03.08 Solar One & Pratt Institute
WHAT DID YOU THINK?
Community Fair: Solar One & Pratt Institute
Mar 8 2009 - 10:00am
Community Voices: Solar One & Pratt Institute
Response to Solar One & Pratt Institute
I initially decided to attend this Community Voices event because I am interested in the potential of solar energy to provide clean, Green power to a city like New York. So, seeing that a representative from Solar One was going to talk about solar power, I RSVPed for this lecture. However, I was not prepared for the exhaustive and long presentation by Ron Shiffman from the Pratt Institute, who consumed more time than was necessary for himself (more than an hour of the allotted hour and a half for the event!). Despite robbing Solar One of presentation time, Shiffman explored interesting projects and ideas (in a rather unorganized manner), but nonetheless, he was an informative speaker. He touched on the “Neighborhood Housing Movement” which sought to revitalize Bedford Stuyvesant through social, physical, and economic development and by creating an informed citizenry. While speaking of this project, Shiffman identified two limiting factors to sustainability: 1) we are currently limited by the technology that we presently have, and 2) we cannot ignore the needs of the most impoverished, factors that I had never considered before.
Ron Shiffman then spoke of Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn and the current plans to develop the area to create sixteen 30 - 60 story buildings. Aside from creating a “wall” or “barrier” and clashing with the surrounding neighborhood, half of the housing from these buildings would be reserved for non-Brooklynites. In comparison, Shiffman detailed an alternative plan to create small blocks instead of one huge one, that would be given off to different investors, architects, and developers that would promote housing for the people of the area and community service. The alternative plan seeks to redistribute and diffuse people to lower the congestion in the area.
Columbia University’s plans to expand its campus in the Upper West Side and create an academic mixed-use space was criticized by Shiffman in place of an alternative plan to create a mixed-use community and campus that would not displace the artists, artisans, musicians, and craftspeople of Manhattanville, Morningside, and Hamilton and to create living wage jobs for the residents of these areas. In deconstructing Columbia’s plan for expansion, Shiffman noted that the plan posed an environmental concern, for Columbia planned on building on an evacuation zone that would be subject to flooding and surges in the future.
Shiffman closed by warning us that when looking to the future, we should make sure that we’re not further contributing to global warming and other environmental issues and that we need to learn how to adapt to rising sea levels and increased temperatures.
Chris Nidel from Solar One then took the floor, and introduced Solar One as an environmental education organization that became an advocacy group for supporting the use of renewable energy, specifically increasing the amount of electricity generated from photovoltaic cells. Unfortunately, his presentation was rushed and not very informative. He touched on five issues concerning the use of photovoltaic cells in New York City: 1) we currently have high electricity costs ($0.195/kWh) and by producing our own electricity with solar panels, we would buy less from ConEdison, etc., 2) using solar power would make New York City’s electricity grid more reliable, thus decreasing the likelihood of blackouts, 3) solar power, unlike fossil fuels, does not contribute to smog formation by releasing sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and particulate matter, 4) converting to renewable sources of energy like solar power would help New York City realize its goal of reducing its carbon emissions by 30% by 2030, and 5) local “Green-collared” jobs (solar panel installers, etc.) would be created, decreasing unemployment. Nidel closed by touching on the Empire State Solar Initiative (ESSI) that hopes to make New York State a solar industry and to create financial incentives to make solar power more affordable. The ESSI would have to stimulate local business and only through rapid growth would the costs of solar energy decrease.
After both presentations, the floor was open for questions. One of these questions was addressed to Nidel, asking for a disadvantage of solar power. Nidel replied that since solar energy is an “intermittent technology,” there is an issue of storing this power for extended periods of times, thus propagating the development of means by which to reserve heliogenic power for later use. Elias Saber-Khiabani
I’ve always been interested in the concept of solar power and wanted to learn more about it, however, I ended up being really interested in the Pratt institute as well, even though I wasn’t expecting to get much out of that speaker particularly. He spoke about their role in connecting different communities through common development projects. He emphasized the importance of quality when working for development and how this signifies the importance of environmental sustainability. Overall he left me with a very clear image of what the goal of urban development should be; serving the people. His speech about the importance of teaching people about democracy and getting them involved in their community reminded me of the movie we saw in class about the development in Boston.
The speaker for solar one spoke of the benefits of solar power and how it could decrease the likelihood of blackouts, improve public health by reducing pollution, lessen contributions to climate change, and create new jobs. What was most important to me was his discussion of the Empire State Solar Initiative, which works to create special financial incentives to make solar power more affordable. When I’m deciding on the energy source for my own future house one day, hopefully I’ll be able to apply the information I got from this event into my decision making. - Saira Hafeez
JB Estil
The mobilization of community groups can be the most effective vehicle for producing public policy. However the notion is much easier said than done. As Richard Schiffman - a professor of graduate studies at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn - will attest, the development and implementation of public policy in underdeveloped, low-income communities is often an uphill battle requiring the partnership of both civic and community leaders in order to achieve concrete results.
Schiffman has long understood the importance of community groups and public policy. His dissertation involved creating innovative community development corporations (CDCs) whose purpose was to advocate community redevelopment in areas suffering from government neglect or land developer exploitation.
In 1973 approximately 37,000 housing units were lost each year in New York City. Local banks were buying out vacant properties and neighboring residents in order to develop large scale buildings which raised real estate prices, effectively driving out low income families from the few affordable housing units available in New York City. Schiffman described the birth of CDCs coming out of a determination to address the community’s concerns whenever the government acts in its own self interest at the expense of its denizens. Schiffman oversaw the development of the first CDC as a response to government agencies and banks displacing thousands of New Yorkers living in low income communities such as Washington Heights and Bedford-Styuvesant. According to Schiffman the best response to corporate abuses is to confront them head on as a unified body. CDCs not only unified those affected by the large scale gentrification in these low income neighborhoods, but gave them the critical voice to gain support from their elected officials.
The first CDC was established in 1973; the Community Development Corporation of Bedford-Stuyvesant served as a model entity. Within a few years there were over 5,000 CDCs throughout the nation. Although serving different communities with specific problems, every CDC was united in its commitment to address the abuses of overzealous land developers and promote the growth and fitness of low income communities.
Low income communities are disadvantaged in that they possess relatively little political clout. Without a voice to challenge the proposals of large land development corporations, such communities are powerless to prevent development that will raise property values, consequently driving them out of their homes. Therefore, CDCs mitigate the interests of both the community and the developer to create a plan that will best serve both parties.
A common issue advocated by CDCs is the that of affordable housing. Inclusionary zoning is central to most CDCs because it ensures that land developers provide affordable housing to a certain percentage of people. This condition is meant to protect low income familes and individuals by securing their living units. However, Schiffman warns that even with inclusionary zoning, there are still enough loopholes for developers to undermine the efforts of CDCs. Therefore, CDCs actively seek the the committment of elected officials and the passing of relevant legislation to ensure the protection of these lower income individuals.
Schiffman addresses some of the specific community development issues throughout New York City including: Atlantic Yards and Manhattanville. Overall, Schiffman is optimistic in the proper development of these areas as long as CDCs continue to mitigate between the community, civic authorities, and the developer. However, he believes that environmental issues will soon take precendence over traditional CDC challenges as New York City and other metropolises will have to address the issue of global warming. With sea levels steadily rising over the last few decades, Schiffman predicts that it will be only a matter of time before New York will see a considerable difference in its shoreline. This new “challenge or opporunity” as Schiffman regards present-day environmental issues will be more an issue of adaptation than land development.
While reflecting on his accomplishments throughout the last forty-somewhat years, Schiffman remakrs, “Our generation really fouled up…[though] I was actually thinking of something else”. With an even greater challenge that cannot be solved through mitigation and legislation, the nature of CDCs is slowly evolving. Our gerneration must deal not only with what Schiffman refers to as the “mistakes of his generation” but the myriad of environmental problems making its way to the forefront. Posted 3/10/09
I attended the common event at the Macaulay Center on March 8, 2009. The speakers for this event were Chris Neidl from Solar One and Ron Shiffman from the Pratt Institute. I chose this even primarily because of the Solar One project. I am personally interested in the role that renewable energy resources will play in the future of New York City and in the Solar One project in particular because they are located within the city and in close proximity to the Hunter dorms.
I believe that I did gain a lot of knowledge from attending this event. I learned that the utilization of Photo-voltaics within New York City could significantly decrease summer black outs throughout the city. Solar power could also improve air quality by decreasing the amount of smog and displacing pollution. The installment of photo-voltaics around New York would subsequently increase the employment rates within the green jobs industry. Christ Neidl also discussed the fact that the only way to get New Yorkers to support solar power as a favored source of electricity is by decreasing the price of solar energy, which would stimulate the industry. The most effective way to decrease the price of solar energy is to write to New York State lobbyists. 03.09.09 Alexandra Koenig
Solar One & Pratt Institute
This seminar attracted me for two main reasons. Ron Shiffman came to discuss the material we see in class. What clinched the choice was the second part of the presentation about solar power. I was not disappointed. Mr. Shiffman both presented information in new light and at the same time reaffirmed certain important principles, in particularly the importance of organization. Chris Neidl did the same in his presentation, so I was glad to see that both speakers not only provide mere rhetoric by also offer means to accomplish the goals. As predicted Shiffman did talk about our class topics. In fact he specifically talked about our Mini Studio topics such as Atlantic Yards and Columbia. In both cases, he argued against building, which was contrary to my previously held opinion. Personally I disagreed that Columbia University shouldn’t built, I was fully behind them. However, when he showed the particular business that would be lost and talked about how the lower classes would be displaced almost on a case by case basis, I got to see the other side of it, and my opinion was at least shaken. I enjoyed that because I think it’s always good to challenge one’s views. Boris F. 03.12.09
Solar One Presentation
I am extremely interested in environmental studies and green technologies, so I was excited to watch a presentation on a top green technology, solar. However, surprisingly, that was not the only presentation going on at the common event. Before the Solar 1 presentation began a professor at the Pratt Institute walked up to the podium and discussed his Center for Community and Environmental Development. Then Solar 1 was introduced and its campaign, I Heart PV (Photovultaics). The presenter discussed the various benefits for NYC to invest in solar energy. For example, during the summer, when the most energy is used and concurrently NYC spends the most money on it, solar panels would provide the most energy because there’s more sunlight. Also, one megawatt of PV would provide eleven more jobs to the community. Katie Horner 3.19.09
Pratt Institute and Solar One
The Pratt Institute and Solar One common event was very interesting because it combined some of the aspects of the CHC seminars from last semester and this semester. The man from the Pratt Institute discussed Atlantic Yards, which was one of the projects discussed in class. He mentioned that the kinds of buildings being constructed would ruin the overall atmosphere of the neighborhood. He expressed how he is a strong advocate of diverse group planning so there would be different groups involved in the decision making process. His other ideas involve splitting up the buildings with the streets and creating more connection between the neighborhoods. Other than this project, he was very interested in community design and environmental development. The Solar One representative discussed the beneficial use of solar energy. This presentation left a good impression about how important it is to invest in long-term green technologies. Shaziya Ali 3.19.09
Solar One
I have always been interested in solar power. That’s why I chose to attend Solar One and Pratt Institute seminar. I expected the second speaker to offer information complementing our class material. In Solar One I expected a more general oration on the current methods and common knowledge about photovoltaic plates. I was pleasantly surprised when Chris Neidl presented the Empire State Social Initiative (ESSI). This plan reminded me of the great visions by urban planners such as Frank Lloyd Wright because of the magnitude of the plan. The basic goal is to create a 100-fold increase of PVs in ten years by going through Albany, a feat in today’s economy. Neidl also described five reasons for utilizing solar power, one of which I ddn’t even know, which is that solar power can benefit the eletricity grid. That presentation informed me that there is a concrete plan to turn New York into the solar capital of the country. Ron Shiffman delved into the concrete topics we discussed in class. As I expected, much of what he said went along with our class discussion. Overall I agreed with what he said, the main idea of which was to not neglect those who are not as privelaged as others. Raj Mathew 03.22.09