Mayor Bloomberg Announces More Than $100 Million in Financing and New Resources to Help Buildings Convert to Clean Heating Fuels and Improve New York City Air Quality.
Leading Banks, Energy Providers and Environmental Groups Partner to Quicken Clean Heat Conversions in Buildings that Could Not Otherwise Afford It
Resources Advance New PlaNYC Emissions Target, Saving Lives and Improving Air Quality
Mayor Michael R.
Bloomberg today announced more than $100 million in financing and other new resources to help city buildings convert to cleaner fuels.
The financing and assistance results from innovative partnerships between leading banks, energy providers and environmental groups, and are a part of the NYC Clean Heat program the Mayor launched last year to help buildings meet cleaner fuel requirements.
In 2011, the City set new regulations to ban the heaviest heating oils -- No.
4 and No.
6 -- that are still used in approximately 10,000 buildings and significantly contribute to air pollution.
Eliminating those fuels will help meet Mayor Bloomberg's aggressive new PlaNYC goal to reduce soot pollution by 50 percent by 2013, saving 120 lives and preventing 300 asthma-related hospital visits.
The conversions are also expected to generate $300 million in construction activity.
The Mayor made the announcement at the Eastchester Heights Apartments in the Bronx, a housing development that recently converted to natural gas and was formerly one of the top 10 users of heavy oil in the City.
He was joined by Deputy Mayor for Operations Cas Holloway; Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Carter Strickland; Director of the Office for Long-term Planning and Sustainability David Bragdon; Director of Energy Policy Sergej Mahnovski; Douglas Durst, Chairman of The Durst Organization and Chair of the NYC Clean Heat Task Force; Priscilla Almodovar, Head of Chase Community Development Banking; Gary Hattem, President of Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation; Claude Trahan, Senior Vice President for Gas Operations at Con Edison; Ken Daly, President of National Grid; Bill Hanna, Vice President of Hess Energy Solutions; Eric Pooley, Senior Vice President for Strategy and Communications for the Environmental Defense Fund; Paul Pariser, co-CEO of Taconic Investment Partners and Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr.
Wednesday, June 13th, 2012 - Eastchester, The Bronx
