Our local sustainability movement has been shifting the culture in the Ithaca area at an accelerating rate. All those individual choices add up to an emerging paradigm that values long-term well being for all.
Local Signs of Sustainability
November 30, 2007
Ithaca is Sustainability
Sure we all think that our town is one of the most progressive around and that those in Ithaca are constantly thinking about and exploring sustainability. Using a tool created by Google – we can prove that that is the case. Google Trends tracks the amount of Google searches done on words and shows trends over time and by city. Guess which city appeared at the top for the trend of ‘sustainability‘? Check out sustainability for more information.
October 30, 2007
Ithaca is Sunny
New information released by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority this fall further confirms that Tompkins County is indeed a Solar Capital, in terms of installed photovoltaics (PV) per capita. In the last 5 years, 310 PV systems have been installed statewide using NYSERDA incentives. Tompkins County leads NY both in kilowatts of photovoltaics installed, at 287, and in total number of systems, at 36. This represents over $2 million in investments, and does not include the many existing off-grid systems. New information released by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority this fall further confirms that Tompkins County is indeed a Solar Capital, in terms of installed photovoltaics (PV) per capita. In the last 5 years, 310 PV systems have been installed statewide using NYSERDA incentives. Tompkins County leads NY both in kilowatts of photovoltaics installed, at 287, and in total number of systems, at 36. This represents over $2 million in investments, and does not include the many existing off-grid systems.
The 147 kilowatt PV arrray on the roof of the County library was, at the time of installation in 2000, the largest on the east coast. It now ranks in the top 300 in the world.
This October, the National Tour of Solar homes featured 13 places in Tompkins County, and each had at least 70 visitors, totaling over 300 people. This is a national tour, with thousands of homes involved, yet there are many states that do not have 13 homes participating, much less small counties.( Tompkins County population is 105,000) In New England, no other county comes close to Tompkins in the number of homes, or the number of visitors. We even had 4 van loads of paying tourers.
New York, with the available $4-a-watt rebate, enjoys the third best PV incentive in the nation, behind California and New Jersey.
There are now 4 renewable energy companies working in this area, and the system installation waiting list is long and growing fast. Statewide, there are only 38 NYSERDA qualified installers.
While New York has 40% less annual solar insolation than the sunny cities of Las Vegas and San Diego, it does have 25% more than Germany, the worldwide leader in installed photovoltaic capacity.
World wide, on a per-capita basis, Luxembourg leads with 58 watts per inhabitant, with Germany at 10, Japan at 8.7, the Netherlands at 3 and Austria at 2 Watts per person.
In the US, Tompkins County is now at 2.9 watts, behind only Palo Alto, CA which has 4 watts.
If we were a country, Tompkins County would possibly rank 6 th in the world on a per capita basis, and certainly in the top ten!
