US Addiction to Coal Energy

The origins of coal energy date back to the Industrial Revolution, when manufacturing plants and industry transformed the United States into a land of efficiency. Machines replaced human labor, and the country changed the way it viewed energy. Americans became obsessed with finding efficient production methods that would drive business and create a better way of life. The discovery of coal use for power plants and electricity became a part of American culture without any immediate concern for the future. As time passed, communities, activists, and environmental groups started to identify the vast amount of destruction caused by these coal fired power plants and coal mining methods. The public community and environmental groups started to ask questions about this energy source and later made definitive conclusions about the negative consequences related to coal energy production. The coal and power industry did not give up without a fight, and we are currently in a tug of war situation between Big Coal and environmental organizations. The mining of coal energy comes at a huge cost; the lives of others, the damaging affect to our lands and plant and animal communities, and a hazardous affect on the climate change battle. Last year alone, coal energy produced about 36% of the total emissions in the United States.
The United States is a land that is plentiful of coal. Currently, coal fired power plants generate at least 50% of the power used for electricity. Recently, there have been a number of alternative solutions to generate energy without using coal fired power plants. The US government is pushing the use of renewable energy and is creating legislation that will curb the use of historically dirty power plants. Renewable Portfolio Standards are required now in a number of States, which will ensure that States continue to invest in renewable energy projects. However, these endeavors are still not as far reaching as environmental groups would hope. The International Energy Agency predicts that “about one-third of the new electric capacity built between 2005 and 2025 will be coal fired” (According to "Big Coal" by Goodell 205).

New Yorkers: What is in our drinking water?

According to the NYC DEP, possible contaminants include microbial contaminants, inorganic contaminants, pesticides, herbicides, organic chemical contaminants, and radioactive contaminants. However, both the NY State Department of Health and the EPA have created strict guidelines that limit the amount of contaminants in the water so the amounts are not harmful.
The NYC DEP created a watershed protection program in order to guarantee that both Catskill/Delaware and Croton water plants and systems are protected against possible contamination which includes water plant upgrades, quality control programs, stream management programs, higher standards for UV protection, and improvements with filtration. According to the DEP, the water is nearly all lead-free and water samples confirm this finding.
NYC DEP's Waterborne Disease Risk Assessment Program has found the common bacteria Giardia and Cryptosporidium in some water samples, but there is no evidence that these bacteria have caused any major illnesses for New Yorkers. The City of NY treats the water with chlorine, fluoride, food grade phosphoric acid, and at times sodium hydroxide in order to meet the Sanitary Code of the city. Some possible pollution points include: rain water contamination, surface and groundwater contamination, and household piping.
According to the DEP EPA, many contaminants, such as sediment, metals, oils, and bacteria, are carried by stormwater into sewers, and finally into drinking water supply reservoirs and systems. If the water isn’t going through a treatment plant, alternative methods of treatment are septic tanks, which are often used for homes and small business.

Transmission in New York and what improvements need to be made

In New York developers have built ongoing generation, but not enough transmission lines. With the increase of power coming from power plants and renewable energy sources, we have to address this issue. If new transmission lines are not built, this will likely result in additional congestion within the given system. Many transmission lines were built so long ago and are antiquated and the current transmission lines need more than just small scale upgrades. We need to build a new efficient transmission line that fits the needs of this State’s energy needs.
We need to create lines that can withstand higher capacity and energy levels. Although we have enough generation to meet our existing energy needs, we still need to focus on building new transmission lines, because the current grid will not be able to endure the energy flow.
Such construction of transmission lines needs to eventually happen – whether its now, five years from now, or ten years from now. We cannot exist indefinitely on our current system. The massive movement to build renewable energy wind farms in New York by Bloomberg and the State also requires a transformation of the current transmission lines.
Without a doubt, the capital costs of building these lines will be expensive, requiring an incredible amount of financing, and government subsidies. Eventually, such transmission lines may come at an even staggering cost if the costs are later passed onto the customers. It seems worthwhile to investigate a preemptive plan that would address building new transmission lines before it may become an even more expensive endeavor.
Currently, there are a number of different entities that are tackling the transmission issue in New York State. The NY ISO, the City of New York, the NY Transmission Owners, and the State have all put together transmission development plans. We need to find a way to harmonize all these plans so that New York can move forward with a cohesive plan of action with transmission. The State seems to be most able to lead in this case. We need the State office to take the lead on gathering together all of these transmission plans and creating one unified plan of action for the future. Since we only have 1 ISO, this shouldn’t be too difficult a task as other States may find.

Renewable Energy Portfolio Standards in New York

Currently, NYSERDA, a New York State funded entity, buys the renewable energy certificates from renewable energy power providers in the State. Retail energy suppliers buy renewable energy certificates from NYSERDA in order to add the regulated Renewable Portfolio Standards into their energy price offerings.
This system is vulnerable because the amount of money spent on these renewable energy projects can change every year if NYSERDA decides to restructure their budget and cut certain programs. I believe that third parties should be able to buy renewable energy certificates outside of States entities. The ESCO’s should be able to buy energy directly from renewable energy power providers. The process should not involve any State agencies.
New England third party suppliers buy their renewable portfolio requirements from renewable energy providers which guarantee that renewable energy projects will have a continued existence in the market and will not be susceptible to State rules or changes.

New Yorkers Consume relatively less energy in comparison to the average American

New York City is one of the most energy efficient cities in the country. For obvious reasons, the majority of New Yorkers commute to work using public transportation because they have very little use for cars. New Yorkers also live in very tight areas and in apartments that are smaller in size per square foot than in other cities across the country, which contributes to their low levels of electricity consumption. The city also has 11,000 traffic lights and ‘Don’t Walk” signs that use energy efficient “light emitting diodes” that use less energy than the standard lights.
The city government recently put together a project to install new energy appliances like refrigerators in several housing projects throughout the city. With the help of Bloomberg’s Plan NYC, and the NYC EDC, there are new initiatives in place mandating that the government can purchase only efficient cars, air-conditioners, and copy machines that have the highest energy efficient ratings. Most of the federal government buildings in NY, along with the Statue of Liberty, and Ellis Island are all powered by Wind Energy.

While New Yorkers do their part in energy conservation, there are still several environmental issues that New York City needs to work on. One of the biggest problems in the city is Air pollution. According to the 2009 annual report of the American Lung Association, New York City ranks 22nd of the 25 regions in the United States most affected by year-round particle pollution, and 17th of the 25 most ozone-polluted cities. Subsequently, the residents of Manhattan face the highest risk in the country of developing cancer from chemicals in the air. Bloomberg and the NY EDC are putting together a plan of action to address this issue, but the verdict is still out.