Co-op City, located (like the Yankees) in the New York City borough known as The Bronx, is the largest co-op apartment community in the City, and indeed in the United States. [some emphasis, links added]
Built in the 1960s and 70s, it has more than 15,000 residential units in some 35 high-rise buildings, plus a smaller number of townhouses.
Below is a picture of the massive complex:
Co-op City has now suddenly become ground zero in the clash between energy fantasy and reality that is starting to come into focus as the deadlines for New York State and NYC’s 2019 climate laws start to get closer.
The New York Post reports on the reality side of the story in a large piece today with the headline “NY’s climate mandates may send fees in affordable Co-Op City complex soaring from $950 to $4K.”
But before getting to that, let’s look at the fantasy side of the story, which continues to hold its death grip on large swaths of the local population.
Back in January, a group of businesses and trade associations calling itself the Coalition for Safe and Reliable Energy submitted a Petition to the Public Service Commission (PSC) asking it to hold a hearing on whether the deadlines of the state’s Climate Act, currently set to start to bite in 2030, should be extended. (To view the Petition, go to item 63 under “Filed Documents” at this PSC docket.) The PSC then opened a public comment process as to that Petition, which process is ongoing.
Over the past few weeks, the comment process has cranked up, and large numbers of comments have flooded in.
You may or may not be surprised to learn that hundreds of these comments are identical, or nearly so. (To view the comments, go to the same PSC link above and click the “Public Comments” tab.)
The comments apparently have been rounded up by environmental activist groups that have asked their members and donors to sign and submit form responses.
Here is an excerpt from one of those form responses that has been copied and pasted into hundreds of these identical comments:
“[A]ny further investments in the fossil fuel economy will have a negative financial impact on New Yorkers. Costs of energy in New York are driven by the price of fossil fuels, which are highly volatile and affected by events outside of the control of New York, such as the invasion of the Ukraine by Russia and the U.S. war on Iran. Sticking to fossil fuels means unpredictable, unaffordable bills for New Yorkers. Renewable energy – which requires no fuel – offers predictable costs which makes families less vulnerable to energy price shocks. Renewable energy is a long-term cost-saving strategy that will promote affordability and protect New York utility customers from the impacts of volatile fossil fuel prices. I urge the PSC to reject the unsupported request to hold a hearing. …”
Apparently, these many hundreds of commenters have come to believe that shifting from what they call a “fossil fuel economy” to “renewable energy” is a “long-term cost-saving strategy” that will provide “affordability” to New Yorkers.
Nothing in their letters gives any clue how they have come to this conclusion, or what calculations or feasibility studies they may have made to ascertain the “affordability” that they think is so easy to achieve with “renewable” energy.
Meanwhile, over on the reality side of the equation, at Co-op City, they are confronting the actual costs of compliance with the impending and overlapping mandates of both the state’s and city’s climate statutes.
Co-op City is an owner-occupied community, so the costs of compliance will fall on the owner-occupants.
The racial demographics of the community, per NICHE.com, are: 64% African-American, 28% Hispanic, 4% white, and 4% other. So this is not exactly your vision of a snooty Park Avenue Manhattan co-op.
Co-op City currently has its own power plant — fueled by natural gas — that provides all the electricity for the complex, as well as heat, hot water, and air-conditioning. Monthly maintenance bills to the owners, which include the cost of energy, currently average about $950 for a one-bedroom unit.
Co-op City’s current [natural gas] power plant is apparently quite efficient, but not enough so to meet the impending deadlines of New York City’s Local Law 97. Under that statute, they must convert to electric heat by 2035.
They have now done studies on the prospective cost of that, and the Post reports on the results in today’s piece. Excerpt:
“A top Co-Op City official warned that residents could pay four times more in monthly maintenance charges if New York State’s controversial green-energy laws aren’t peeled back. Jeffrey Buss, Co-Op City’s general counsel, claimed monthly maintenance fees could skyrocket from $950 for a one-bedroom to more than $4,000 to pick up the tab for the edicts. …
“[T]he state’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act of 2019, coupled with a city green energy law [Local Law 97], would force Co-Op City to shut down its natural gas power plant and replace it with carbon-free clean energy sources such as wind, solar, hydropower and battery storage, [Buss] said.”
So, between the costs of the electric heat conversion, closing their own efficient power plant, and buying lots of additional electricity from Con Edison, they project that the residents’ monthly maintenance costs will multiply by about a factor of four, from under $1,000 per month to about $4,000.
Apparently, that’s what the PSC commenters think of as “affordable.”
Co-op City has looked into building “renewable” resources to replace its natural gas power plant, but has figured out that that is completely infeasible:
“Buss said it is technologically impossible for Co-op City to completely replace its gas-fueled plant with cleaner energy sources. He said renewable, fossil-free energy sources such as solar, wind, or geothermal energy aren’t [capable of meeting] the heating, cooling and electrical demands of Co-Op City. ‘Although our co-generation turbines can run on 30% hydrogen,” Buss said, “there is no hydrogen supply…I don’t know the solution.’ “
They do have a plan to install solar panels on top of the parking garages, but those will be capable of only providing a small percentage of their power needs:
“Co-op City is diversifying by installing solar panels on top of its garages, which would result in the largest urban solar project in the US. But solar energy would only meet a fraction of Co-op City’s power needs, he said.”
Buss’s conclusion: complying with the impending state and city energy mandates would be “foolish.”
We are facing the consequences of having ignorant environmental activists and politicians trying to redesign our energy system.
Fortunately, Co-op City comes complete with a large bloc of voters who, when they learn what the ignoramuses have in store for them, can take their revenge at the ballot box.
Top image shows an aerial image of the Harry S Truman High School (X455) campus and the surrounding Co-Op City Neighborhood. Source: Wikimedia Commons/David L Roush
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