NEW YORK – Three New York bills signed into law by Governor Kathy Hochul Tuesday will strengthen the state’s commitment to clean energy development and energy efficiency, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
These three new laws support the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act goal of an 85 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 while ensuring a just and equitable transition for New York workers and communities. York.
Advanced Building Codes, Appliance and Equipment Efficiency Standards Act of 2022
Legislation A.10439/S.9405 requires that the New York State Energy Conservation Building Code be updated to achieve energy efficiency and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in support of the New York State Building Law. Climate. Advanced energy codes could lower ongoing energy bills, resulting in nearly $4 billion in energy savings for building owners by 2030, with even greater savings potential when accounting for recent inflation and rising trends in energy costs.
Additionally, this legislation authorizes the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), in consultation with the Department of State, to adopt efficiency standards for appliances and equipment that reduce energy use. Expanding appliance standards will reduce emissions and generate $15 billion in savings for New Yorkers through 2035, including $6 billion for low- and moderate-income households, by reducing energy waste from product and appliance use less efficient.
Employment Law and Thermal Energy Networks of Public Services
Legislation A.10493/S.9422 allows utilities to own, operate and manage thermal power networks, as well as supply distributed thermal power, with oversight from the PSC. Network heating and cooling, also known as district or community thermal energy systems, are a resilient, clean, and energy-efficient solution that can also help New York State meet its ambitious climate goals. By harnessing multiple existing waste heat sources (such as water, wastewater, and geothermal energy, among others) and connecting a diverse set of building types on a shared circuit, thermal power networks can provide significant energy and operational cost savings. compared to more traditional heating and cooling systems, while reducing demand on the electrical grid.
This legislation will promote the development of thermal power networks throughout the state, providing benefits by reducing the use of fossil fuels for heating and cooling through community-scale infrastructure solutions, along with employment opportunities for existing utility workers. and new workers. Enabling legislation will build on progress and complement NYSERDA’s active community thermal programwhich to date has funded feasibility studies, detailed design studies and other advanced project construction incentives at more than three dozen sites statewide.
Prevailing wage for renewable energy projects of one megawatt or more
Legislation A.9598/S.8648 requires a prevailing wage for renewable energy projects of one megawatt or more that involve the purchase of renewable energy credits from a public entity, ultimately supporting the governor’s new goal ten gigawatts of distributed solar power by 2030, enough to annually power nearly 700,000 mid-size homes.
New York’s ten-gigawatt roadmap, approved by the PSC in April, provides a comprehensive strategy for expanding the state’s NY-Sun initiative into one of the largest distributed solar programs of its kind in the nation. Public investment to achieve ten gigawatts of solar power will drive approximately $4.4 billion in private investment to bring the awarded projects to fruition, with a total of $5.9 billion in investment expected in the mid-to-late 2020s.
An additional 6,000 solar jobs will be created statewide, including with the State’s first enforcement of prevailing wage requirements for solar projects between one and five megawatts.
Employment
All three of these laws at the same time are an opportunity in the workforce. Earlier this year, the Climate Action Council’s Just Transition Task Force released a Jobs Study detailing the number of jobs that will be created as part of New York’s clean energy transition, finding that the Buildings accounted for more than half of all jobs added in clean energy subsectors from 2019 to 2030. The study estimates that overall employment in the construction sector will grow to about 366,000 by 2040, more than double the workforce of 2019 by adding more than 200,000 new jobs.
The legislative package signed Tuesday is one part of a holistic set of policies and programs needed to drive decarbonization in the construction sector at scale and take advantage of these important opportunities for job growth in the short, medium and long term.
The Governor signed the bills at Newlab’s headquarters in Brooklyn alongside State Senator Kevin Parker, State Senator Jessica Ramos, Assemblywoman Pat Fahy, Assemblywoman Latoya Joyner, and key labor leaders and climate advocates.
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