Please read Sunday's NY Times (September 9-Westchester section): "Five Yers Later, Greenburgh's Code is Reaping Rewards". The article reports that "other communities in the state have followed Greenburgh's lead on energy conservation. We were the first community to adopt a strong energy conservation code for residential development. Babylon, Brookhaven, Oyster Bay and Huntington have followed our lead.
Next: Energy conservation mandates or incentives in new commercial development. I have favored a strong energy conservation code for commercial development and hope that the Town Board will take action. Let's continue to lead!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
29 comments:
.
How long will it be before "Steve & Eddie" take credit for it in a campaign literature piece?
How about putting up windmills at Taxter ridge park ,this way the land will be used for a good purpose plus the residents of Greenburgh could save on electricity.
If we can find a way to botle up all the hot air that is spewed by Sheehan, Bernstein, McNally, Sigal and O'Shea, we could use it to power steam generators that could create enough electricity to supply the entire Town.
Let's be the first to install windmills.
Windmills would have no impact on the school system
.
I like windmills
The supervisor should be looking into this project.
We can be the leaders in saving energy throughout the town.
There will be only one obsticle, the civic association of Edgemont.
They would claim that the developers paid money under the table to put up windmills.
They all went agaist the cell phone towers going up ,but each one of them use cell phones.
The same will be said about windmills but they all would want cheaper electricity..
Windmills would also provide excellent tilting practice for members of the Town Council, including, but not limited to, the Supervisor and Mr. Bass
Supervisor Feiner has been at the forefront of energy conservation for many, many years. The article in today's NY Times reflects that effort. I addressed the Town Board three years ago on this issue, and the Board showed no interest. What else is new? Bass and Barnes like to say in their campaign
"propaganda" that they have been supporters and initiators of many ideas and plans. In truth, they are both "bumps on a log" and quite often uninterested observers.
Wind Turbines an Alternative to
Fossil Fuels
Message
To
Town of Greenburgh Parks and Recreation Advisory Board
May 5, 2004
Richard J. Garfunkel
Today we face an ongoing problem regarding the usage of fossil fuels. Obviously, from a market perspective the price of oil seems to be on an upward path, not destined to be ameliorated or tempered by positive market factors, short of a recession, for the foreseeable future. Also the dependency of overseas suppliers adds to our trade deficit and exacerbates our ongoing political problems. Places like Nigeria, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and the like are in the near term and long term, potentially unstable. Today Iraq and Venezuela are prime examples of nations with huge reserves that are currently under jeopardy for totally different reasons.
Therefore from a geopolitical perspective the search for alternate and renewable resources should be paramount on the minds of both the government and the public it serves. Wind power is an increasingly significant renewable energy resource, producing no environmental CO2 emissions. The wind turbine collects kinetic energy from the wind and converts it to electricity. There are three bladed types that are operated “upwind” and two-bladed types that operate “downwind.” Wind turbines are manufactured by many companies around the world and this country, and come in all sizes with different though similar configurations. They are engineered to fit into the power grid, and they can be easily adapted to our current electrical system. From an environmental perspective their noise levels are equivalent to quiet bedroom at night. In a sense they would be 30% quieter than listening to a car travel by at 40 mph from a distance of 100 meters. Wind turbines can be extremely cost affective depending on the height of the tower and the constant speed of the wind. As per example a small wind turbine typically lowers one’s electricity bill between 50 and 90%. A typical wind turbine starts produce power at 6 mph. Of course, depending on the size and its efficiency, the payment may take a varied amount of time. Generally it takes 8-9 mph average speeds to make one’s site quite viable.
Presently the Town of Greenburgh, which includes villages and unincorporated areas, also has a long stretch of land that parallels the Hudson River. This may be the appropriate time to look carefully at some of the parkland, neighborhoods with wooded buffer zones and the Hudson River frontage as places where wind turbines could be placed.
As per example; in Searsburg, Vermont, 11 wind turbines, which cost $11 million to build, with $4 million from the DOE, produces 6 megawatts- that provides the energy for 2000 homes. Of course these are large “wind turbines” and they serve different, but similar ends.
My suggestion is that we form a small working committee to establish a “task force” on alternative sources of energy. This “task force” should not be limited to wind turbines, but explore solar energy, hybrid cars, and conservation.
Paul Levinson:
The vast majority of you - my American and world-wide readers - will have never heard of Paul Feiner. Understandable - you don't live in the town of Greenburgh, a few miles north of New York City, where my wife and I and family have lived since the summer of 1992.
But if you want know a local champion, a tireless fighter for everything that's good in suburban/urban life, then you'd benefit from knowing Paul J. Feiner. He's been Town Superviser of Greenburgh, New York - a two-year, elected position - since 1991. He ran twice for Congress and lost - Greenburgh and America's loss.
I've always voted for Paul Feiner, but got to know him really well last year. Verizon was offering fiber optic service in Greenburgh (I'm using it right now in this connection), and needed Town Council approval to offer television service through the fiber optics. Unsurprisingly, Cablevision, which had a monopoly on cable service in this area, opposed Verizon's request.
Feiner, with a mostly balky Town Council baying at his every point, stood up and courageously argued for freedom of choice in television providers in Greenburgh. This might not seem like such a controversial point, but if you've ever been to a local Town Council meeting you'll know that everyone on the council has an opinion, and it's usually not in favor of getting things done.
I was in favor of giving Greenburgh residents a real option in television, I wrote a few editorials arguing for that, but it was Paul Feiner's determination that got this to happen.
And he has been that way on every important local issue. Do you like being woken up all too early on weekend mornings by someone blowing leaves or mowing the lawn at decibel levels that could split your eardrums? Feiner doesn't like that either, and he's doing what he can to keep the noise down. He stays on top of utilities like Con Ed to make repairs today, not tomorrow, after storms. He's advocating wi-fi for a major street in Hartsdale - he wants it for the whole town, every inch of it, and the Hartsdale street would be the start. Paul J. Feiner is on the right side of every issue, be it nature or high-tech, communication to the world-at-large from your laptop or just dozing on your porch on a Saturday morning.
So, yes, I'm voting for Paul J. Feiner for another term of Town Supervisor. I saw him in front of the A&P last week. And I told him, hey, I not only hope you win, but give that run for Congress another shot some day.
Note added August 20, 2007: check out the comments to the post - the retrograde, establishment forces are coming out of the woodwork to attack Feiner...
Paul Feiner IS the establishment -- he has been town supervisor for as long as I can remember.
He has done nothing to require competition. Big deal a contract. I would like to see a map of when areas of Greenburgh will have service.
Are you referring to Verizon.Bass took full responsebility,for this contract in one of his flyers,give him a call.
What other contracts could there be ,Con Edison,yes maybe he could look into another company,but maybe he did and the residents would be paying much more in making the change over.
Is there anything else that you are referrring to.Give a holler and maybe someone can give you an answer as to what has been done up to date.
"Big deal a contract. I would like to see a map of when areas of Greenburgh will have service."
Good point. Or at least a list of neighborhoods and scheduled dates. I've called Verizon a few times over the past year, and they just say that cable tv service isn't available and they don't know when it will be.
Sheehan also took all the credit for Verizon contract ,may I make a suggestion,give Sheehan a call ,I'm sure with his connection with the phone company he could try to get things done.
If this does not work maybe you could wait for the next time arround,to receive this service
Both Bass and Sheehan took the credit for this contract,and paid no attention to the others on the board who voted for it.
.
As far as energy ,we must look for another company or look into windmills.
The Con edison rates are ridiculous.
Greenburgh has many choices as far as telephone services what's holding up the process to see if there is another company to service the area.
How about New York State .
Con edison say that we could subscribe to other companies of their choosing,but in the end we have to pay the new company plus Con Edison .Where's the bargain.
Windmills are the answer.There is so much property in Taxter road pk.that this can be done .How about looking into this type of energy for Greenburgh.
If indian point was to close where will we get electricity,
one has to be prepared for what's coming up down the line.
HELP!!!!!!!!!!!
How about windmills all over Town, so that everyone can show their support for alternative enery - Harts park, Webb, Mazzaro, Crain Park, the Wartburg Campus, AF Veteran Park and all the property on Central ave. that is unleased? Let's make the whole town as ugly as possible. Why not paint them orange, like the former Barnes and Noble store?
Greenburgh, despite being the second largest municipality in Westchester, is NOT a prime market. When our legislators (federal and state, not local) mandated competitive pricing rather than continuing the historical method of guaranteeing a rate of return on investment, they failed to foresee that only markets which provided profits to the suppliers would benefit from the competition. You can't force a privately owned and operated company to enter a market which is either too unprofitable or too difficult to serve. Surprise! The free market actually works!
We need windmills,Taxter ridge will be fine,for enough electricity for Greenburgh.
Can we hold outdoor town board meetings again? How about at Taxter Ridge to insure there is enough hot air for the windmills?
If he is truly interested in conservation, the Supervisor could re-invigorate the initiative to include the requirement that commercial developments meet the EnergyStar standards.
A simple one sentence amendment to the Town's Building Code could make it happen - with only 3 votes necessary.
Mr. Feiner - take the pledge: "If my team and I are elected, we will amend the Town Building code to mandate EnergyStar compliance at our first meeting."
Simple, unequivocal and truly a first.
How about it?
Con Edison is requesting a big raise ,where does that leave us in Westchester.
There has to be a way to start looking for another company to service our homes with electricity.
We are paying the highest per month since many homes are all electric.
With all that is hitting the ceiling,{home fuel gasoline,insurance,electicity,
natural gas ]we need some help.
Not only should work on this be done by our town representatives it has to start at the county and state level.
You can choose anyone you want to generate your electricity. NY State has had provider competition for several years - didn't your Supervisor tell you?
Delivering that electricity is another matter entirely. Con Ed will remain your delivery company -they spent the money to put up the power lines in the first place, and buying those assets was something the pro-competition legislators "forgot" to deal with.
The cost of generation - which can be found on your monthly bill - and the cost of delivery - which is also on the bill - BOTH need to be considered when exercising your right to a competitive price.
Can't figure it out - call Nicki Coddington for help.
Dear 5;42
I have read my bill thoroughly,sure con edison tells you that you could get service from another company,BUT the charges for this change over is ridiculous,which does not reflect a savings but more money to be paid.
We need something that comes direct into our homes without a middleman.
Getting energy from where it is produced to your front door for free? Are you one of the PAULITBURO socialists? Con Ed invested billions, yes billions of dollars in running lines, building subgeneration and switching stations and you think we should get energy delivered free?
Samis, set this gal/guy straight!
The changeover charge is modest and if you stay with your new provider long enough, you will save money.
Mandate EnergyStar compliance for commercial buildings NOW -
Commercial properties use significantly more electricity than do single family homes! Amending the Town Building code to require commercial properties to meet EnergyStar standards will do more to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and save our air and water than ANYTHING else the Town can do.
Be the FIRST - Do it NOW!!!!
Dear 8:20
The same thing happened with the phone company.
The lines were put up by ATT,then the company split,walla New york tel.
We were still using the lines that ATT put up right.
Now we have verizon 27 years after divestiture,and we are still using the same lines.Updated lines yes but the same lines.
An electric company can do the same thing with Con Edison lines.
I don't want electricity for free but we should look for alternative ways to get lesser bills.
I have known people who did make a change and went right back to con edison because the charges with the other company were way out.
Thank you for your input but I already looked into the other
companies that con edison proposed
The other companies were much higher than con edison..
Paul Feiner is extremely responsive and dedicated to the residents of Greenburgh. The election results prove that he has triumphed over those who tried to distort his accomplishments, and smear him. Good for you Paul and bravo to the residents of Greenburgh!
We need better transportation around greenburgh that does not require fossil fuels, like a tram or along those lines
Paul you must try to look into another company to service Greenburgh with electricity.Con edison is demanding a large raise and to tell the truth we need help.
The companies suggested by con edison are a big ripoff.
Post a Comment