“Creating the High Performance City” Conference

Today, we are here to discuss an important, timely and far-reaching topic: the future of sustainable energy in New York City.

In recent years, an increasing number of cities and towns across the nation have turned to renewable energy sources to help meet their energy needs. Advances in technology have made sustainable energy more efficient and more practical than ever.

Materials such as solar panels, once prohibitively expensive, have become more affordable. The increasing use of solar and wind power throughout the country has demonstrated how municipalities can save money while producing safe, clean energy. The development of high performance buildings has shown how green technology can reduce operational costs for buildings, while benefiting the environment.

Renewable energy has always been a good idea. And now, it is a good idea that is put into action more and more every year.

How can new developments in the field benefit New York City? What are the challenges and concerns? What is the future of electric power in our city? What can we learn from the experiences of other cities? These are some of the questions we will address today.

New York City is still in the earliest stages of realizing the benefits of sustainable energy. Five years ago, the city was not home to any large buildings making significant use of renewable energy. Now, from Battery Park City to 118th Street, solar panels are starting to appear on the skyline.

The Solaire in Battery Park City is an example of triumph over adversity: a Lower Manhattan project that once seemed doomed to remain unrealized in the wake of 9/11, the complex is now a model of sustainable housing development.

Helping the Solaire project come to fruition was important for the redevelopment of Lower Manhattan, and represented an important step forward for sustainable energy in New York. I was pleased to be able to approve the increased bonding for the project.

At 118th Street and Madison Avenue, we find another example of triumph over adversity. A new housing complex at that location has achieved what was once thought to be an unattainable goal: green housing that includes a significant number of affordable units.

This trend is not limited to Manhattan, or to private developments. For example, the subway station at Stillwell Avenue in Coney Island will be solar-powered once its renovation is completed.

These projects represent a strong beginning. But it is only a beginning.

As a dynamic and densely populated city, New York City’s energy needs are great. We have a responsibility to ensure that those needs are met, but we cannot afford to sacrifice our environment or public safety in the process.

There are several ways we can ensure that our approach is responsible and sustainable. Certainly, finding ways to reduce the city’s energy consumption is a good idea. Developing cleaner energy sources is also of critical importance. Both of these measures would help us meet our energy needs while improving air quality.

The development of high performance buildings offers similar benefits. Greener buildings help protect our urban environment while offering significant economic benefits, in the form of lower maintenance costs, lower bills for tenants, and new marketing opportunities for developers. How can it work in New York? Later this morning we will hear from the developers of the two green buildings I mentioned, and learn from their first-hand experiences.

Given that State law requires that 80% of the power we use be produced within city limits, increasing our use of sustainable power sources offers other benefits as well. Historically, conventional power plants have been difficult to site, and are often imposed on communities that are already facing significant environmental challenges.

Clean power, on the other hand, is much easier to incorporate into the urban landscape. Solar panels and other forms of distributed power can be integrated into the infrastructure of a neighborhood in a way that a power plant, even a “good neighbor” facility, cannot.

Reducing our consumption and increasing our use of renewable power would allow us to address our long-term energy needs without damaging the quality of life in our communities or sacrificing our waterfront areas.

Clean power and green buildings also hold great promise in terms of potential for economic growth beyond the jobs generated by specific projects. Increased demand for the materials used in high performance buildings could generate good, skilled manufacturing jobs in and around New York City. And further growth in the industry will support the growth of the research and development sectors that design the materials and develop the technology used in green buildings.

New York City is home to some of the most innovative thinkers in science and design, and our city remains financial center of the world. With our talent and resources, we are poised to play a central role in the growing global industry of sustainable energy.

Finally, there are advantages to diversifying our energy sources that have wider implications, for our nation, and for the planet. The more we develop and employ alternatives to fossil fuels, the less dependent we will be on foreign sources of energy. And the more we use sustainable energy, the more we contribute to the campaign against global climate change.

As Comptroller, I am firmly committed to ensuring that New York City is a leader in supporting the development of sustainable energy sources, within our city and beyond. One of the ways I have addressed this issue is to adopt an activist approach with the companies in which the City’s pension funds are invested.

Working with the trustees of the pension system, we filed shareholder resolutions with numerous companies calling on them to comply with the Sustainability Reporting Guidelines developed by the Global Reporting Initiative. To date, seven companies -- Dell Computer, IBM, Intel, Fed Ex, McDonald’s, Microsoft, and Pepsico -- have agreed to comply with some or all of the guidelines. This year, we are filing resolutions with five more companies.

My office also filed a proposal with Houston-based energy-company Reliant Resources that would require its Board of Directors to prepare a report explaining how the company will respond to rising regulatory, competitive, and public pressure to significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions. I am pleased to report that Reliant agreed to take action on this issue, and as a result, we withdrew our proposal.

We also participated in the Institutional Investor Summit on Climate Risk at the United Nations last November. At the conference, we joined other institutional investors in developing a ten-point “call to action” recommending new steps by the SEC and corporate boards to increase corporate disclosure of the financial risks posed by climate change.

We intend to continue pursuing these and other environmental issues in the future, and we will work to bring more companies on board.

I am also committed to fostering a dialogue about these issues among city leaders in the private, public, and non-profit sectors and concerned community members, so that we can work together to develop a shared vision for the future of our city.

Today’s conference is an important part of that process. Throughout the morning, we will hear from a wide range of experts, from environmental and labor leaders to private investors and developers. They are all leaders in their fields, and each one brings unique knowledge and experience to the discussion.

Our conference is divided into two sections. The first panel will address a range of questions related to electric power and the grid, from the challenges of siting power plants, to issues of connectivity and market development for alternative electric sources.

The second panel will focus on the design, construction and operation of high-performance buildings. Panelists will discuss the challenges and opportunities of incorporating sustainable energy into the complex task of developing cost-effective buildings.

And, of course, an important part of the dialogue will be the comments and questions from all of you in our audience. I am confident that the discussion will be lively and informative, and I hope that it is a conversation that does not end with the close of the conference.

After all, the questions we ask today as a city will guide our decision-making in the years to come. There is not one set path we must follow, there is no inevitable course for the future of energy consumption and production in New York. If we want New York City to be a cleaner, greener city, and better place to live and work, we can help make that happen.

But we must begin building toward that future now. The priorities we set will play a large part in determining what we are able to achieve tomorrow, and how we address the city’s long-term energy needs.