NYCHA’s Deputy Director of Sustainability Participates in Climate Week Panel
On September 18, NYCHA’s Deputy Director of Sustainability Programs Siobhan Watson participated in a panel discussion on the efforts of New York housing agencies to decarbonize affordable housing to improve the health, comfort, and safety of residents.
Organized by Building Energy Exchange, the event was part of activities that marked this year’s Climate Week. Building Energy Exchange connects New York City’s real estate and design communities to energy and lighting efficiency solutions through education, exhibitions, technology demonstrations, and research.
Over the past three years, housing agencies in New York have increased their efforts to decarbonize the housing sector through new initiatives like NYCHA’s induction stove technology and heat pump installations for residents.
Ms. Watson was joined on the panel by New York State Homes and Community Renewal’s Vice President for Sustainability Samantha Pearce and NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s Chief Sustainability Officer Jennifer Bloom Leone.
Ms. Watson spoke about NYCHA’s partnership with the New York State Energy and Research Development Authority (NYSERDA) since the start of the Authority’s sustainability work. She noted that NYSERDA is committed to working with energy users in the state to reduce carbon emissions and is eager to pilot new ways of doing so through its partnership with NYCHA, citing NYCHA’s Clean Heat for All Challenge as a great example of a creative collaboration with NYSERDA.
“After working together on a small pilot retrofitting off-the-shelf heat pump technology into NYCHA apartments, NYCHA’s energy team and NYSERDA saw that a more cost-effective retrofit solution for multi-family buildings like NYCHA’s was needed,” said Ms. Watson. “NYSERDA’s willingness to pivot to a new direction based on the findings of a pilot demonstrates how flexibility in methods of working together toward a consistent goal makes this partnership work well.”
Ms. Watson also mentioned the partnership with NYSERDA to fund NYCHA’s Clean Energy Academy, which trains NYCHA residents for jobs in the building electrification and clean-energy sectors so residents can be employed in those areas NYCHA invests in.
She said NYCHA is continuing to work on its greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals and is happy to continue partnering with NYSERDA on that front.
The panelists also noted that New York has an amazing group of advisers thinking about energy and sustainability issues. They indicated that a strength in their operations is that beyond each agency’s collaboration with NYSERDA, they also share information and strategies with each other to move decarbonization efforts forward.
Photo credit: Building Energy Exchange
