On Thursday, June 20th, the New York League of Conservation Voters Education Fund (NYLCVEF) and Energy Vision hosted an educational forum on organic waste and biogas. Two panels of experts discussed the benefits of using food waste and waste from sewage treatment plants to produce biogas, or renewable natural gas.

Biogas is naturally produced as organic waste decomposes. Organic waste refers mostly to food waste, animal waste, and yard scraps. When these materials break down in an environment without oxygen, they release potent greenhouse gases, mostly methane and carbon dioxide. The process of producing biogas is called anaerobic digestion. Currently, most of our food scraps end up in landfills where they release these gases and contribute to climate change. Wastewater treatment plants also produce these gases which are often burned or flared, which is a big waste of a potential resource.

Understanding what biogas is and what the challenges and opportunities are for New York City to tap into this unused resource was the focus of this forum. As both New York State and City expand their food waste recycling programs, the opportunities to produce biogas and use it to heat buildings and fuel vehicles are also increasing. 

Matt Tomich, President of Energy Vision, kicked off the forum by introducing the opportunities provided by both food waste and bio-waste. He stated that New York City generates over a million tons of food waste annually, and that wastewater treatment plants produce huge amounts of waste on a daily basis. Advancing technologies are providing ways to better manage our waste and put these valuable resources to good use.

The theme of the first panel was “Organic Waste to Fuel: What is Biogas? How Can it Be Used?” Panelists included Natural Resources Defense Council’s NYC Environmental Director, Eric Goldstein, Vice President of Quantum Biopower, Brian Paganini, Ameresco Senior Project Developer, Jim Bier, and Love's-Trillium’s, Charles E. Love Jr. 

Paganini and Bier both noted that this is a special time for biogas with opportunities to take advantage of the organic resources the city already has. As New York transitions to a carbon neutral economy, this is an ideal time to develop cleaner alternatives to diesel fuel for heavy duty vehicles that are difficult to electrify. Paganini pointed out that there are currently 249 existing biogas production systems in North America, but there is potential for around 8,000 systems. Biogas production would help reduce the amount of organic waste sent to landfills, which Paganini stated makes up around 18% of all solid waste in the city. 

Love stressed the value of educating local governments and the public on alternatives to diesel fuel for transportation. He mentioned the cap and trade program in California that incentivizes companies to use renewable fuel for transportation and recommended New York replicate this by using biogas. Goldstein agreed that biogas production has a lot of potential, but the process must be executed carefully so as to be sustainable. He raised a few concerns with biogas production, including ensuring the digestate, the material byproduct of anaerobic digestion, be used as fertilizer instead of being disposed in landfills. 

The theme of the second panel was “Challenges and Opportunities for New York.” Panelists included NYC Department of Environmental Protection’s Bureau of Wastewater Treatment Deputy Commissioner Pam Elardo, National Grid Director of Gas Utility of the Future Don Chahbazpour, City of Toronto Director of Solid Waste Management Services Carlyle Khan, and NY Lawmakers for the Public Interest Director of Organizing and Strategic Research Justin Wood. 

Khan spoke about the City of Toronto’s waste management system, which includes two food waste processing facilities. He also discussed ways that the city has expanded and incentivized its food waste collection programs.

Elardo discussed the life cycle of food, and how the loop can be closed when organic resources are used to generate energy that can be used in our homes. She mentioned the importance of improving our existing wastewater treatment infrastructure in addition to adding new capacity and technologies. Elardo informed attendees that if the wastewater treatment plants in New York City were upgraded, they could process all of the city’s food waste. NYLCV has been advocating for these upgrades.

Chahbazpour discussed some of National Grid’s efforts to provide clean energy. These include a green gas tariff, a program where customers can voluntarily pay a premium to decarbonize heat. He emphasized the need to reduce transportation emissions by considering alternative fuels, such as biogas. Wood discussed the commercial side of waste collection, as New York City is set to pass legislation to create a commercial waste zone system. This new practice could increase worker safety and reduce pollution. Paying for wastewater treatment upgrades and anaerobic digesters is expensive, but the panelists agree that financing these projects through public-private partnerships is a potential solution.  

Adriana Espinoza, NYLCV NYC Program Director asked the panelists how to get New Yorkers to change their behavior and separate their food waste for composting. Wood responded that getting New Yorkers to separate out their organic waste is a challenge because residents aren’t paying for what they throw away, whereas businesses do. The panelists were then asked about the neighborhoods where waste stations are sited and how they think we can best address issues of environmental justice. Elardo said that while living near treatment plants used to be disruptive (due to odor, truck traffic, etc), these facilities are now striving to be friendlier neighbors that provide green jobs. 

The forum ended with closing remarks from NYLCV President, Julie Tighe. Tighe connected New York’s landmark climate legislation to the timely discussion of biogas, since decarbonizing the transportation sector is required if we are to achieve carbon neutrality.

You can watch the first and second panels of the forum on our Facebook page. 

Thank you to our Gold Sponsors, National Grid and AECOM, our Silver Sponsor, Cummins and Westport, and our Bronze Sponsors, Quantum Biopower and Love’s-Trillium.

Thanks again to the NYU Marron Institute of Urban Management for hosting this event.

School buses are the largest form of mass transit in the United States, and they desperately need an upgrade. Emissions from diesel school buses are linked to asthma, chronic respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses, cancers, and even higher mortality rates. No one should have to breathe in dangerous pollutants while riding the bus, especially when cleaner, safer alternatives, such as all-electric school buses, are available.

We held a policy forum about the negative impacts of diesel school buses and pathways to transitioning to an electric school bus fleet. Read the background paper here. Read a recap of the forum here.

We were joined by a panel of experts and local activists:

Peggy Shepard, WE ACT for Environmental Justice
Matt Casale, US PIRG
Adam Armstrong, Resilient Red Hook
Tevin C.S. Grant, Esq., Electric School Bus Campaign
Kevin Cromar, NYU Marron Institute of Urban Management
Zachary Lerner, ALIGN NY

We are seeking sponsorships to support an exciting new potential program. With enough support, we will convene key stakeholders for a series of roundtable discussions in Westchester, the Capital Region, Long Island, Hudson Valley, and Buffalo/Niagara on overcoming the barriers to siting renewable energy in New York. View our sponsorship package here, and please share with others. Reach out to Angela at ahotaling@nylcv.org with questions.

Siting renewable energy projects in New York State is moving slower than in many other parts of the country. Outdated zoning laws and building codes, a long and arduous state-level siting process, and local opposition all contribute to the slow pace at which New York is transitioning to solar and wind energy. That's why we're working with partners on a new program to break down these barriers and advance clean energy.

This policy forum focused on the economic, social, and environmental benefits of green infrastructure (GI) as an approach to managing stormwater. We brought together expert speakers and panelists to provide an overview of green infrastructure vs. traditional gray approaches and how it can be used to protect and restore water quality in the Delaware River Watershed region. From innovative examples to barriers and opportunities, this policy forum helped to equip local landowners and municipal leaders with the information and tools needed to get involved and bring more GI to their communities. Read the background paper here.

Speakers/Panelists

• George Schuler, The Nature Conservancy
• Freda Eisenberg, Commissioner, Sullivan County Department of Planning 
• Paul Beyer, Director of Smart Growth, NY State Dept. of State
• Stephanie P. Dalke, Pinchot Institute for Conservation
• Bryan Quinn, Environmental Entrepreneur, founder and principal of One Nature
• Jeff Skelding, Executive Director of Friends of the Upper Delaware River
• Molly Oliver, Delaware County Department of Watershed Affairs
• Diana Weiner, Sullivan Renaissance

On April 27, 2018, together with our partners at Sustainable Westchester, we hosted a policy forum on electric vehicles. Bringing together state and local lawmakers, industry experts, community partners, and more, this policy forum looked at the current status of EVs and EV infrastructure in Westchester County. We discussed what local leaders can do to increase the use of EVs at the personal, municipal, and commercial levels. We also talked about what challenges we face in fleet adoption, and what policies or mechanisms we can leverage to increase EV use in the county.

View the full program here. 

Achieving Our Goals

As a follow-up from the policy forum, we've put together a list of policy recommendations for how we can achieve our goals of transitioning municipal fleets, coordinating a plan for infrastructure, and getting an EV in every garage. Released jointly with Sustainable Westchester, these recommendations lay out specific ways for how we can increase the use of EVs in Westchester and achieve our goals. Check them out here. 

Get Involved by Taking a Pledge Today

Help us achieve our goal of getting an EV in every garage by pledging to test drive an EV and see if it's right for your family and by pledging to tell your decision-makers to electrify your local fleet. Contact list for municipal elected officials can be found here.

Thank you to our generous supporter.

In September 2014, Mayor de Blasio announced an aggressive carbon reduction goal for New York City to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80% below 2005 levels by 2050. In order to address some of the key topics and major challenges to reaching these goals, NYLCVEF hosted a 4-part forum series this summer to address the 80x50 targets in the sectors of transportation, buildings, waste, and energy. Experts representing a variety of stakeholders debated and discussed the future of the city and the most effective way to achieve these goals, guided by questions from both the moderator and the audience.

The transportation forum focused on topics of equity, transportation availability, and infrastructure so that New Yorkers in all boroughs will have access to low-carbon transit. Buildings, as the largest contributor to greenhouse gas in the city, focused on the costs of improving energy efficiency particularly in existing buildings that have high retrofit costs. In the waste forum, panelists tackled the daunting question of how the city will completely eliminate waste sent to landfills and where waste will be sent instead. Finally, the energy forum looked at the challenge of transmission and connecting New York City with clean energy upstate.

The city officials, experts, advocated, and private sector leaders all added valuable insight into the feasibility of 80x50 and the best way forward. The conversations mimicked the type of cross-sector collaboration needed to craft the most effective policies, and NYLCVEF is hoping to make recommendations based on this dialogue that will shape the city’s path to achieving 80x50 with maximum stakeholder engagement. Learn more about any of these forums by clicking the links below.

Getting to 80x50: Transportation
How can we ensure sustainable mobility for all New Yorkers?
Download the Background Paper

Getting to 80x50: Buildings
Getting to Net Zero: What needs to be done to radically improve efficiency of heating and cooling systems in buildings, and how will it be funded?
Download the Background Paper

Getting to 80x50: Waste
Reimagining the waste stream: If we send Zero Waste to Landfills, where will it go instead?
Download the Background Paper

Getting to 80x50: Energy
The transmission challenge: How do we get enough clean energy to New York City?
Download the Background Paper

On February 1st, 2017, the NYLCV Education Fund hosted a forum on the topic of green infrastructure in the Capital Region. The forum featured two panel discussions of policymakers and green infrastructure experts from around the state, including representatives from the Capital District Regional Planning Commission, Cornell University's New York State Water Resources Institute, Albany Law School, Riverkeeper, The Nature Conservancy, City of Albany, New York State Environmental Facillities Corporation, and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

You can watch the forum on our Facebook page here and download our recommendations here.

The first panel discussion reviewed the role that green infrastructure has already played in Capital Region sustainable development, including the successes and challenges of specific projects. Representatives from local agencies discussed the impact of past green infrastructure efforts and explored the ongoing work across the state.

Panel 1 Moderator: Katherine Meierdiercks, Professor of Environmental Studies and Science, Siena College

Panelists:
Martin Daley, Environmental Planner / Project Manager, Capital District Regional Planning Commission
Brian Davis, Professor of Landscape Architecture, Cornell University Water Resources Institute
Joseph Coffey, Jr., P.E., Water Commissioner for the City of Albany
Keith Hirokawa, Associate Professor, Albany Law School

The second panel focused on the future of green infrastructure in the planning efforts and watershed management of the Capital Region. Conversations focused on the roles that local government agencies, nonprofits, and businesses can play in encouraging sustainable development and taking advantage of its benefits. Panelists discussed opportunities for green infrastructure investment and share their visions for the path forward for sustainable development.

Panel 2 Moderator: Ruth Leistensnider, Partner in the Energy and Environment Practice, Nixon Peabody
Panelists:
Maureen Krudner, Environmental Scientist, US EPA Region 2
Brian Hahn, Assistant Manager of the Green Policy, Planning, and Infrastructure Unit, NYS EFC
Dan Shapley, Water Quality Program Director, Riverkeeper
Stuart Gruskin, Chief Conservation and External Affairs Officer, The Nature Conservancy

The NYLCV Education Fund partnered with Dr. Katherine Meierdiercks, Professor of Environmental Studies and Sciences at Siena College, to issue a research paper on policy options for the Capital Region in advance of the forum.

Many Thanks to Roux Associates and Nixon Peabody for sponsoring this forum, and to Albany Law School for co-hosting this event. 

On Tuesday, October 11th, top environmental experts ranging from leaders in academia, policy, green infrastructure, and community-based organizations held a policy forum at the Buffalo History Museum, the focus of the discussion focused on green infrastructure in the Buffalo-Niagara Region.  The forum was held in a two-panel discussion, both with an equal mix of interests and expertise, and was preceded by a background paper, written by Smitha Gopalakrishnan, PhD scholar, Urban Planning Department at University of Buffalo.  The questions were geared towards developing a deeper understanding on what the role of green infrastructure will play in the sustainable economic growth, and improving the water quality in Western New York.

The Great Lakes Region, more specifically Erie County and the Buffalo-Niagara Region have been suffering from the impacts of stormwater overflows, taking a toll on several communities throughout area.  This panel aids in developing a deeper understanding of recognizing the strides made by the Buffalo-Niagara Region to date, but stresses the importance, and need for a further policy push to help incentivize the implementation of green infrastructure, which is something New York State has yet to adopt unlike the other Great Lakes areas impacted by similar issues.

The first panel, moderated by Lynda Schneekloth, Professor Emeritus at the University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning, included experts and professionals from: the Buffalo Sewer Authority, PUSH Buffalo, the Army Corps of Engineers, Wendel, and the University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning.  The panelists answered the series of questions in a discussion on their innovative green infrastructure work being done respective to their affiliation.  Further discussed was the importance of overall collaboration, and how the City of Buffalo serves as a continued leader in addressing the issues of improving their water quality and maximizing their economic growth.  To tie up the panel, the future of the projects were addressed by linking in the key challenges that are expected; the largest being the need for maintenance funding as well as civic engagement to bring the general public into the conversation, stressing the reasoning for the investment of public funds into green infrastructure projects.

The second panel, moderated by Carley Hill, Safety Director and Environmental Officer, Union Concrete and NYLCV Education Fund Board Member, included experts and professionals from: Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper, Go Bike Buffalo, the UB Regional Institute; as well as the Mayor of Williamsville, Brian Kulpa. The focus of this conversation shifted in the large scale picture of green infrastructure will look like, and play, in the future of watershed management and other regional planning efforts.  Specific projects were highlighted, such as the Niagara Street Gateway.  Panelists also stressed the importance of leadership from policymakers and continued public engagement - an overarching theme throughout the entire day - as one of the most significant steps towards enabling the region in maximizing benefits of One Region Forward.

The policy forum was informative for all members in the audience, as well as other panelists, towards understanding how to build a greener, healthier, and more sustainable Western New York.  It also laid the groundwork to continue the conversation in Albany, at the NYLCVEF’s next Policy Forum.

Our policy recommendations stemming from the discussion are available here.

The forum was hosted by the Buffalo History Museum, generously sponsored by Roux Associates and Union Concrete, and featured by WBFO Buffalo.

New York City has made ambitious commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050 and to build or preserve 200,000 units of affordable housing in ten years. Buildings account for roughly 70 percent of our emissions but affordable housing building owners and developers face a number of obstacles and policy challenges to making their buildings more sustainable.

In 2014-15, NYLCVEF conducted a civic engagement campaign in partnership with the Community League of the Heights (CLOTH), a local community development corporation (CDC) in Washington Heights. The campaign raised support for city funding to support the green preservation of affordable housing. In 2015, through continued conversation with CLOTH’s leadership and our other local partners, we identified a need for further education and engagement with various stakeholders on the issue. In partnership with Enterprise Community Partners and NYU’s Wagner School of Public Service, we decided to convene a forum on the many issues related to CLOTH’s important work and affordable housing through New York City.

On February 3rd, the New York League of Conservation Voters Education Fund, Enterprise Community Partners and NYU’s Wagner School of Public Service co-hosted a policy forum on the Green Preservation of New York City’s Multi-Family Affordable Housing with generous support from Crauderueff and Associates.

Co-sponsored by NYU and Enterprise, and with generous support from Crauderueff and Associates, NYLCVEF hosted a policy forum entitled “Green Preservation of Multi-Family Affordable Housing” on February 3rd. In conversation with moderators Esther Toporovsky of Enterprise Community Partners and David Hepinstall of the Association for Energy Affordability, panelists from city and state agencies, utilities, and housing developers discussed the myriad barriers and opportunities for advancing green preservation of privately owned, publically supported buildings in NYC.

Each panel featured discussion of the complex and interrelated issues that must be considered when implementing sustainability retrofits for multi-family affordable housing, including education, financing, resiliency, and stakeholder collaboration. Panelists then took questions from the audience of students, issue experts, financial sector professionals, and community leaders.

The audience, as well as members of our second panel that primarily featured advocates and affordable housing developers, delivered a resounding consensus on the need for a “one-stop shop” for technical assistance and other retrofitting programs. Agency representatives discussed recent developments with New York City’s Retrofit Accelerator, designed for just such a purpose – and we believe that effective implementation of the Accelerator’s programs remains a key piece of Mayor de Blasio’s plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050.