Since 2015, New York has had in place an energy plan aimed at building a clean, resilient and cost-effective energy system for the state. A key part of that plan is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% from 1990 levels by the year 2030. Another major goal is to have 50% of the state’s electricity produced from renewable sources by the same year.
In April, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced new energy efficiency standards that are aimed at helping the state achieve its climate goals. The new target would accelerate energy efficiency by more than 40% over current forecasts and reduce energy consumption in the state by 185 trillion BTUs.
Energy efficiency is the most economical way to reduce emissions. If we can use less energy, we produce fewer emissions regardless of how we generate the energy in the first place.
The new efficiency target calls for the state’s investor-owned utilities to achieve annual efficiency savings of 3% by 2025. New regulations will allow distributed energy storage projects of up to 5 megawatts to connect to the grid. Other new rules will improve the processes for interconnecting distributed generation projects to the grid.
Up to $15 million is being made available for projects that help advance and improve the resiliency of the grid. Time-based electricity rates are being implemented in various parts of the state, which provide incentives for customers to manage their energy usage. The state also committed over $36 million to train more than 19,500 New Yorkers for clean energy jobs.
New York is undertaking multiple efforts aimed at meeting and possibly exceeding its aggressive energy goals.
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Cuomo Pledges to Set Energy Efficiency Target for New York
Photo, posted September 6, 2009, courtesy of Joni Morris via Flickr.
‘New NY Energy Goals’ from Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
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