NYPA Announces Energy Efficiency Improvements Totaling More Than $230 Million in Development on CUNY Campuses

For Immediate Release: 07/13/22

Contact: Alex Chiaravalle | media.inquiries@nypa.gov | (518) 860-9935

 

NYPA Announces Energy Efficiency Improvements Totaling More Than $230 Million in Development on CUNY Campuses

 

Power Authority Advances Climate Goals Through BuildSmart2025 Program

 

WHITE PLAINS—The New York Power Authority (NYPA) today announced that nearly 30 energy efficiency projects totaling more than $230 million are in development across 13 City University of New York (CUNY) campuses. The projects advance the goals laid out in the BuildSmart2025 program, which calls for 11 trillion British thermal units (TBtu) of on-site energy savings in buildings owned by New York State. The energy efficiency improvements also directly support the goals of New York State’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (Climate Act) and the New York City Climate Mobilization Act, which both call for greenhouse gas emissions from buildings to be reduced by 40 percent by the year 2030.

 

“More than $230 million in energy efficiency projects are in development to combat building-based energy consumption, the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in New York City,” said NYPA Interim President and CEO Justin E. Driscoll. “Under BuildSmart2025, NYPA is aggressively pursuing energy-efficient solutions that shrink New York’s carbon footprint and strengthen its energy security.”

 

“By reducing the energy consumption of CUNY’s buildings, these improvements will significantly curtail the emissions that harm our environment while lowering our costs and increasing the security and safety of our campuses,” said CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez. “We thank Governor Hochul and NYPA Interim President Driscoll for maintaining the urgent pace of the climate change agenda for New York State and CUNY.”

 

At CUNY’s Bronx Community College (BCC) in University Heights, NYPA is in the final phases of a utility improvement project that includes the installation of a new centralized chiller plant. Approximately three miles of pipe and nine miles of conduit were installed throughout the campus for the project, which will generate nearly $5 million in annual energy-cost and maintenance savings. The $168 million project began in 2011 and will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 5,600 metric tons—the equivalent of removing more than 1,200 cars from the road.

 

NYPA is also implementing comprehensive lighting upgrades at BCC’s Meister Hall—located at 161 W. 180^th St.—that include the installation of approximately 2,000 LED fixtures. The fixtures will be installed throughout the building’s interior and exterior and include lighting system controls. Construction on the more than $5 million project began this June and is expected to generate nearly $77,000 in annual savings. The new LED fixtures will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 350 metric tons—the equivalent of taking 75 cars off the road.

 

In addition, NYPA is in early development of a project that includes a full replacement of the BCC campus’ boiler plant and fuel oil tanks.

 

NYPA is also undertaking a lighting improvement project at CUNY’s Kingsborough Community College. NYPA will replace nearly 40 exterior light fixtures along the sea wall perimeter of the college campus and install a new power panel in the school’s gym for the fixtures. The new fixtures installed by NYPA will remain operational in flood conditions. The project will address campus security and safety concerns while reducing annual greenhouse has emissions by nearly 60 metric tons. Construction on the more than $3.6 million project began earlier this year.

 

BuildSmart 2025 and BuildSmart NY

BuildSmart2025 is a statewide energy efficiency program aimed at drastically reducing energy usage in state facilities. The energy saving program calls for a reduction in site energy use in state buildings by 11 trillion BTUs by the end of 2025, the equivalent of removing nearly 500,000 cars off the road. As of the end of 2021, state entities have implemented or are actively developing energy projects with calculated energy savings of more than 5 trillion BTUs with the expectation that they will reduce more than an additional 1 trillion BTUs by the end of 2022.

 

BuildSmart2025 builds on the success of BuildSmartNY, which directed state agencies to reduce their source energy use intensity 20 percent by 2020. Including committed projects, the state exceeded that goal, recording a combined source energy use intensity reduction of 22.6 percent. NYPA financed more than $650 million in energy efficiency projects at state buildings under BuildSmartNY and the Power Authority currently has plans to invest more than $850 million in energy efficiency projects at state buildings over the next several years as part of BuildSmart2025.

 

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New York State's Nation-Leading Climate Plan

New York State's nation-leading climate agenda is the most aggressive climate and clean energy initiative in the nation, calling for an orderly and just transition to clean energy that creates jobs and continues fostering a green economy as New York State recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic. Enshrined into law through the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, New York is on a path to achieve its mandated goal of a zero-emission electricity sector by 2040, including 70 percent renewable energy generation by 2030, and to reach economy wide carbon neutrality. It builds on New York's unprecedented investments to ramp-up clean energy including over $33 billion in 102 large-scale renewable and transmission projects across the state, $6.8 billion to reduce buildings emissions, $1.8 billion to scale up solar, more than $1 billion for clean transportation initiatives, and over $1.6 billion in NY Green Bank commitments. Combined, these investments are supporting nearly 158,000 jobs in New York's clean energy sector in 2020, a 2,100 percent growth in the distributed solar sector since 2011 and a commitment to develop 9,000 megawatts of offshore wind by 2035. Under the Climate Act, New York will build on this progress and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 85 percent from 1990 levels by 2050, while ensuring that at least 35 percent with a goal of 40 percent of the benefits of clean energy investments are directed to disadvantaged communities, and advance progress towards the state's 2025 energy efficiency target of reducing on-site energy consumption by 185 trillion BTUs of end-use energy savings.

 

About NYPA

NYPA is the largest state public power organization in the nation, operating 16 generating facilities and more than 1,400 circuit-miles of transmission lines. More than 80 percent of the electricity NYPA produces is clean renewable hydropower. NYPA uses no tax money or state credit. It finances its operations through the sale of bonds and revenues earned in large part through sales of electricity. For more information visit www.nypa.gov and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr and LinkedIn.

 

About CUNY

The City University of New York is the nation’s largest urban public university, a transformative engine of social mobility that is a critical component of the lifeblood of New York City. Founded in 1847 as the nation’s first free public institution of higher education, CUNY today has seven community colleges, 11 senior colleges and seven graduate or professional institutions spread across New York City’s five boroughs, serving over 260,000 undergraduate and graduate students and awarding 55,000 degrees each year. CUNY’s mix of quality and affordability propels almost six times as many low-income students into the middle class and beyond as all the Ivy League colleges combined. More than 80 percent of the University’s graduates stay in New York, contributing to all aspects of the city’s economic, civic and cultural life and diversifying the city’s workforce in every sector. CUNY’s graduates and faculty have received many prestigious honors, including 13 Nobel Prizes and 26 MacArthur “Genius” Grants. The University’s historic mission continues to this day: provide a first-rate public education to all students, regardless of means or background.