NY Climate Tech: August 1 to August 7
Passive houses, park picnics, and policy planning
Hi all,
Great to see everyone who braved the heat, humidity, and ominous skies for the meetup last week!
August is off to an appropriately languid start, with a casual first week. Dial into Building Energy Exchange’s Passive House Primer tomorrow, and the first of several Passive House workshops they’re hosting online this month. Then take the rest of the week off and spend Saturday outside, either at the Friends and Climate picnic in Fort Greene or the Green Fest on the Newark waterfront.
Cheers,
Alec and Sonam
This Month’s Theme: Climate Policy
We’re trying something new: a monthly theme to focus on different elements of climate in our newsletter and events.
This month we’re addressing one of the most important, stressful, and difficult parts of climate change: climate policy. We’ll be hosting a talk on August 11th specifically about New York’s climate legislation and what you can do to help make it the most ambitious in the country. RSVP for Climate and NY: What’s Next in Politics, Policy, and Tech at Brooklyn Grange’s massive rooftop farm at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, featuring Spring Street Climate Fund and ways to shape the development of policy at the state and local level. We look forward to seeing you among the greens!
We’re also rolling out a new version of this newsletter for the Bay Area.
Sign up here!
Want to see events for another city next? Let us know!
Hot Take: The One We’ve Been Waiting For
In a late July surprise, the Senate Democrats had their cake and ate it too. Immediately following the passage of the CHIPs Act by Republicans, the Democrats delivered a 1-2 punch aptly marketed as “The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.” Following months of negotiations among Senate Democrats, mainly between our New York hometown hero Senator Chuck Schumer and West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin (often found to be a hero among the fossil fuel industry), we finally have a climate deal!
If passed, this will be our country’s biggest investment in renewable energy - four times larger than our last investment in clean energy back in 2009. There are lots of pages - 752 to be exact - outlining everything from tax incentives for private industry to produce renewable energy to rebates for individuals to purchase heat pumps and electric vehicles. Our friends at ClimateTech VC have a fantastic line-by-line breakdown of the bill. Here are the highlights:
The Inflation Reduction Act billions of dollars to help industry and consumers wean ourselves off of fossil fuels and incentivize the development and use of clean energy infrastructure. Chart by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, reproduced by Adrian Blanco of The Washington Post.
☀️ $260B in clean energy tax credits: Utilities will get tax subsidies for the production of renewable energy such as solar, wind, and hydropower. There are also incentives for manufacturing parts like wind turbines or solar panels. The goal is to make renewable energy production cheaper than fossil fuels.
🚗 $80B in rebates for green consumers: If you’re buying a new electric vehicle, you can get up to $7,500 for the purchase. Are you in line for an ever dwindling supply of used EVs? The government will give you a $4,000 credit. There are over $9 billion available for home energy rebates for those retrofitting their homes with heat pumps and solar panels. All this together could save consumers almost $2,000 a year on their energy bills according to Rewiring America.
🔋 $27B for a green bank: A Clean Energy and Sustainability Accelerator would leverage public and private funds to invest in cleantech and infrastructure, which can jumpstart early stage technologies and deployment in underserved areas.
🌾 $20B for climate-focused farming: These funds would help farmers reduce emissions, incentivizing the use of regenerative agriculture practices, reducing water and fertilizer, and jumpstarting carbon sequestration and storage practices.
🏘 $3B for environmental justice initiatives: Block grants will support community projects that address the public health consequences stemming from climate disasters.
The United States is the largest emitter of greenhouse gasses in history. It’s up to us to address our wrongs, especially given the deeply destructive impact climate change is having on lower income countries across the globe, which emit a tiny fraction of the GHG emissions of their wealthier counterparts. This bill keeps us fighting the good fight, reducing emissions ~40% by 2030 - short of the Biden administration’s previously stated goals of reducing emissions 50% by 2030, but fairly close.
Models by Energy Innovation show that the policies in the Inflation Reduction Act would cut US greenhouse gas emissions 37-41% by 2030. Chart by Energy Innovation.
Thousands of people across the country - who’ve spent decades advocating for clean energy reforms at the local, state, and federal levels - have gotten us to this point. We owe our thanks to all of them! While not perfect, this bill is a big step in the right direction for a clean energy future.
By Sonam Velani
Events This Month
Events This Week:
🏡 Passive House Primer: Tue, Aug 2
🎡 Green Fest Newark at the River: Sat, Aug 6
🧺 Friends and Climate Picnic: Sat, Aug 6
Events August 8-14:
🥂 SILC's Sustainability Professionals Networking Night: Tue, Aug 9
🏛 A Conversation with Council Member Jim Gennaro: Tue, Aug 9
🗳 Climate Change and Environmental Justice in Harlem: Wed, Aug 10
☀️ Decarbonizing NYC: Summer of Solar Workshop (Hybrid): Wed, Aug 10
🗽 Climate and NY: What’s Next in Politics, Policy, and Tech: Thu, Aug 11
🌱 Climate Mobilization Act Primer: Thu, Aug 11
🪴 Wildgrid Plant Swap: Sat, Aug 13
Events August 15-21:
👩🏻🔬 Ask a Scientist: Nerd Nite: Tue, Aug 16
🍹 Green Drinks Brooklyn: Wed, Aug 17
🗽 NY Climate Tech Meetup August: Thu, Aug 18
Events August 22-28:
🙋🏻♀️ Women & Climate NYC Networking Dinner: Tue, Aug 23
For the Early Birds:
🧬 For Climate Tech Summit and Global Innovation Challenge, Sept 13-15
🗽 Climate Week NYC, Sept 19-25
👩🏻🔬 Women and Climate Celebration, Sept 20
🦋 The Nest Summit, Sept 21-22
🏡 Passive House Primer
When: Tue, August 2, 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM
Where: Online
BE-Ex’s Passive House Primer is an engaging, one-hour seminar on Passive House fundamentals and their application in the real estate market. Available as a free session at the Building Energy Exchange, the Primer is ideal for property owners, managers, developers, and anyone interested in gaining a plain-English introduction to high-performance construction concepts. Architects, engineers, and design professionals new to Passive House will also benefit from this fun, introductory course.
🎡 Green Fest Newark at the River
When: Sat, August 6, 12:00 PM – 4:00 PM EDT
Where: Newark Riverfront Park, Somme Street Entrance, 709 Raymond Boulevard, Newark, NJ 07105
Join us on the Newark waterfront for a day of FREE family-friendly activities featuring healthy food demos and a farmer's market, eco-friendly interactive workshops, kayaking, music performances, yoga, sustainable vendors, giveaways and more!
🧺 Friends and Climate Picnic
When: Sat, August 6, 12:00 PM - 3:00 PM EDT
Where: Fort Greene Park, Dekalb Avenue & S Portland Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11205
Women & Climate NYC is excited to host a mixed Friends & Climate Picnic in Fort Greene Park! Stop by to enjoy the park, meet members and allies of our Community, and make new friends! The picnic will be BYO/ potluck-style, so please bring your own blanket and snacks/drinks to share with the group. We will meet on the lawn south of the monument; feel free to bring a +1! We can't wait to see you!
Join the Fun!
Submit Events
We know all of you are cooking up great events across New York that highlight the latest and greatest in our collective effort to save our city - and our planet! 🌍 We would love to spread the word. Please share any event details and we'll add them to the list.
Volunteer
We're excited to grow the Climate Tech community in cities across the globe - starting right here in our hometown of New York! 🗽 What started as an 8-person mid-pandemic outdoor dinner has since morphed into a 1,000+ strong and ever-growing group of rockstars trying to change the world. We're looking for volunteers to help us expand our programming into a full roster of community-wide meetups, subject-specific events, mentorship programs, site visits, and more. We aim to be a community resource - built for and by our community. Share your thoughts and we look forward to working with you!