On Wednesday, September 24th, I attended a forum on solar energy held in the Kimmel Center. The forum was hosted by NYLCVEF, or the New York League of Conservation Voters Education Fund. NYLCVEF is presenting a series of three such forums called ‘Powering the Future.’ They will all address different forms of alternative energy that could be utilized by New York in the near future. The two forums to come will be addressing wind power and nuclear power.
The forum opened with remarks and a quick presentation on the basics of solar energy. Then we were introduced to the panel. There were six panel members. Paul DeCotis is the deputy secretary for energy in the office of governor David Paterson. Jody Durst is the co-president of the Durst Organization, a real estate company that has been working on “building green.” The director of the air and energy program of the natural resources defense council, Ashok Gupta, was another panel member. Then there was the CEO of altPOWER (a renewable energy developing firm), Anthony Pereira, and Randolph Price, the vice president of environment, health, and safety of ConEdison, the electric service source in New York City as well as some areas nearby. Last but not least there was Gil Quiniones, the executive vice president of the New York Power Authority. The forum mostly consisted of the host, Matthew Sollars, who is a politics and government reporter for Crain’s New York Business, addressing the panel with questions that would address different aspects of solar energy.
All renewable energy is expensive, and solar energy is no exception. Creating the means to access solar energy are not cheap. Installing solar panels would be an investment, and it is not one the government can fund alone. Taxpayers would need to be willing to invest as well. Solar energy, like most renewable energy, is expensive now, but we must put the money into it to be able to reap the benefits. According t o Paul DeCotis, the government has considered its possibilities, such as incentive packages for those who are interested in using renewable energy but find the price to be a bit steep. Another option is regulation action, forcing the people of New York to cut down on the amount of electricity and energy we currently use. Mandates on utilizing a certain amount of renewable energy by a certain date is another suggestion. But there are issues with all of these options. Even incentive packages cannot cover the costs of installing solar panels, and many families simply can’t afford to invest so much money where they won’t see any benefits for some time. Regulation action is hard to enforce, especially when New Yorkers have not been living with any form of energy restraints thus far. Mandates on utilizing specific amounts of renewable energy are the most likely, when applied to an entire city. New York is currently hoping to add one thousand megawatts of solar energy into the New York power grid by 2015, but currently there are not enough funds to create the sources to provide solar energy. Other forms of alternative energy are more affordable and more practical with the funds we have. Many of our funds are currently being directed towards utilizing wind power, and that is part of the reason we have not invested as much in solar power. The money that was directed towards photovoltaic power ran out, as there was more interest than had been anticipated. The ideal situation for a city like New York would be to use as much of every kind of alternative energy as possible. The government is trying to encourage alternative energy, and they are hoping that using it will become trend, similar to the way organic food has become popular. The money is earmarked for where it can do the most good, and currently, solar energy doesn’t seem to be the most productive way to spend it. Attending a forum such as this one was a new experience for me. I have never attended a panel on the environment before, nor did I know very much about solar energy before I attended this event. I was aware that it was an effective form of renewable energy, but beyond that I didn’t have much information on it. The panel was a lot more interesting than I thought it would be, especially because it was not focused on just the environmental aspect of using solar energy, but also the way it could affect the city and how the government plays a very important role. It is easy to think that everyone should just be ‘green,’ and take advantage of things such as renewable energy, but it is not always as simple as that. The impression I got from most of the panel was that they would all like to make solar energy a part of our everyday lives; however, it will take more than just hoping for that to happen. The people in this city need to feel invested in this cause for them to invest more of their tax money to create the sources of solar energy. It was also interesting to view New York in comparison to New Jersey, or other more rural areas. Part of the reason that alternative energy is so difficult here is because the city is such a dense place. Installing solar panels on the roof of a building would barely provide enough energy for one or two apartments, let alone an entire building. Looking at renewable energy from several different angles made it a much more educational experience, because it reminds me that it is not simply about the environment, but also about what we can manage.
I did enjoy this event, and I feel pretty knowledgeable about solar energy now. I am interested in seeing what happens in the next couple of years in New York, and whether we can succeed in adding solar energy to the power grid here. I think it could be a great way to start making New York a little bit more green.
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