Welcome to the NY-GEO Website

Just In!

Just In! features three or more fresh news item summaries on our home page every Monday, with the ability to comment via the blog link in each summary.

NY-GEO members get an advanced look at the Just In! articles plus several bonus article summaries with links on the Saturday before website publication.

If you enjoy this feature, please consider joining NY-GEO.

There is a lot happening over the next couple months, so please be sure to check out the new Events menu on our website.

1. SF Bans NGas in New City Buildings
2. Cuomo: Make Fracking Ban “Permanent”
3. Massachusetts: Pipes or Wires?
4. Career Corner

1. SF Bans Natural Gas in New City Buildings

Mallory Moench of the San Francisco Chronicle (Jan. 19, 2020) reports:

San Francisco's Board of Supervisors has voted unanimously to ban gas appliances in new and significantly renovated city buildings. It's just the beginning, officials say: The board also passed a law to give incentives for all-electric construction, paving the way for a possible gas ban in all new buildings this year.

Thanks to Jonathan Tham from PSEG-Long Island for this tip.

You can comment here.

2. Cuomo: Make Fracking Ban “Permanent”

The Democrat & Chronicle's Jon Campbell reports:

Gov. Andrew Cuomo wants to make New York's ban on hydraulic fracturing ["fracking"] harder to overturn.

Cuomo, a Democrat, pledged support Tuesday for making the state's fracking ban [link removed because it is behind a paywall] "permanent," meaning it would be set in law and require the legislature to overturn it.

As it stands, the state's ban is held in place by the Department of Environmental Conservation, which oversees gas drilling in New York and is run by a Cuomo appointee. It could easily be overturned by a future governor without lawmakers' approval.

Thanks to Politico New York Energy reporter Marie French's retweet of Susan Arbetter for this tip.

You can comment here.

[Editor's Note: "ACE-NY ED on Capitol Pressroom" item was removed because the links to Capitol Pressroom were not available when this was uploaded.]

Please renew your NY-GEO membership if you haven't already.

See our Facebook page, @NewYorkGEOHP, for other updates.

Summaries and FB page are maintained by Billii Roberti of Green Choices Consulting.

NYSERDA Ground Source Heat Pump video

More Just In!

3. Massachusetts: Pipes or Wires?

Audrey Schulman, the co-executive director of HEET in Massachusetts, wrote a guest article on the Rocky Mountain Institute website. Audrey championed the Energy Shift Pilot Project, an eLab Accelerator Teams project at e-Lab Accelerator 2019. She writes:

After the 2018 explosions in the Merrimack Valley, it has become a community priority to replace gas with other viable heating sources in Massachusetts. Audrey's team explored the business viability of transitioning communities to utility-owned and -operated renewable geothermal district systems. The detailed implementation plans advanced significantly while the team was at Accelerator, and HEET is currently working with utilities on multiple pilot project proposals...

We want to embrace a vision of a future where all the energy for our buildings comes from renewables. We imagine vast fields of solar panels and wind turbines glittering in the sun, all our energy delivered through wires, our electric companies transforming into renewable electricity companies.

And, on a related note, Massachusetts is following New York's lead with a net-zero emissions goal for 2050. Thanks to Politico New York Energy (2020 01 24) for this last news item.

You can comment here.

4. Career Corner

NOTE: AI Certification is necessary for companies wishing to participate in the NYSERDA geothermal rebate program.

Online IGSHPA AI Training

IGSHPA Trainer John Manning will be teaching the IGSHPA Accredited Installer course through a series of weekly Monday evening webinars from February 10th through March 16th. Early bird special registration ends January 17th.

NYSERDA funding will allow New York workers to attend this course at a reduced price and a further early bird discount is available for registration before January 17th. A NATE-proctored exam and fusion training will be available at NY-GEO 2020.

Go here for more information and to register and here for the webinar schedule.

Online Certified Geothermal Designer Course

Are you looking to become a geothermal design professional through IGSHPA's Certified Geothermal Design (CGD) Course? Ed Lohrenz, B.E.S., CGD is conducting this course online Monday evenings from February 10th through April 13th.

NOTE: For participants who will be attending the NY-GEO Conference in Albany, NY March 25-26, 2020, the last three sessions will be presented at the conference. Please see the NY-GEO Conference schedule for further details.

If you're not attending the conference, the final three sessions will continue online ending April 13, 2020.

Registration is now open and 20 PDH credits are offered for engineers.

You can comment here on your training experience.