This past Monday, the City Council of Beacon unanimously passed legislation to ban the use of fossil fuels and require that, starting in 2024, all new buildings and major renovations be entirely electric. Gossips learned the news from an email from Food & Water Watch. Beacon is the first city in the Hudson Valley to adopt such legislation, and the third in the state to do so, after Ithaca and New York City.
Given all the new residential buildings being proposed or contemplated for Hudson--the two buildings Galvan has proposed for the "Depot District," the three buildings proposed by the Kearney Group, and whatever new construction the Hudson Housing Authority eventually decides on-- it's curious that it hasn't occurred to anyone to push for a similar law in Hudson.
COPYRIGHT 2023 CAROLE OSTERINK
Question Carole --
ReplyDeletehow good is the grid and the whole electric system ? can all the added demand be supported with what we have now ?
also, why is electricity in New York State so expensive ?
https://www.chooseenergy.com/electricity-rates-by-state/
We are not as advanced as all the politicians assume when it comes to our infrastructure.
we are decades behind Europe and other countries, if the truth be known.
No harm in starting the debate now. After all, this is Hudson. A decision will take decades, and it will be decades more before anything happens.
ReplyDeleteUmmm. Isn’t most electricity in the US generated from fossil fuels? Sounds like feel-good legislation to me. Local governments should focus on their localities and leave larger policy to higher jurisdictions that can actually accomplish the policy goal.
ReplyDeleteI think the point is that electricity can be and increasingly is produced by renewable energy whereas natural gas used for heating and cooking is a fossil fuel and always will be.
DeleteYes. That’s a good point. But how does making construction more expensive advance that? It doesn’t. It’s the tail wagging the dog seems to me.
DeleteAnother "This makes me feel good about myself and shows my intellectual superiority to others" piece of legislation that does zero to address the real problems. I bet the homeless, single moms, drug addicts and unemployed feel great about this.
ReplyDeleteUpstate load is completely met with zero emissions generation by 2030. 70% of this electricity comes from renewable resources (43% from existing New York and Quebec hydroelectric generation, 27% from solar, land-based wind and other renewables) while the other 30% comes from zero emission resources that include nuclear generation.
ReplyDeleteMore on NYS:
https://tinyurl.com/m3m2n6n9
Let’s hope the government’s prognostication is correct. The track record is not good.
DeleteYes - Beacon, Ithica and NYC are doing the right thing. Choosing to use electricity at the design stage can save money at the beginning of the building use and for many years thereafter. New York State law will require the electrification of new buildings in the next few years. The upgrades to the grid will happen in response to demand.
ReplyDeleteThe costs of electric in NYS are extremely high, some of the highest in the nation. nothing in the state is done cheaply, even if it is renewable.
Deleteonce upon a time, 120 years ago, there was a light rail electric system running throughout columbia county powered by the Stuyvesant Falls.
maybe in 100 years we will have that back again. the hydro power is all here.
Ah, keeping the cost of living affordable... Can't wait to pay double to heat my home when the gas lines get shut down. I'll feel so good about myself paying some of the highest per kilowatt rates in the country, just for the privilege of the natural gas being burned at the power plant, rather than my furnace. Pay no mind to the energy loss in the transmission lines and transformers getting that additional electricity to my home. Let me know when the first nuclear fusion plant opens and I'll happily switch out for a heat pump and induction range. They can replace the gas fireplace at the Maker Hotel lounge with one of those YouTube fireplace videos.
ReplyDelete