Alternative Energy Resources in New York
Below is a short summary of alternative energy resources for New York. For more information on each technology, visit the State Energy Alternatives Technology Options page.
For more information, including links to resource maps, energy statistics, and contacts for New York, visit EERE's State Activities and Partnerships Web site's New York page.
Biomass
Studies indicate that New York has good biomass resource potential. For more state-specific resource information, see Biomass Feedstock Availability in the United States: 1999 State Level Analysis.
Geothermal
New York has low to moderate temperature resources that can be tapped for direct heat or for geothermal heat pumps. However, electricity generation is not possible with these resources.
Hydropower
New York has a good hydropower resource as a percentage of the state's electricity generation. For additional resource information, check out the Idaho National Laboratory's Virtual Hydropower Prospector (VHP). VHP is a convenient geographic information system (GIS) tool designed to assist you in locating and assessing natural stream water energy resources in the United States.
Solar
To accurately portray your state's solar resource, we need two maps. That is because different collector types use the sun in different ways. Collectors that focus the sun (like a magnifying glass) can reach high temperatures and efficiencies. These are called concentrating collectors. Typically, these collectors are on a tracker, so they always face the sun directly. Because these collectors focus the sun's rays, they only use the direct rays coming straight from the sun.
Other solar collectors are simply flat panels that can be mounted on a roof or on the ground. Called flat-plate collectors, these are typically fixed in a tilted position correlated to the latitude of the location. This allows the collector to best capture the sun. These collectors can use both the direct rays from the sun and reflected light that comes through a cloud or off the ground. Because they use all available sunlight, flat-plate collectors are the best choice for many northern states. Therefore, this site gives you two maps: one is the resource for a concentrating collector and one is the resource for a flat-plate collector.
What do the maps mean? For flat-plate collectors, New York has a useful resource throughout the state. For concentrating collectors, New York has a relatively poor resource. Concentrating collectors are probably not the best renewable energy technology for the state.
Wind
Current resources indicate that New York has excellent wind resources in some areas of the state. In addition, small wind turbines may have applications in some areas. For more information on New York's wind resources including wind maps, visit Wind Powering America's New York Wind Activities.
Energy Efficiency
Energy efficiency means doing the same work, or more, and enjoying the same comfort level with less energy. Consequently, energy efficiency can be considered part of your state's energy resource base - a demand side resource. Unlike energy conservation, which is rooted in behavior, energy efficiency is technology-based. This means the savings may be predicted by engineering calculations, and they are sustained over time. Examples of energy efficiency measures and equipment include compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs), and high efficiency air conditioners, refrigerators, boilers, and chillers.
Saving energy through efficiency is less expensive than building new power plants. Utilities can plan for, invest in, and add up technology-based energy efficiency measures and, as a consequence, defer or avoid the need to build a new power plant. In this way, Austin, Texas, aggregated enough energy savings to offset the need for a planned 450-megawatt coal-fired power plant. Austin achieved these savings during a decade when the local economy grew by 46% and the population doubled. In addition, the savings from energy efficiency are significantly greater than one might expect, because no energy is needed to generate, transmit, distribute, and store energy before it reaches the end user.
Reduced fuel use, and the resulting decreased pollution, provide short- and long-term economic and health benefits.
For more information on current state policies related to energy efficiency, visit the Alliance to Save Energy's State Energy Efficiency Index.
Figure 1. This chart illustrates the achievable potential for New York to meet 13% of its generation needs in 2012 and 16% in 2022.
Credit: New York State Energy Research and Development Authority
In 2003, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority released a report titled Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Resource Development Potential in New York State (PDF 955 KB) (Download Adobe Reader). The report assessed the technically and economically feasible amount of energy efficiency and renewable energy that could be created in the state and the achievable potential in terms of market barriers and state goals.
The report defines technical and economic potential as representing the theoretical outer bounds of the electricity resources that are physically available for exploitation, without regard for cost or market acceptability. It defines the economic potential for efficiency and renewable energy as the amount of technical potential that is available at technology costs below the current projected costs of conventional electricity generation that these resources would avoid. The study's analysis of achievable potential from efficiency and renewable energy adds two key ingredients that are missing from the technical and economic potential analysis:
- Market barriers to acceptance of efficiency and renewable energy technologies and practices that might be overcome through targeted policies and market intervention strategies.
- Additional administrative costs of such programs and policies to promote higher market acceptance of efficiency and renewable energy technologies.
The study found the achievable potential to meet 13% of the state's generation needs in 2012 and 16% in 2022 (see Figure 1). Further, the study illustrates that 9.4% of the 2022 generation needs can be met through policies and programs that are already in place.