With the effects of climate change and global warming becoming increasingly apparent, Democratic lawmakers in the United States are developing coordination plans to overcome it.  One example of this is the Green New Deal announced by the governor of New York, in response to pressure from activist groups.

New York alone releases a total of 52 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, making it one of the most impactful cities in the entire country.  The Green New Deal calls for shifting financial and investment priorities from fossil fuels to renewable energy to reduce New York’s carbon footprint.

What Is The Deal Set To Achieve?

The Green New Deal is set to achieve a much bigger agenda than just counter the environmental crisis threatening the entire world. By substituting fossil fuels with renewable energy, the government plans to resolve unemployment and major political concerns in addition to global warming.

The plan is to power New York with renewable energy from wind, solar power and without any use of fossil fuels or nuclear power over coming decades. It intends to mobilize funds and communities to develop localized sources of renewable energy to decentralize the energy sector.

As they begin to implement the plan, the government hopes to reduce the amount of pollution by Green House Gases produced in New York State. It further hopes that the incentives provided to small-scale renewable energy producers; it will create employment and efficient methods of producing energy.

What Does This Imply For Energy Producers?

The cuts in tax burdens and access to capital sources will make it easier to invest in alternative energy production methods.  With these advantages, small energy producers have a unique business opportunity that’s never been seen in the United States. In light of this commitment, the governor of the state has approved $1.5 billion worth of financial awards to renewable energy producers.

It’ll help develop niches for solar energy by helping power/energy entrepreneurs with investments, infrastructure development and much more.

Steps Towards All Renewable Energy

To achieve the goal of 100% renewable energy production in New York, the following milestones have been set to mark the progress of the initiative:

1. Increasing wind energy production by at least 4 times to a total of 9000 Megawatts by 2035.
2. Increasing solar power production from 3000 Megawatts in 2023 to 6000 Megawatts in 2025.
3. Creating energy storage facilities to store a total of 3000 Megawatts of energy.
4. Creating $1.5 billion worth of projects to power 550,000 homes with renewable energy in New York.

Larsen Engineers is a municipal engineering firm that creates Green infrastructural solutions to create environmentally friendly Climate Smart Communities. The full range of services offered by the company includes developing sustainable design, environmental management and energy conservation solutions for the community. Get in touch with our offices in Rochester today for more information on our services or to work with us on your development projects.

Two years ago, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo set the goal that New York would generate half of its electricity from renewables by 2030. The mandate had a catchy tagline: “50 by 30.”

It was an ambitious announcement, one that had (and still has) the critics doubting the execution, especially after the state’s last goal to have 30 percent renewable energy by 2015 failed.

However, the climate smart communities in NY should not let their past experiences get in the way of shaping a greener, cleaner and energy independent future. Instead, they should learn from it, and resolutely work toward the “50 by 30” goal and do everything in their capacity to prove the doubters wrong. Many policy issues have been addresses and it is time to ACT.

If you haven’t already initiated plans for energy independence at your local municipality level, you can do so starting from this very year—2019!

The Challenge at Hand

Currently, the state of New York draws 45% of its electricity from non-renewable energy resources such as natural gas, oil and coal; 30% of its electricity from nuclear fuel, and 25% of its electricity from renewable energy resources.

That means, to achieve the “50 by 30” goal, the state must almost double its renewable energy production in the next 12 years. Quantitatively speaking, it must produce an additional 29,200 gigawatt-hours of renewable energy.

This is without a doubt a big challenge. However, with the increasing affordability of solar and wind power technologies improvements in processes, and thanks to funding programs organized by the state government, it can certainly be overcome.

More to It Than Meets the Eye

While transitioning to clean energy has obvious environmental benefit, it also has massive economic potential. This must be kept in consideration when evaluating the “complete” benefits of seeking energy independence at community level. Stanford researcher Mark Z Jacobson, and UC-Davis researcher Mark A. Delucchi, talks about the economic impact of shifting to renewable energy in great detail here.

So, are you willing to work toward the “50 by 30” goal?

Larsen Engineers can help you!

We’re energy engineering and infrastructure experts, specializing in the design and deployment of solar panel installation projects.

In 2018, our company set up six community solar projects (1 to 2 MW each) at different locations in the state of New York. We are trusted service providers and have over six decades of experience in the field.

Get in touch with us today to discuss your energy independence needs.

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo wants to make New York “the most progressive state in the nation in moving to renewables.” To accomplish that, he has vowed to bring 100-percent carbon-free electricity to the state by 2040.

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