+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
New York Cuts Carbon Emissions by 13%, Mayor Bloomberg Says
2010-09-30 19:44:05.133 GMT
By Henry Goldman
Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) -- New York City cut carbon emissions
by 13 percent between 2005 and 2009 as part of a plan to lower
levels of climate-changing gases over the next two decades,
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.
Energy-conservation measures, including more-efficient
street lighting and heating systems in city-owned buildings, led
to a 4.2 percent drop in 2009 from the previous year, to 49.3
million metric tons of "greenhouse gas" emissions, the mayor
said in the city's fourth annual carbon inventory. Less use of
coal-fired electrical plants upstate also cut the city's carbon
output, according to the report.
The inventory, required by city law, tracks progress made
after the mayor established a program dubbed PlaNYC in 2007 with
the goal of cutting citywide carbon emissions to 30 percent
below 2005 levels by 2030. Less fossil-fuel consumption will
reduce pollution and U.S. dependence on foreign oil while
improving productivity and competitiveness, Bloomberg has said.
"We have to keep the pressure on to continue our
progress," the mayor said in a news release. "We will never
meet the ambitious goals we set in PlaNYC without solid data to
measure our progress. As I've always said: If you can't measure
it, you can't manage it."
Building heating and cooling systems account for 78 percent
of emissions in the city, with vehicular traffic responsible for
about 20 percent, according to the city.
To achieve energy savings, the mayor has encouraged
building owners to modernize climate-control systems, coat roofs
with white reflective paint and install rooftop-insulating
gardens that also capture rainwater to reduce storm drain and
sewer overflows.
The mayor is founder and majority owner of Bloomberg News
parent Bloomberg LP.
--Editors: Mark Schoifet, Ted Bunker
To contact the reporters on this story:
Henry Goldman in New York City Hall at +1-212-964-9157 or
hgoldman@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Mark Tannenbaum at +1-212-617-1962 or
mtannen@bloomberg.net .
