taxpayers is indirect, though these savings will allow us to take on more projects, helping even more public agencies and services improve their energy efficiency. And this is not just for public buildings, but also for private ones that use our low-cost electricity to retain jobs in New York State.

Down the road, we expect to achieve a LEED-certified rating on our headquarters building in White Plains, as we improve water efficiency, air purity and the other attributes of building performance.

As you can see, there is enormous potential for quality, economically sound investment in “green” buildings and I urge each one of you to take a good, long look at the benefits of going green.

But I also know that you want me to take a look  beyond the efficiency measures we’ve discussed already.

Peering into the future I believe we must identify and develop the technologies that will best enable us to cut our dependence on foreign oil, to combat global warming and other threats to our environment, and to assure the reliable, affordable energy needed to fuel economic growth.

These are, of course, national and international issues. But I believe that New York State is well positioned to play a key role in addressing them.

Governor Pataki has staked out a strong position through his national leadership in promoting renewable energy, clean transportation and energy efficiency. And also is moving aggressively to improve air quality.

The benefits of initiatives such as Executive Order 111, the Renewable Portfolio Standard and the Regional Greenhouse Gas Agreement will be felt long after he leaves office.

With the Power Authority marking its 75th anniversary this year, I think it’s safe to say  that George Pataki has made better use of the Power Authority and has capitalized more on our unique strengths and capabilities than has any other Governor. As a result, I am confident that the Power Authority is well prepared to remain a vital asset in shaping a New York energy future marked by greater fuel diversity and security and by a cleaner environment.

Already, our large hydroelectric projects on the St. Lawrence and Niagara Rivers provide a solid head start toward meeting the Renewable Portfolio Standard goal that at least 25 percent of the state’s electricity come from renewable sources by 2013.Thanks largely to these two massive projects, we’re now at about 19 percent.

St. Lawrence and Niagara were the Power Authority’s first two projects—and they’re still at the heart of our operations. More than 80 percent of the electricity that we produce comes from these two sources, which supply some of the nation’s least-expensive electricity.

In 2003, we obtained a new 50-year federal license for the St. Lawrence-Franklin D. Roosevelt project. We have applied for a new license at Niagara and expect to obtain it by August 2007.

Meanwhile, we’re carrying out extensive modernization programs at both projects – and also at the Blenheim-Gilboa Pumped Storage Project -- to ensure that they operate at top efficiency for many years to come.

Overall, we’re investing a total of more than $700 million in the improvements at the three projects—an investment in clean, economical power for New York State.

Unfortunately, all of the state’s prime hydroelectric sites have long since been developed. 

The imperatives of fuel diversity and environmental protection demand that we focus on a new generation of clean energy sources. 

Here, too, the Power Authority is helping to lead the way on a number of fronts, ranging from solar power projects and fuel cells to the use of clean coal and hydrogen.

To date, we’ve installed 23 solar photovoltaic projects from Buffalo to Long Island—with one more nearing completion. 

Among them is a 300-kilowatt unit at a New York City bus depot in the Bronx that ranks as one of the nation’s largest rooftop solar facilities.  For the future, we plan to test thin-film solar panels that are lighter than those now in use and can be built directly into roofs, glass and other building materials. 

The Power Authority has also installed 13 fuel cells and—as with our solar program—we’ll soon be adding another project to the list.  

While much of our work with new technologies thus far has centered on fuel cells and solar photovoltaic projects, we’re now considering several biomass facilities—including one in the Village of Tupper Lake that would use wood residue from Northern New York forests. 

The move to find new solutions to our energy problems is strikingly evident in Gov. Pataki’s Clean-Coal Power Plant Initiative—a key element in his overall strategy to reduce New York’s reliance on oil. 

The ultimate goal is private-sector development of one or more coal projects that would use our most abundant domestic fuel in a process that would be virtually emission free and would include the ability to capture—or sequester—carbon dioxide.  

The Power Authority is part of a team of state agencies and authorities that’s working with power industry and environmental groups and others in an open process to identify one or more potential New York State sites for clean coal facilities. The authority will also provide $50 million over five years to advance the development and demonstration of sequestration technologies.  And we’ll agree to purchase some of the power from the project or projects that are chosen in a competitive process. 

We hope that our involvement—along with tax incentives to be offered by the state will encourage a strong response by prospective private developers.

Meanwhile, we’re also looking at a new role for another domestic energy resource: hydroelectric power. 

In cooperation with the Electric Power Research Institute, we’re studying the potential use of clean, low-cost energy from our Niagara project to produce hydrogen that would power vehicles running on fuel cells or modified internal combustion engines at Niagara Falls State Park.         

The hydrogen would be produced through the electrolysis of water— using the hydropower to provide the necessary electric charges. Most hydrogen these days is  obtained from natural gas by using steam in a reformation process that results in emissions to the air.  Our process, in contrast, would be emission-free because we’d rely on hydroelectric power and water.

A hydrogen production and distribution facility at the state park would be valuable in its own right. But we also hope to demonstrate the commercial viability of this technology and to use our project as a model for similar facilities in other parts of the state and for projects using other renewable fuels to produce hydrogen.  This would help to promote a hydrogen-based industry in the state while also improving air quality and reducing our dependence on foreign oil.

I could probably continue far into the evening because I haven’t even touched on our electric and hybrid electric vehicle programs and other projects near and dear to R and D Departments everywhere.

But I think I have given you a pretty good overview of what’s being done now with Green Buildings, fuel cells, PV arrays. In addition, I think I’ve managed to spark some interest in the future: Governor Pataki’s coal initiative; use of hydropower to make hydrogen; biomass possibilities and more.

These are things that are very important to me. And I also think it’s fitting for the Power Authority to be out front not only in advancing new energy technologies, but also in conserving energy and other valuable natural resources and in protecting the environment.

Throughout our history— beginning with construction of the great hydroelectric Projects —we have taken on some of New York’s toughest energy problems.

Now—with traditional fuels becoming more expensive and less reliable, with environmental concerns increasing and with an ever-growing demand for a reliable power supply—the energy problems of today are in some ways the most pressing our state, and nation, have ever faced.

I believe the Power Authority gives New York a special advantage in addressing them. But I know too that successfully doing so will require a major cooperative undertaking—involving government at all levels and the private sector. True to our tradition, I look forward to being part of this vital effort.

Thank you.