River Valley Agency Hoping New Gov Will Aprove Power Deal

Now with a new governor of New York in office, officials at the St. Lawrence River Valley Redevelopment Agency are hoping that a contract that the previous governor refused to sign will be approved by the new Governor.

Just a month ago, on December 15, 2010 the former New York Governor David Paterson chose not to sign a contract which would grant the agency 20 megawatts of low-cost electricity from the New York Power Authority to use for economic development. Governor Paterson had said that, despite the fact that the contract had been approved by the trustees at NYPA in September, he believed the contract had too many legal problems and decided not to approve it.

This has not stopped the River Valley Redevelopment Agency from deciding on Tuesday to resubmit the contract for approval to the new Governor, Andrew M. Cuomo.
“We have a different audience to bring this to,” said Eric J. Gustafson, agency attorney.

Giant Batteries Connected to Grid in Upstate New York

In order to maintain a steady flow of energy in upstate New York as demand for electricity fluctuates over time, AES Energy Storage has installed lithium ion batteries the size of trucks at its Johnson City site in New York.

AES storage, a subsidiary of AES, a power generation company, explained that the first 8 megawatts is now on-line and available to add energy into the power grid to keep an even balance between the supply and demand of electricity in that part of the grid.

The giant batteries store energy which responds to grid operators who send a signal when demand exceeds supply so that the batteries can send a burst of energy for a few seconds to maintain an even flow of energy at all times.

Expectations are that the project will be completed within the year with a final energy capacity of 20 megawatts is expected.

Joseph Martens Nominated for Environmental Post in New York

The new governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, has chosen a new commissioner of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. The Governor received praise from environmental groups for his nomination of Joseph Martens who has been the president of the Open Space Institute since 1998. This non-profit organization works to obtain lands, mostly in the northeastern U.S., to be set aside for conservation or sustainable farming and development.

The nominee was also the deputy state secretary of energy and the environment in New York from 1992 until 1994, during the tenure of the new governor’s father, Mario Cuomo.

New Energy New York Promoting Technology Development

The mission of New Energy New York is to join together a number of technology organizations in the pursuit of initiatives which support new energy technologies; which promote New York State as a center of the development of those new technologies; and to expand the economic development which will place New York as a major player in the area of advanced energy technologies.

The companies which came together originally to found this consortium included the Energy and Environmental Technology Applications Center, Blasch Precision Ceramics, Center for Economic Growth, EYP Mission Critical Facilities, GE Global Research, MTI MicroFuel Cells, NYSERDA, Plug Power and SuperPower.

Incentives for Building Energy Efficient Homes from NYSERDA

The State of New York, through the NYSERDA (New York State Energy Research and Development Authority) offers several opportunities for low to moderate income families to become more energy efficient, saving money in the long run.

The ‘Assisted Home Performance with ENERGY STAR™’ is available to help households to reduce energy costs by taking a ‘whole-house’ approach to creating energy efficiency improvements. The goal of this program is to assist low to moderate income families make those energy improvements on the level of the entire home. The program will cover up to 50% of the cost of improvement, up to a maximum of $5,000. Two to four family buildings are eligible for up to $10,000 in assistance.

Another program offers families the chance to build from the ground up a New York ENERGY STAR labeled home. These homes are as much as 30% more energy efficient than conventionally built homes. Low to moderate income families can receive a $500 cash incentive depending on their income and other factors. Check here for more details.

Praise for New York Solar Thermal Incentive Program

According to the Solar Home and Business Journal, the New York Solar Energy Industries Association is pleased with New York State’s incentive program designed to promote the development of the solar thermal energy industry. The NYSEIA praised officials for establishing an incentive program worth $25 million over a five year period which will encourage residential and non-residential structures to have installed systems which will heat water using energy from the sun.

Residential solar thermal heating systems will be eligible to receive up to $4,000 upon installation. Non-residential installations can expect to receive up to $25,000 for replacing their electrically heated hot-water systems with thermal solar systems.

The executive director of the Solar Trade Association, Gail Markels, said that the new program “includes incentives needed to jump-start the solar thermal market. These incentives are an excellent first step in creating a robust solar thermal market and will help to continue to bring clean-energy jobs and economic development to the state.”

Ocean Breezes the Next Best Place for Power

A new report shows that the next direction for progress in the development of alternative forms of energy resources lies in offshore wind. According to the report there are now in the works about six gigawatts (GW) worth of offshore wind projects on the Atlantic coast. This amount of energy is the equivalent of five coal-burning power plants. That amount of energy can power approximately 1.5 million average homes in the United States.

Government analysts estimate that the Atlantic Ocean has a large amount of offshore wind potential. Shallow water wind resources, where today’s technology is most appropriate, is estimated to be about 212 GW of wind resources.

In New York alone, according to the report, about 37.4 GW of wind potential in available in shallow water, with about 15 GW of that as commercially viable after taking into account environmental and socioeconomic factors.

The report was co-sponsored by several environmental, sportsmen, labor, and business organizations including, Utility Workers Union of America, Environment America, National Audubon, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, Conservation Law Foundation, the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, and The National Wildlife Federation, which is America’s largest conservation organization inspiring Americans to protect wildlife for our children’s future.

School Power Naturally Teaches About Alternative Resources

Education is the main thrust of the School Power…Naturally program. Sponsored by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, this innovative program seeks to give teachers and students the materials to become more informed about solar and wind power solutions as alternative energy resources, especially for New Yorkers.

School Power…Naturally is a $2.1 million program is one component of the larger NYSERDA’s New York Energy $mart Schools Program. Fifty schools were chosen through a competition in 2003 to receive a data collection system for solar energy worth about $24,000. The school in turn contributed $1,500 to the cost. But every school in New York can be included in the School Power…Naturally program. All they need to do is use the educational materials and the data, which is available on the website to anyone who is interested.

Western New York Energy Supplier of Ethanol for Renewable Energy Use

Western New York Energy, LLC was founded in the year 2004. Its mandate and mission is to develop renewable energy sources in western New York State. The state of the art facility was completed in November 2007 at a cost of about $90 million, and production commenced immediately. With the start of production a milestone in the history of renewable energy production was reached, as Western New York Energy’s facility is the first in all of the northeastern United States to produce and distribute ethanol as an alternative energy source.
The facility processes about 20 million of bushels of corn each year into:

•    Fuel grade ethanol which is mixed with regular gasoline for use in western New York as well as other markets along the eastern sea board. About 55 million gallons are produced.

•    “Dairy Distillers Grain” is produced. This unique, low-fat distiller’s grain is sold to feed users like dairy farms throughout the western New York area. About 160,000 tons of this feed is produced.

•    About 1.5 million gallons of crude corn oil is also produced. This is then sold to processing plants to be made into biodiesel. It is also processed into 100,000 tons of carbon dioxide which is then added to beverages for carbonation and food processing and additional uses.

Biomimicry Leads to New Ideas

Biomimicry is when inventors, engineers or researches look towards nature and the natural world for inspiration in developing new technologies. The hope is that the careful examination of the processes and behavior in nature will help us to go from concept to commercialization in a better, faster and cheaper way. With this view in mind the NYSERDA has begun to promote this approach to R & D among the cadre of inventors working today in New York.

Just as the Wright Brothers studied the flight of birds intensely before embarking on their journey to develop human flight, so too today’s inventors are being encouraged to continue to look at nature for the clues in developing new technologies. NYSERDA’s goal is to help New York progress towards an “innovation economy” in which entrepreneurs can create innovative firms which will become an economic development force.