200 Organizations Push Hochul to Electrify New Buildings in Executive Budget Proposal – Kate Lisa – Spectrum News – More than 200 “organizations are pressuring Gov. Kathy Hochul to require new buildings in the state be built to use electricity for heat, rather than fossil fuels like gas or oil, in her executive budget proposal to be released next month. Hochul and lawmakers nearly reached an agreement this year to pass the All-Electric Buildings Act, which would change the state Building Code and require construction of new buildings to be all-electric starting in 2024 for buildings under seven stories and by 2027 for larger projects.” Full Spectrum report here including the text of the letter, the full list of signing organizations and Spectrum’s 2-minute video clip on the initiative, featuring NY-GEO members Joanne and Paul Coons talking about their healthy and clean, all-electric, solar-powered house, for which they pay only their utility service charge of $17.83 most months. This covers heating, cooling, lighting, transportation, barbecue, mower, tools, and a snowblower. Click here to Add your organization as a signatory to the letter.

Paul Coons showing his geothermal heating & cooling system

NYCHA Installing Geothermal Hot Water in Bronx Apartments – The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) is the largest public housing authority in North America, managing 180,000 apartment units.  Located in the heart of the Bronx are NYCHA’s Jackson and Eastchester Homes, with a total of 1745 apartments in 17 high rise buildings.  NYCHA has been committed to renewable energy and updating their facilities to increase the quality of life for all their tenants.  Buffalo Geothermal, Adam’s European Contracting and CSA Group are currently drilling and installing high-temperature geothermal domestic hot water (DHW) systems at the apartments to reduce their site emissions by up to 40%, and to decouple the hot water from the onsite gas fired steam system.  Different drill rigs are used for either more open or for tighter areas around the buildings. This initiative is being taken as the first step towards a zero-carbon footprint.  3.5-minute video here.

100 Foot Gas Expansion Subsidy Cost Ratepayers ~$1Billion from 2017 to 2021 – New gas customers currently receive free installation of pipes and other infrastructure from their utility under an obsolete policy – dubbed “the 100 foot rule” – designed to encourage the use of gas for heating in New York State. The subsidy for this infrastructure is paid for by all the utility’s ratepayers through their monthly bills. In August, NY’s nine gas utilities were required to file a report on the cost of this subsidy with the Public Service Commission. RMI has summarized the data from this report in the form of a fact sheet which notes this program cost ratepayers approximately $1 Billion from 2017 to 2021, and hooked in 170,000 new gas customers to this mode of heating, which must be substantially reduced in order for New York to meet its climate goals. Fact sheet here.