It’s easy being green, if MTA can harvest riders

By Chris Lombardi

Solar panels on subway station roofs, eco-conscious MetroCards and tidewater used to power the Roosevelt Island tram. These were a few of the proposals unveiled by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority this week in a new sustainability plan aimed at contributing to a more environmentally friendly city.

Local transit advocates, many of whom helped develop the plan, have hailed the new initiatives for their commitment to the environment. But most maintained that while this is a good step forward for the MTA, the best way to celebrate Earth Day on April 22 might be to focus on expanding and improving service.

“By it very existence, its function as an alternative to automobiles, the MTA does so much good for the carbon footprint of the city,” said Lee Compton, former chair of Community Board 4 and co-chair of the board’s Environmental Task Force, on Monday. “Beyond that,” Compton added, “it’s important to consider: Which of these initiatives does the most, per dollar expended?”

That morning, Governor David Paterson had joined MTA executive director Elliot Sander and real estate developer Jonathan D. Rose, chairman of the MTA’s six-month-old Sustainability Commission, to unveil the plan in time for Earth Day.

“Thanks largely to our robust transportation network, the energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions of New Yorkers are a quarter of the national average,” Paterson stated. “By capitalizing on the MTA’s network, we can further improve our energy efficiency and carbon footprints. That’s why I have created a Smart Growth Cabinet to pursue transit-oriented development in conjunction with the MTA, and why I convened the Renewable Energy Task Force. I am pleased to see that the thinking of the Task Force and the MTA’s Sustainability Commission are so well aligned.”

The commission, first convened in September, includes many local environmental players, including Hell’s Kitchen resident Rohit Aggarwala, director of the NYC Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability; architect Robert Fox of Chelsea design firm Cook + Fox; and Ashok Gupta of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), a Chelsea-based national environmental nonprofit.

The plan they unveiled includes more than 20 recommendations and projects, starting with the highly symbolic, “green” MetroCards. “Five million special, limited-edition cards, to be sold at vending machines beginning on April 22,” the MTA’s release cheered, “[which] will feature five informative messages celebrating Earth Day and describing transit riders’ role in making the New York region sustainable.” What these cards will not actually be is recyclable, though an MTA spokesman acknowledged to Newsday “that it might be time to move to a more earth-friendly material for the cards.”

To Compton, the commission’s initial plan appeared both far-reaching and grounded. Still, he said, it’s important to look past the MTA’s ambitious list of alternative technologies—and its goal to provide 7 percent of its energy needs from solar, wind and other renewable sources by 2015. The projected six megawatts of solar power, the use of East River tidal energy at Roosevelt Island, and wind turbines at Far Rockaway all sound great, Compton noted, “but frankly, you’ll benefit more from the less glamorous-sounding ideas. My guess is that the sum total of all the rest won’t be as much in the short term.”

Perhaps the least glamorous of all, Compton said, may be the strongest: the forecast gain from “efficiency improvements,” thanks in part to a $35 million grant from New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA).

NYSERDA president Paul Tonko pointed out that New York’s electrified commuter rail and subway systems use over 2 billion kilowatt hours per year. He predicted that the “advanced technologies” NYSERDA is funding for the electrified rail system “could reduce peak demand by as much as 100 megawatts,” according to a statement. NYSERDA will be working with the MTA, he added, to “develop and test advanced energy systems that can further reduce the energy consumption of what is already an efficient mode of transportation.”

“That’s where you get the most bang for your buck,” Compton said. “That idea of using water in the system to cool transformers? That has a much sooner payback than using tidal power for Governors Island, or installing acres of solar panels.”

Donna De Costanzo, senior attorney for NRDC, told Chelsea Now on Wednesday that many Sustainability Commission members are already working with NYSERDA on numerous energy-efficiency programs. And while NYSERDA was not involved in the “carbon task force” with Gupta and other commission members, “we work together all the time,” she said. De Costanzo emphasized that Monday’s report is not the commission’s final version, which should come at the end of the year, but that she was impressed by the breadth of the initial iteration. “We were on energy strategies, but they had everything from water to smart growth.”

“Smart growth” is another word for transit-oriented development (TOD), another centerpiece of the commission report. “Green mass transit is an essential element of any region’s climate reduction strategy, its strategy to be globally competitive, and to be locally equitable,” Rose said Monday. Thus, the commission recommends that various state agencies offer “incentive packages” to encourage development near transit stations, and a web-based “one-stop shopping” feature for communities interested in TOD.

Compton agreed with the emphasis being placed on transit-oriented development, noting, “It makes no sense to develop away from transit. All these projects on the Far West Side—they’re all so dependent on having better access to transit.”

De Constanzo agreed, but added that any plan that envisions adding new residents had better focus on making the overall system attractive.

“It’s great to make the system greener,” she said. “But you have to make sure that if you have more people, they actually take public transportation.”

Now, the commission will move ahead with developing its final report, and implementation of those final recommendations is likely to require additional funding, Sander has made clear. But in the meantime, all advocates interviewed echoed De Costanzo’s assertion that the best way for the MTA to raise its “green” profile is to simply provide good service to more people.

“The MTA is already doing something essential by getting people out of their cars,” said Wiley Norvell of Transportation Alternatives, a Chelsea-based organization that advocates for non-automobile modes of transportation, such as walking, biking and the train. Norvell added Tuesday that unless the MTA can ensure reliable, affordable service, cars might end up the best option for some.

“The main benchmark for transit use is the quality of service—how good the service is,” Norvell added. “What makes New York’s public transit the greenest in the country is that half the city takes public transit.”