Author: Shachar Sharon

On January 14, 2021, together with Columbia University’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, we held the fourth virtual forum in our series on Implementing the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. This roundtable focused on how protecting and managing New York’s Natural Resources can help us achieve the goal of net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions statewide by the year 2050. The forum was divided into two panels, one focusing on the state’s forests and the other on the agricultural sector. 

A recording of the forum is available here.

NYLCVEF President Julie Tighe kicked off the event, remarking on the state’s long history of protecting natural lands, dating back to the creation of Adirondack State Park. She also mentioned the importance of trees, which act as carbon sinks and help combat the “urban heat island” effect.

The first panel was moderated by Dr. Shahid Naeem, Chair of the Department of Biology at Columbia University. He mentioned the effect that forests have on the prevalence of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, presenting a graph which illustrated how carbon dioxide levels rise in the winter and fall in the summer due to the increase in photosynthesis during that time. Carbon dioxide can accumulate in the atmosphere, the ocean, or the biosphere, but the latter is the only favorable carbon sink, said Dr. Naeem. He also emphasized the need to think of solutions which work on a global scale, but implement them on a local scale. According to Dr. Naeem, managing nature to mitigate and adapt to climate change is a multidimensional endeavor, involving social engagement, conservation-driven management, and use-driven management.

Sam Bishop’s work emphasizes social engagement. A board certified Master Arborist, Bishop serves as the Director of Urban Forestry and Education at Trees New York, a nonprofit whose mission is to plant, preserve, and protect New York City’s urban forests through education, active citizen participation, and advocacy. During the forum, he emphasized the use of trees to combat urban heat islands, areas where temperatures are higher than adjacent land due to land-use changes, including the use of heat-absorbing materials. Because of the shade they provide and a process called evapotranspiration which absorbs heat from the environment to evaporate water, trees are an important tool in fighting these hot patches. Bishop also mentioned the important role urban forests and street trees play in addressing environmental justice issues. During the Q&A portion of the forum, he said that upstate and urban forests are connected, with diseases and invasive species passing between them.

Jessica Ottney is the New York Policy Director at The Nature Conservancy. During the forum, she mentioned that most of New York’s forested land area is privately owned, with families accounting for 57% and corporations for another 14%. She then talked about the environmental benefits of these natural areas, which currently sequester a net of 26 million metric tons (MMT) of carbon dioxide annually. The goal is to increase that to 30 MMT by 2030 and 60 MMT across all land types by 2050. This can be achieved through work on a number of fronts, according to Ottney. We should continue to protect currently forested land, which is being done through research to map past, current, and potential future forest loss. Additionally, we can manage our forests more efficiently by having foresters help private landowners steward their forests in a way that maximizes the carbon they sequester. It is also important to address areas where regeneration status is threatened by deer, invasive species, and development. Ottley also stressed the need to protect environmental funding during this especially challenging budget year. During the Q&A portion of the forum, Ottley brought up the fact that the various threats facing forests often exacerbate each other, citing how invasive species make it harder for forests to adjust to climate change. She also mentioned that there is a lot that local governments, planning boards, and town halls can do to protect forested areas.

John Bartow is the Executive Director of the Empire State Forest Products Association. During the forum, he talked about the role of the forests and wood products sector of New York in climate change solutions. Bartow mentioned that New York’s extensive and relatively stable forests provide economic, social, and ecological value. In addition to the $22.9 billion and nearly 100,000 jobs they provide to the economy, forests are the only existing large-scale mechanism for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Bartow also included the fact that despite a rise in the per-acre carbon sequestration rate, the annual state sequestration rate is declining due to forest conversion. This underscores the need to protect our state’s forests. According to Bartow, the increase in demand for harvested wood products is a positive development, because it encourages people to increase the area and productivity of forests. He stressed the importance of recognizing the role markets play in landowner decision making. During the Q&A section, Bartow talked about the huge impact of invasive species and emergent diseases on our forests, bringing up chestnut blight and mentioning that oak wilt has gotten people very nervous. With regards to a question on deforestation to clear space for renewable energy, he acknowledged that people want to be a part of the solution instead of simply saying to stay off their farms and forests.

The second panel was moderated by Elizabeth Wolters, Deputy Director of Policy at the New York Farm Bureau. She brought up that farmers are on the frontline of climate change, as they bear the brunt of storms and are affected by everyday weather changes. She stressed that agriculture has a large impact on the climate, not only through its methane and nitrous oxide emissions but also because it is one of the only industries which can sequester carbon. During the Q&A section, she said that farmer to farmer conversation is the best way to spread sustainable farming practices.

Jenifer Wightman is a research specialist at the Cornell College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. During the forum, she said that although agriculture accounts for only four percent of the state’s carbon dioxide emissions, there is still a need to focus on the sector’s methane and nitrous oxide emissions as well as the carbon dioxide that is released. According to Wightman, the agriculture sector can reduce emissions through sequestering carbon, destroying methane, increasing efficiency, displacing fossil fuels, and conserving energy and natural resources. She stressed the importance of cost in these practices, which is between $0 and $50 per ton of carbon dioxide mitigated. Finally, Wightman brought up the use of agrivoltaics, to allow farmland to be used for both renewables and agriculture.

Samantha Levy is the New York Policy Manager for the American Farmland Trust. During the forum, she reiterated Wolters’ point that farmers are on the frontline of climate change. She also mentioned that we need to produce 50% more food to accommodate population growth, while also cutting emissions as quickly as possible. Agriculture can help us get to net zero emissions, and that can be achieved through doubling annual carbon sequestration and reducing annual agriculture greenhouse gas emissions 30% by 2050. Soils store 2 to 3 times more carbon than the atmosphere and 2 to 5 times more than plants. Therefore, Levy says, how we manage them matters. She mentioned that through using cover crops and no-till or reduced-tillage practices, we could potentially sequester an additional more than 850,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year. Levy also stressed the importance of protecting farmland; New York lost 250,000 acres of farmland between 2001 and 2016 and only 76,000 acres are permanently protected statewide. Levy also mentioned that our farmers are aging and that we need to bring a younger generation into the land.

John Macauley is a farmer at his family farm, Macaluey Farms of Livingston County. After tilling and unknowingly damaging their soil for 72 years, his family farm started experimental no-till in 2009. In 2014, they made the decision to go 100% no till. Now, the farm also employs cover crops, which warm the soil in the spring, help sequester carbon, protect cash crops from slugs, protect the soil from extreme rain, and give a nice layer of mulch for the next year’s crop. The result of these practices has been a $25,000 increase in revenue and 135% return on investment. During the Q&A section of the forum, Macauley mentioned that his family’s farm started to change their practices through a no-till program with the Natural Resources Conservation Service, and then moved on to doing a cover-crop program with them.

Matt Tomich is the President of Energy Vision. During the forum, he emphasized that although methane accounts for only around 10% of GHG emissions in the state, it is responsible for 29% of the impact. He then went on to describe anaerobic digestion, a process through which organic wastes decompose in an oxygen-free environment and release biogas. According to Tomich, the vast majority of food waste ends up in landfills, where it emits large amounts of biogas and methane. Biogas has historically been used to produce electricity and heat, said Tomich. However, biogas, which is 50% to 65% methane, can be upgraded to renewable natural gas (RNG), which is 95+% methane. Tomich says that RNG can readily replace fossil fuels in numerous applications, and that the NY MTA began fueling more than 700 of its buses with RNG starting last fall. Finally, he emphasized that RNG made from dairy manure is significantly carbon negative.

Chris Noble is the Vice President of Noblehurst Farms. Noblehurst Farms practices converting manure into biogas which powers the rest of the campus. Noble explained that this is achieved by taking organic material and putting it in a vessel that can quickly turn it into biogas. He also noted that this system is replicable, and mentioned that it is most efficient to harvest methane on a larger-scale system. We must also divert organic material from landfills for either compost or digestor operations, says Noble. There is beneficial reuse for this material in energy production and returning nutrients back into land where they belong.

Thank you to our sponsor, ConEdison, for helping to make this forum possible.

We recently held the second virtual forum in our series on implementing the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act together with Columbia University’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. This roundtable focused on reducing emissions from the buildings sector, both in and outside of New York City. Buildings account for 30% of statewide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and a staggering 70% of such emissions in New York City. The forum featured several expert speakers from the building and climate sectors: Zineb Bouzoubaa, Sarah Burger, Sophie Cardona, Marvin Church, John Ciovacco, Dan Egan, Donovan Gordon, Stephanie Margolis, Bill Norwak, Amy Turner, and Jason Vollen.

To view the recording of the forum, please click here.

The first part of the forum focused on New York City.

Amy Turner is a Senior Fellow at Columbia’s Sabin Center and the co-founder of the NYC Climate Action Alliance. During the forum, she talked about Local Law 97 (LL97), a carbon emissions bill passed into law in 2019 which places a declining GHG emissions cap on the city’s largest buildings beginning in 2024. Failure to meet the cap results in a fine of $268 per ton of carbon above the cap. The cap does not apply to rent-stabilized buildings. Turner also mentioned that only a handful of other cities across the country have comparable legislation.

Zineb Bouzoubaa works in the NYC Mayor’s Office of Sustainability. She mentioned that the city recognizes that the emissions cap is ambitious, and would look to incentivize more buildings to comply through studying alternative lower-cost compliance pathways. She also mentioned that the city is developing strategies which drive investment in environmental justice communities. Bouzoubaa also mentioned the use of carbon trading to provide an additional source of revenue for buildings because of the ability to trade credits.

Dan Egan is the Senior Vice President of Energy & Sustainability at Vornado Realty Trust. He published Vornado’s Vision 2030, the company’s commitment to carbon neutrality. During the forum, he mentioned that although LL97 only starts implementing penalties in 2024, building owners should start reducing their emissions now to minimize their exposure to the law in the future. Egan also clarified that the all energy consumed in a building, whether by the owner or the tenants, counts towards the energy cap, and that owners must work with tenants to ensure efficiency. Additionally, he mentioned that the most promising measures that owners can implement today include lighting retrofits, motor replacements, the installation of variable frequency drives, automation programs, damper replacements, and glazing. Egan also stressed the importance of submetering and sharing data with tenants. He also brought up the fact that even though people are working from home in light of the pandemic, energy consumption has not gone down proportionally because of IT needs.

Sophie Cardona is the Senior Project Manager at the New York State Energy Research & Development Authority (NYSERDA). Her work involves helping owners and tenants recognize opportunities to reduce emissions. During the forum, she spoke to the series of activities that can support the decision making process with respect to energy efficiency and management. These are available through NYSERDA, including expert advice and analytical models to calculate energy and cost savings. Specifically, she talked about FlexTech, a cost shared energy studies program which will provide 50-100% of the funding for an energy study. There is also a similar commercial tenant program, as well as a Green Jobs – Green New York program for small businesses. Cardona also said that COVID is impacting energy consumption in buildings because of the need for increased air filtration. According to Cardona, research is still ongoing, but possibilities include ventilation, filtration, and UVGI technologies.

Jason Vollen is the Director of Architecture at AECOM. He mentioned that there are other resources available to aid building owners in compliance, including PACE financing and energy savings performance contracting. He mentioned the need to challenge the demarcations between owner and tenant, and that looking broadly at entire systems will allow for larger improvements. Vollen emphasized the need for research dollars in the buildings sector. The city should consider utilizing geography to the city’s advantage as well as being competitive about how to reduce energy costs, according to Vollen.

The second part of the forum focused on the rest of the state, and was moderated by Bill Nowak, Executive Director at and Founding Member of NY-GEO.

Donovan Gordon, the Director of Clean Heating & Cooling at NYSERDA, brought up the CLCPA codified goals put in place years ago by the governor, including reducing carbon emissions to 40% below 1990 levels by 2030 and 85% below by 2050, as well as 0 carbon electricity by 2040. Also mentioned were the NY State Clean Heat Incentives program and the NYSERDA clean heat market development plan. Gordon stated that a third of carbon emissions in the state come from building HVAC systems, and that we need to transition from fossil-fuel based systems to heating pumps. We can increase the use of heat pumps through education and economic incentives, he says. Other than paying upfront, financing options include home improvement and/or equity loans, PACE financing, the NYSERDA program, third party ownership, and heat pump incentives from utilities. Gordon also stated that the transition to clean energy results in a fundamental change in the state economy from fossil fuels to clean energy.

Sarah Burger is the Sustainability Planning Manager at PUSH Buffalo. The priorities at PUSH are to make residents comfortable with the idea of installing a heat pump, as well as making sure that the resident’s bill doesn’t increase. Burger mentioned that there’s a large amount of older buildings in Buffalo, and that means that some need to have updated electrical service or insulation to be heat-pump ready. PUSH educates homeowners about insulation and makes sure to monitor utility costs. PUSH follows a one-stop shop model, building trust by talking directly with homeowners before getting them signed up for an energy audit. They then guide the homeowner towards the NYSERDA funding programs and work with homeowners through repairs. Burger stressed the importance of reducing the paperwork burden on homeowners, and said that municipalities need to make it clear that code enforcement is not going to punish people working to improve their houses. Burger also mentioned the need for financing for repairs to prepare houses for heat pumps, and suggested tying renewable energy such as community solar programs into the offerings.

Marvin Church is the Vice-President and a Founding Member of Comrie Enterprises. He is also a Westchester Chapter board member for NYLCV. He mentioned that although wealthy for the most part, Westchester does have poor residents, and a big issue is that there are lots of new buildings with unattainable rents. People are fleeing which is causing rents to fall, but this also gives an opportunity to create a comprehensive energy plan. According to Church, COVID has raised new challenges, including financial troubles and a degree of complacency. People have other issues to deal with during the pandemic, and many are unfamiliar with the heating and cooling system industry, so they will wait until the last possible moment to comply with the code. People will generally wait to see how heat pumps work for other people before trying it for themselves. There is also a trust challenge, as people are unwilling to get work done by individuals they do not know or trust. Because of this, large scale education is needed, says Church.

John Ciovacco is the President of Aztech Geothermal and a Board Member of NY-GEO. According to Ciovacco, resources must be allocated between weatherization and heat pumps. He says taking combustion out of buildings is most important through heat pumps, emphasizing the effectiveness of ground source heat pumps, which will take out 80% of on-site energy. However, there are challenges to the widespread adoption of heat pumps. For example, water based pumps struggle above 120-130 degrees fahrenheit. Where heat pumps will not work, Ciovacco suggests air-sealing the building. He also stressed that the building sector has to electrify through stepwise signals in the marketplace. Ciovacco liked the idea of replacing leak-prone pipes with geothermal systems, to incentive utilities to get them to cover the cost. He also mentioned that NYSERDA has put a map together to help identify low to moderate income areas.

Thank you to our sponsors, AECOM and ConEdison, for helping to make this event possible.

We recently held a ninety minute informational session on the South Fork Wind project in partnership with Citizens Campaign for the Environment, Group for the East End, Renewable Energy Long Island, and Win With Wind. The South Fork Wind Farm, powered by Orsted and Eversource, will be the first offshore wind farm in New York State, and is expected to become operational in December 2023. The event featured remarks from East Hampton Town Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc, a presentation by the South Fork Wind project team, and a question and answer session hosted by Joe Martens, Director of the New York Offshore Wind Alliance.

Click here to watch a recording of the event.

NYLCVEF President Julie Tighe kicked off the forum, mentioning that renewable energy projects like this represent one of the most important steps we can take to reduce the effects of climate change. She reiterated that New York’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act legally commits us to the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. Tighe also stated that the project will produce enough energy to power over 70,000 homes, and result in more than $29 million in investments to the local community.

Following, Peter Van Scoyoc delivered his comments on the project. He said that the South Fork Wind Farm is a necessary part of reaching the town’s 100% renewable energy goal. He also mentioned East Hampton’s Climate Smart Communities Bronze Certificate as part of its commitment to sustainability. Bringing up the harmful algal blooms caused by nitrogen pollution and the risk posed to the south fork of Long Island by rising sea levels and increased storms, Scoyoc emphasized the harmful effects of climate change. Finally, Scoyoc talked about the 1.1 megawatt solar farm project the town has already completed, which offsets 50% of municipal energy use in town government buildings.

Jennifer Garvey, Long Island Development Manager for Orsted, provided an overview of the South Fork Wind Farm. The farm will consist of up to 15 turbines located 35 miles East of Montauk Point. She also mentioned that the Wind Farm will deliver 132 megawatts of output to the Long Island Power Authority’s East Hampton substation. The power will be transmitted through a single 138 kilovolt line. Garvey also stressed that the project was very receptive to community concern, as they are adhering to nearly 200 negotiations when building the farm. She then outlined the three components of the farm in East Hampton, the first of which is a sea-to-shore transition. The sea-to-shore transition consists of a 2,500 foot horizontal directional drill (HDD), which begins in the road 500 feet landward of the dunes, and ends 1,750 feet offshore of the beach. The second component is an underground transmission line, which includes about 2 miles of cable under town-owned roads, and another approximately 2 miles of underground cable near the LIRR corridor. Finally, there will be an expansion of the substation. 

Following Garvey’s presentation was a question and answer segment moderated by Joe Martens, featuring experts Ken Bowes, Vice President of Offshore Wind Siting & Permitting at Orsted, and Dr. William Bailey, Principal Scientist at Exponent. Ken Bowes started by fielding a question about what the sea to shore transition process entails. He mentioned that it consisted of drilling a 2,500 foot path for the cable and a conduit. The cable will extend 2,500 feet into the sea. To protect against future exposure due to erosion, the cable will be placed a minimum of 30 feet under the beach and will return to its regular depth when it is 550 feet inland. The use of the HDD method (illustrated in figure 1 below) as opposed to an open cut excavation method will also help protect against erosion.

Bowes went on to explain that throughout the project, beach and road access will be maintained for both vehicles and people. Drilling is expected to commence on November 1st, and will operate every day except Sunday from 7 AM to 7 PM. To deal with the noise pollution, the project will alleviate lots of high frequency noises as well as some of the lower frequency ones. Equipment will also be positioned strategically to minimize its noise pollution. There will also be real-time monitoring of noise levels, to modify noise if levels get too high.

Bowes also mentioned the construction of large underground concrete structures called vaults on Beach Lane, where the transition from a submarine cable to three separate cables takes place. The only visible difference post-construction will be the addition of two manhole covers. Vaults will be accessed for inspection after one year, before taking on a five year inspection cycle. There will be additional digging for 10 concrete-encased underground duct banks. Six of these will be located on publicly-owned roads, while the remaining four will be dug along the LIRR corridor. The work window on public roads will be from October 1st to April 30th, and it is expected to take 120 days to complete the work. The work pace will be 100 feet per day, resulting in 7-9 days of impact for a resident with 300 ft of frontage.

To expand the substation, a two acre parcel of land adjacent to the substation with low quality vegetation will be cleared. At the request of the community, the expanded structure will be only 45 feet tall and feature a permanent wall around it. There will be no residual noise while the project is running, Bowes says. Oversight for the project is expected to be provided from the contractors, South Fork Wind, the town, the state, and federal inspectors, to ensure everyone’s safety. Bowes pledged that if anything unsafe is observed, the job would be halted to fix it. 

Dr. William Bailey, one of the world’s foremost experts on electromagnetic radiation and fields, fielded questions about the possible health and environmental effects of the project. When asked whether the EMF from the project could harm people, pets, or marine life, Dr. Bailey explained that exposure assessment was carried out as part of the project. He said that because of the cables’ depth and structure, the EMF radiation levels are 10-50 times below international guidelines even when standing directly above them. In fact, the magnetic fields we experience in our homes from electrical appliances can be hundreds of times higher than any exposure from the project. He said that all electricity is capable of producing electric and magnetic fields, but that the cables’ metallic casing completely blocks out the electric fields, and that the magnetic fields partially cancel out each other. He also mentioned that South Fork Wind is complying with not only the state standards set in 1978 and 1992, but also with the health-based limits set by the World Health Organization.

To view the presentation slides, please click here.