Results tagged “energy”

The Natural Resources Defense Council's New York Urban Program Director Eric Goldstein (that's a mouthful) has gone undercover to see what Manhattan retail stores are blasting their air conditioning with open doors to lure the customer inside. This is illegal, of course, and as Goldstein points out, while "the issue isn't tops on the national environmental agenda... it does serve as something of a symbol of shameless wasting of fossil fuels by some of our fellow citizens."

Today's "who has Governor Paterson upset now" story is in the NY Times, which details how the governor "agreed to reconsider a key rule New York adopted as part of a 10-state pact aimed at reducing the threat of global warming by cutting power plant emissions...at the urging of the energy industry." (Okay, so he pissed off the energy concerns.) The pact is the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which calls itself the "first mandatory, market-based effort in the United States to reduce greenhouse gas emissions," with participating states promising to "cap and then reduce CO2 emissions from the power sector 10% by 2018." According to the Times, Paterson's "reconsideration" would allow power plants to have more leeway in releasing emissions without cost. While his staff says the governor was thinking about the energy industry being, potentially, "unfairly" burdened, what also bothers environmental groups is that they only found out about Paterson's about-face this week when he apparently told the energy industry about this last fall.

The City Council voted by an overwhelming margin to pass the bill requiring chain stores to shut their doors when their air conditioners are running, leaving many small business unhappy. Cookie Falack, the owner of six Cookie's clothing stores called it "anti-business" and claimed that when they closed their doors earlier this summer, business went down almost 25 percent. But Mayor Bloomberg is expected to sign the green initiative, saying "We are trying to take some reasonable measure to reduce energy consumption at a time when the systems are most strained."

Last year City Councilwoman Gale Brewer proposed a bill that would fine establishments $200 per open door/window in air conditioned spaces (as well as heated spaces in the winter), the bill wasn't fully backed by the Bloomberg administration and never saw the light of day...until now! The NY Post reports that the environmentally friendly bill is now supported by Bloomberg and "is expected to win council approval tomorrow."

Soaring gas prices have managed to edge gas prices to nearly $4/gallon in the area. At an Exxon station in Queens, WCBS 2 found $3.99/gallon gas, while a White Plains Getty offered it at $3.69/gallon. One White Plains resident said it cost him $55 to fill up his sedan, "I used to pay by cash, now I have to use my credit cards because I don't carry that much cash on me."

Today between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m., people in timezones all over the world will be turning off their lights for Earth Hour. World Wildlife Fund started the event as a way to "deliver a powerful message to the citizens and leaders of the world about the need for action."

Yohji Yamamoto's recently opened Y-3 store at 317 West 13th Street in the West Village is upsetting some locals. One tipster writes in:

The idiots at the new Y-3 store on 13th street leave the front door (a garage door) open all day long. It is 30 degrees outside, yet that strip of the sidewalk is toasty warm.

While a toasty warm sidewalk may sound cozy, it shows the wasteful energy practices of the store. Council member Gale Brewer introduced a bill last year that would forbid commercial buildings to keep their doors or windows open while running air-conditioners. If caught doing so, the establishment would be fined $200 per window and door left opened. This would also pertain to those stores luring cold customers in with their heat.