00Aaron

CelloMomOnCars , 4 months ago to random

"The core of #Ithaca's vision requires shifting its 6000 buildings away from natural gas.

Instead of fighting Ithaca's campaign to remove gas from buildings, NYSEG has subsidized the work. "

https://www.npr.org/2024/03/04/1230109356/climate-emissions-ithaca-new-york

00Aaron , 3 months ago

@CelloMomOnCars
I live in Ithaca and work in the climate space (the piece linked at the end of the NPR piece was written by me, as you may see) and this part of the article was a little too rosy and uncritical.

NYSEG has recently actually hiked electric rates at a higher rate than gas, making it less financially feasible to electrify buildings.

Second, if you look at NYSEG's public disclosures, you can see they are moving away from renewables increasing their use of toward natural gas

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00Aaron , 3 months ago

@CelloMomOnCars

If you look at these two public disclosures, you can see that in 2016, NYSEG had a greater share of renewables like hydro power and wind than it does today. Over those years it has also increased its share of natural gas in its energy supply mix.

Tricking NPR reporters is part of NYSEG's PR to stay out of trouble.

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A screenshot of the 2016 public disclosure document New York State Electric & Gas Corp.—NYSEG Among other things: Hydroelectric 10% (down from 15%) Wind: 1% (down from 3%) Natural Gas: 55% (up from 43%)

00Aaron , 3 months ago

@CelloMomOnCars

Well, NYSEG's parent company, Avangrid spent $21 million on a recent political campaign to keep the public's hands out of the utilities. (Where did all that money come from? Ratepayers.)

If beefing up the grid was the real priority, the money could have been found elsewhere. They're gouging locals and misusing the funds.