Solar Energy: BASIC in Brooklyn
New technology a
viable source for many communities
By Rahul Chadha
About a year and a half ago representatives from Community Energy
Inc. approached management at The Brooklyn Brewery with a novel idea.
The company was looking for customers to buy power that was generated by
a group of windmills they had built upstate in Madison County. They
contacted Stephen Hindy, the former AP correspondent who transmuted his
love for beer into the landmark brewing facility that churns out the
beer of choice for Williamsburg's bed-headed hipsters. "We thought it
was kind of a cool idea," says Hindy, the founder and president of
Brooklyn Brewery, located at 79 North 11th Street. However, for the next
few months Hindy and his crew didn't give the idea much thought other
than to talk it over a few times. "Then we had the blackout in August of
2003, and that kind of brought the problem home to us," he says.
A few weeks after the power went out, the Brewery announced that it
would purchase all of the energy it would consume for the next five
years from Community Energy, becoming the first brewery in the eastern
part of the country to switch completely to wind power. By the Brewery's
estimates, the move has saved the environment from 335,000 pounds of
carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere annually, about the
equivalent of the amount of carbon dioxide generated by a car driven
290,000 miles. It also exorcised some liberal guilt Hindy had been
carrying with him in the face of a community dead set against a proposal
to add a power plant to the Greenpoint waterfront.
"We always felt a little guilty about opposing a power plant because
we use a lot of energy," says Hindy. "We thought this would demonstrate
that it's feasible to use renewable energy. And it's created quite a bit
of interest among consumers.”
Hindy would likely argue that brand-strengthening and eco-tourists
showing up to get a gander at the Brewery's windmill (which is located
many, many miles from Brooklyn) were just some of the unintended
positive side effects of switching to a renewable energy resource for
his power needs. And while proponents of alternative energy sources
would argue the benefits are many, businesses like the Brooklyn Brewery
remain in a very small minority, even in the face of a disconcerting
energy outlook faced by New York City. According to a report issued in
January of this year by the New York Energy Policy Task Force, a group
of energy experts appointed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an annual
increase of 1.5 percent in the city's energy consumption will
"necessitate new generation and transmission facilities and expanded
distributed resources measures."
The report, which weighs in at a hefty 57 pages, makes only the
briefest mention of energy sources such as fuel cells, and only once
references two design projects being helmed by the city's Department of
Design and Construction's Office of Sustainable Design that incorporate
photovoltaics into roof and exterior wall materials.
On this front, at least, organizations such as the non-profit Big
Apple Solar Installation Commitment (BASIC) have been striving to
convince Brooklynites of the viability of solar power as a viable energy
resource in the city. Jeff Perlman, who co-founded BASIC about 18 months
ago, had initially been drawn towards photovoltaics (the same technology
that powers solar calculators) while doing some consulting work with an
installer. "We realized that there was a complete lack of education and
information on solar energy in the city, and probably the country, and
we decided to do something about it," says Perlman. One of his major
concerns is that in the near future, New York City will not only fall
short in its ability to generate power, but also to distribute it.
According to Perlman, as the demand for electricity increases the city's
aging electrical grid nears the ceiling of its carrying capacity. Solar
energy provides a neat solution to the problem by allowing the energy to
be produced where it is used.
Getting people to sign on to buy the cells and get them installed,
however, has taken some effort. Tax credits from the government are
confusing and irregular when it comes to alternative energy production
means. At a program called "Clean Energy in New York" hosted by the
Brooklyn Brewery in late October, part of Perlman's presentation
included a telling graphic that showed a net gain by the consumer when
tax credits kicked in one year, and losses the next when the credits
themselves are taxed by the federal government.
Perlman himself says that most of his time recently has been spent
trying to find financing options for those looking to get green, solar
style. Part of Perlman's pitch is to convince home or business owners to
think of solar panels as an investment with returns coming in between
five and seven years down the line. But Perlman worries there are still
too many impediments that could derail a consumer interested in
photovoltaics. "Any of the hassles have to be absorbed by the people
doing the work so that getting solar panels installed would just involve
making a phone call," he says. Still he holds hope. "It's so eminently
possible. It makes sense and it works. It's just a question of getting
people to learn about the technology and then adopting it."
In the war on fossil fuels, Perlman has allies. The Graham Avenue
Business Improvement District and, more specifically, Executive Director
Betty Cooney, have been working to wrangle property owners into
investing in solar cells. Most of Brooklyn makes for good solar power.
Making the panels a realistic option requires nothing more than a roof
that is unshaded or facing south, flat, and with 250 square feet to
spare. Many of the buildings (and the 180 or so businesses) that
comprise the Graham Avenue BID qualify easily. So far Cooney says she
has spoken with owners of seven buildings in the BID who have expressed
a serious interest in the technology, and is hopeful that as more fall
into the fold, the city government will take a more active role in
implementing solar power in the buildings they own in the area, which
include two senior centers and a public school.
"It's a dollars and cents thing," Cooney says. "If it's a lot of
dollars you're going to look at it skeptically. But if it makes sense,
why not do it?" And to Cooney, it makes the most sense for commercial
businesses. "I think the only thing insurmountable [about implementing
solar panels] is people not looking forward," says Cooney. "If you only
look as far as the nose on your face, you're going to walk into a
lamppost."
There is some irony in the fact that a dearth of energy in '77 is
credited with the decline of the Graham Avenue business corridor, the
largest shopping district in Williamsburg. Businesses had a hard time
recovering from the riots that accompanied the blackout of that year.
Cooney hopes to accrue some of the marketing capital that alternative
energy production can bring to help business owners within the BID,
allowing today's energy production means to solve a problem created by
yesterday's.
