16 “<strong>The</strong> climate crisis calls for bold and urgent action that promotes investments in transit, renewables, energy efficient buildings and transit-oriented development. <strong>The</strong> result will be a much healthier metropolitan region, both economically and environmentally.” – Ashok Gupta, air and energy program director, Natural Resources Defense Council Chair, Energy/Carbon Working Group Offshore wind turbines © 2009 Bluewater Wind LLC
Energy/Carbon Energy use, fuel consumption, emissions and CO2 avoidance For policymakers worldwide, climate change is now an established fact demanding concerted action. Already, data indicate a closing window of opportunity if we are to forestall the worst environmental and economic effects of global warming. Against this backdrop, the <strong>MTA</strong> offers a working model of high-value infrastructure for a low-carbon economy. <strong>The</strong> <strong>MTA</strong> system provides the rapid mobility essential to a prosperous economy while reducing fossil fuel consumption. As a result, the <strong>MTA</strong> region enjoys one of the highest rates of economic productivity and lowest rates of energy consumption in the world. <strong>The</strong> <strong>MTA</strong> system demonstrates how investment can mitigate global warming while sustaining economic growth. <strong>The</strong> Commission looked at innovative ways to further improve the <strong>MTA</strong> system’s carbon efficiency. <strong>The</strong> resulting recommendations fall into two categories. <strong>The</strong> first is integral to the <strong>MTA</strong>’s mission as the nation’s largest public transit system. With every extension of its transit operations, the <strong>MTA</strong> system takes tens of thousands of additional drivers off the roads (typically on a permanent commuting basis), transporting them instead on fuel-efficient subways, trains, and clean-technology buses – thus reducing oil consumption and CO2 output. A slight increase in transit carbon output typically signals an exponentially higher increase in carbon avoidance. In other words, growing the <strong>MTA</strong>’s carbon footprint actually shrinks the region’s net carbon footprint. Having assumed an even greater global urgency, this traditional mission will continue to be the <strong>MTA</strong>’s foremost contribution to sustainability. Quantifying this regional benefit should provide new ways to identify and evaluate funds or resources for the <strong>MTA</strong>. <strong>The</strong> Commission’s recommendations for expanding <strong>MTA</strong> transit access region-wide are addressed primarily in the Smart-Growth/TOD and Strategy for the 21st Century: Legislative and Policy Recommendations chapters of this report. Total Regional GHG Emissions <strong>Mass</strong> <strong>Transit</strong> Other Transportation <strong>Mass</strong> <strong>Transit</strong> Other Transportation Less <strong>Mass</strong> <strong>Transit</strong> More <strong>Mass</strong> <strong>Transit</strong> A small increase in transit’s carbon footprint typically delivers an exponentially greater decrease in the region’s carbon footprint, resulting in substantial net carbon avoidance. Source: T. Papandreau, LA <strong>Metro</strong> <strong>The</strong> second category, the main focus of this chapter, concerns energy and carbon reductions within the <strong>MTA</strong> system itself. <strong>The</strong> <strong>MTA</strong> has a history of pioneering cleaner, more efficient energy consumption at every level of operations, from the nation’s largest all-CNG bus fleet at Long Island Bus to innovations in track design and green architecture. <strong>The</strong> sustainability gains show up in a number of statistics. For example, the <strong>MTA</strong> accounts for 65 percent of all New York City commutes while using just 5 percent of New York City’s total energy consumption. Likewise, the fact that New Yorkers consume one quarter as much energy per capita as the average American is largely attributable to the <strong>MTA</strong> system. In other words, if the entire nation matched the energy/carbon profile of the <strong>MTA</strong>’s transit radius, we would cut foreign oil dependency dramatically and achieve the Kyoto Protocol carbon emission targets decades ahead of schedule. <strong>The</strong> Commission looked at energy/carbon solutions in all areas of operations, as outlined below. Since no single initiative can radically alter the <strong>MTA</strong>’s current energy consumption, the recommendations focus on a combination of traditional efficiency programs and strategic investments in new energy technologies. Several programs deserve special mention. <strong>The</strong> first involves energy retrofits of <strong>MTA</strong> facilities in conjunction with the New York Power Authority (NYPA), an ongoing program that is projected to save greater than 78,000 megawatt hours of electricity and 123,000 gallons of diesel fuel per year by 2010. Related upgrades to energyefficient lighting throughout the system include compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL) in subway tunnels and lightemitting diode (LED) lighting for the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, one of the first LED lighting systems installed on any major U.S. span. <strong>The</strong> second program of particular note involves the development and piloting of green technology initiatives, including the use of energy generated by solar panels and tidal turbines, as well as testing of energy storage technologies and researching wind energy potential on <strong>MTA</strong> facilities and corridors. <strong>Final</strong>ly, to help obtain 80 percent of the <strong>MTA</strong> electrical power from green sources by 2050, the <strong>MTA</strong> should join forces with NYPA and others to develop the vast potential of offshore wind power. If carried out as recommended, this transformational clean-energy initiative would completely alter the energy/carbon profile of the <strong>MTA</strong> and its service area. Since energy/carbon reductions are a primary goal of all sustainability programs, additional initiatives can be found under the Facilities chapter and the other sections of this report. 17
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