The Empire Page

Background: Alternative energy is one of the buzz words of our time.  In some people's minds it's just that -- a buzz word based more on hype than reality.  To find out how real alternative energy is to New York's future, we interviewed Carol Murphy, executive director of the Alliance for Clean Energy New York.

Q:  When was ACE NY formed and what is its mission?

A:  The Alliance for Clean Energy New York (ACE NY) is a non-profit organization founded in 2006, whose mission is to promote the use of clean, renewable electricity technologies and energy efficiency in New York State in order to increase energy diversity and security, boost economic development, improve public health, and reduce air pollution.  Members of the Alliance for Clean Energy New York(ACE NY) include private companies that produce or sell renewable energy technologies or energy efficiency services in New York and non-profit environmental, public health and consumer advocacy organizations, and educational institutions.

Q: How does ACENY feel about the Legislature's proposal to create a new board to formulate an energy policy for NYS?  Don't we already have enough oversite with the Public Service Commission?

A: ACE NY strongly supports the statutory reauthorization of a State Energy Planning Board to coordinate and oversee New York's overall energy policy. Governor Paterson's Executive Order 2 convened a Planning Board because the statute for the State Energy Planning Board sunset at the end of 2002, along with the state's Electric Generating Siting Board, which provided one-stop permitting and approval of power generating plants over 80 MW.

Q: The small business community in New York ranks energy costs among their greatest concerns.  High energy costs put New York at a competitive disadvantage in attracting and retaining manufacturing and other businesses.  How does the green energy platform advocated by ACE NY addresss this issue particularly in the short run when New York is in danger of losing thousands of additional jobs?

A: Green energy can actually decrease energy costs to all customers, including small businesses in several ways. Overall, by having renewable energy like hydro and wind farms supply power to New York's competitive wholesale power markets, they displace more expensive and polluting fossil fuel plants. Recent legislative testimony filed by the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) which operates the transmission grid and administers the electricity markets, stated that for every 1,000 megawatts of wind energy on the system, consumers save $300 million in wholesale energy costs. 

Individual customers can benefit directly from renewable resources by installing wind or solar panels at their home, business, school, municipal building or non-profit organization. In 2008, ACE NY members and our environmental allies successfully lobbied for a change in the net metering law. In addition to the existing law allowing residential customers to benefit from this green energy investment, now all customer classes can install wind or solar up to 2 megawatts and "net meter" or spin the meter backwards on their electricity bill when they produce more power than they need. Rebates that are available from New York State and now additional federal tax credits for small wind and solar make this a real energy savings for customers while helping  to strengthen the local utility power grid.

Q: One of the more controversial areas of the alternative energy discussion is wind energy.  Questions have been raised about whether wind energy is appropriate for NYS. In particular some people question whether conditions are conducive to producing a sufficient amount of reliable energy to justify the cost?  Other people question the environmental impact of placing wind turbines in New York -- both from a scenic viewpoint and also the potential impact on wild life.

A: The question that really should be asked, is continued reliance on polluting fossil fuels and nuclear reactors appropriate for New York State? Wind and other sources of renewable energy offer real benefits to public health and the environment versus the alternatives of fossil and nuclear fuel resources which produce harmful air pollutants, mercury contamination, greenhouse gasses and long-lived radioactive waste products. 

In terms of resources, New York is the 15th windiest state in the US and wind projects that are in the interconnection queue could meet about 20 % of our energy needs. Wind energy is now in a range that is competitive with new coal and gas facilities and it is cheaper than nuclear plants in the near term.