As New York power producers prepare to bid this month for credits against carbon dioxide emissions, the state has assigned a think tank the task of developing a roadmap for renewable energy in the Empire State.
Last month, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) tapped the White Plains-based Pace Energy and Climate Center to develop a guide for the state”™s policy on renewable fuels ”“ and to do it by this September.
The Pace Energy and Climate Center is housed within Pace University”™s law school campus in White Plains, and has been run for the past year by James Van Nostrand, an environmental attorney with experience in Federal Energy Regulatory Commission cases.
Van Nostrand said he sees the roadmap as a way for New York to use its agricultural and industrial capacity as both a challenge and an opportunity ”“to move away from reliance on fossil fuels and to furnish biofuels for sale throughout the Northeast.
Biofuels are derived made from various plants either cultivated for the purpose, or from agricultural byproducts.
On March 26, the center is scheduled to hold a colloquium on biofuels policy in New York state, followed by a workshop to work on the roadmap project. That follows a Feb. 18 workshop at Cornell Cooperative Extension Orange County in Middletown.
The roadmap was one of several recommendations issued last year by Gov. David Paterson”™s Renewable Energy Task Force. Researchers hope to identify renewable fuels, delivery mechanisms and applications that would best cut the state”™s consumption of imported fossil fuels and reduce greenhouse gases. The Pace project is co-sponsored by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets.
New York is a participant in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), along with the six New England states, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland. The initiative is being hailed as the first market-based, mandatory cap-and-trade program in the United States to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
On March 18, NYSERDA is scheduled to participate in an RGGI auction of carbon dioxide “allowances,” under which energy companies can purchase credits to offset their emissions over the next three years. By purchasing an allowance, a power plant is cleared to emit up to one ton of carbon dioxide emissions; in the most recent auction held in December, bids averaged $3 for each allowance, and the largest bidder purchased nearly 8 million such credits.
Two auctions have been held to date raising $145 million. Bidders have included both energy companies like Consolidated Edison and Dominion, as well as organizations that resell such credits, such as Norcross, Ga.-based Sterling Planet or Louis Dreyfus Energy Services, which has its offices in Wilton, Conn.
The program is expected to raise electricity rates slightly; New York officials are still holding hearings on how to use the proceeds from such auctions, with an eye on helping residences and businesses conserve energy and spur the creation of “green” jobs in environmental fields.
In 2006 and 2007, New York power producers emitted the lowest amount of carbon dioxide this decade. At deadline, RGGI had yet to publish data on 2008 emissions.
