Capital District November 15, 2005

Clean Communities

Capital District Clean Communities

November 3, 2005 Meeting

Meeting Notes

Attendance

Patrick Bolton, NYSERDA

Lawrence D’Arco, NYSDEC

Tom Garrett, Siemens Building Technologies

Jeff Mirel, Manchester All-Mobile

Valerie Reside, Upstate Transit

Carol Rodino, NY Power Authority

Paul Rogers, Siemens Building Technologies

Deborah Stacey, CDTC Staff, CDCC Coordinator

Robert Steff, NY Thruway Authority

Suna Stone-McMasters, SUNY Cobleskill

Christine Vanderlan, Environmental Advocates of NY

Michael Wise, NYS Parks

Summary Notes

Deborah Stacey opened the meeting with introductions. Michael Wise from the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation provided a detailed outline of NYS Parks’ “green” initiatives and handed out a summary document. Some highlights of Michael’s presentation are noted below:

¨ NYS Parks has a fleet of over 740 clean fueled vehicles, some of which are located in the Capital District area.

¨ NYS Parks mows over 300,000 acres per year. Textron is developing four prototype “green” (electric) mowers; these will be tested by NYS Parks in 2006. If the prototypes are successful, Textron has committed to production of the mowers.

¨ NYS has implemented an electric vehicle policy at their golf courses—all golf carts are electric.

¨ NYS Parks is developing a hydrogen demonstration project at the Niagara Gorge Discovery Center. This project will have education, transportation and backup power components.

¨ NYS Parks is looking into the feasibility of making the 2009 US Open Golf tournament at the Bethpage State park the first “green” Open in history.

¨ NYS Parks and Plug Power will install a hydrogen fuel cell backup power unit at the Saratoga State park Police Station in early 2006.

¨ NYS Parks s plans to add a fully electric van to its fleet at the Saratoga State Park in summer 2006. Currently, several natural gas vans operated in the park.

A Roundtable discussion followed:

SUMMARY NOTES:

1. USDOE:

a. USDOE has awarded a Special Energy Projects (SEP) grant ($75,000) to the Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk school district. The pilot project will install Espar coolant heaters in 45-50 buses. The coolant heaters pre-heat the coolant to 180^◦ so the engine does not need to idle to warm up the engine or the passenger compartment. The Espar units burn approximately ¹/8 gallons of diesel per hour, as compared to a gallon per hour under straight idling conditions. The emissions reductions are significant as are maintenance savings.

2. NYSERDA: NYSERDA reported on several fronts:

a. .NYSERDA expects to release the Project Opportunity Notice (PON) for the Clean Cities Challenge Grant by the end of the year.

b. Mirabuto is moving forward with the deployment of dispensing facilities near Oneonta and Cooperstown. The company plans to retail bio-diesel.

c. Sprague Energy is looking into the feasibility of blending bio-diesel at the Port of Albany. If this project goes forward, it should address most of the bio-diesel supply issues in the Capital District.

3. OTHER NEWS:

a. Siemens Building Technologies: Bob Garrett and Paul Rogers from Siemens attended their first CDCC meeting. Bob and Paul have been involved in a project with the City of Albany to convert landfill gas to CNG. If the project goes forward, approximately 1 million gallon equivalents of CNG will be produced annually. Dry ice would also be produced as a by-product of the process. In addition, several landfill vehicles would be converted to CNG hybrids, including trash compactors and several CNG Hondas purchased. Siemens is looking for a private partner, such as Sysco and Waste Management. If the project gets approved, Siemens will guarantee the cost of CNG for 15-20 years.

b. NYSTA: Bob Steff is working with OGS and NYSERDA on establishing an ethanol fueling station in the Capital District at Exit 23. A 10,000 gallon tank has been installed. Ethanol should be available at the site by the end of the year..

c. NYSDOT: Ted Thompson reported that CSX , Union Pacific Rail and the Rotterdam Industrial Park are working on a project that would introduce direct unit produce trains from the state of Washington to Schenectady. The trains would be 55 cars long and would travel 124 hours coast to coast. NYS funds have been committed to assist with the track modifications required. Initially there will be one train per week, but as demand grows, the project could accommodate up to five trains per week. Super Steel will be manufacturing "Green Goats", which are hybrid/electric switching engines that are far less polluting than regular yard switchers; this technology will likely be used at the Industrial Park. The downside of the project involves truck idling. It is estimated that each 55 car train will attract 200 delivery trucks. This project might be a good candidate for an anti-idling pilot/project.

d. SUNY Cobleskill: Suna Stone-McMasters reported that SUNY Cobleskill has purchased two CNG cars that are fueled in Cobleskill and that the college would like to purchase several additional used CNG or electric vehicles, or both. The college is also looking into funding mechanisms to convert cow manure to electricity.

e. Upstate Transit: Valerie Reside reported that the Upstate facility is an older, out of date facility and that the next big project on Upstate’s list is to update the facility and make it “green”. Upstate will consider bio-diesel when the price and supply issues are addressed.

f. Manchester All-Mobile: Jeff Mirel reported that Manchester All-Mobile is beginning to roll out a product (Bajaj) made in India which is a three wheeled, road legal cng/lpg vehicle that can be configured as a taxi, box truck or pick-up truck. Manchester All-Mobile is revamping their website so it will catalog all vehicles and accessories that can be ordered through the company. The website should be operational in early 2006.

Next Meeting

This group will meet again on Thursday February 2, 2006 from 10:00 am to noon at CDTC's offices (1 Park Place Main Floor, Albany, NY 12205).