Con Edison Outlines Climate Priorities

Climate Week Events Underscore the Company’s Clean Energy Commitment  

NEW YORK – Con Edison’s energy thought leaders participated in Climate Week events across the city to highlight the company’s efforts to fight climate change and help customers find the right solutions for their energy needs. During Climate Week and throughout the year, Con Edison works to increase awareness of opportunities for New Yorkers to decarbonize and improve their energy efficiency with incentives that make them more affordable and bring down energy costs. 

“Achieving equitable energy solutions is part of our work,” said Con Edison’s Gregory Elcock,vice president of Energy Efficiency & Distributed Resources, said at Climate Week NYC’s Efficiency + Electrification + Affordability: The Recipe for Equitable, Climate-Friendly Buildings Roundtable. “We are designing programs and policies that recognize the diversity of the building stock and living situations of people in New York. It’s a very different thing to electrify a one-family home in Riverdale compared to a rent stabilized building in Bushwick. That means making sure we are providing the resources, outreach, and offerings that meet the needs of all New Yorkers.”

Whether customers want to save money on their monthly energy bills, switch to an electric vehicle or a fleet, or figure out how to comply with New York City Local Law 97, Con Edison experts offer practical solutions.

Frank Cuomo, a general manager in Steam Operations for Con Edison, was the keynote speaker for the BuildingsNY Expo.

“The bottom line is, we want our customers to reach out to us if they have questions about their energy needs,” said Cuomo. “We’re here to help and when possible, defray the cost of shifting to clean-energy technologies with rebates and incentives.”

Con Edison offers programs to help businesses reduce their energy costs and comply with New York City’s Climate Mobilization Act, which requires cutting carbon emissions at least 40 percent by 2030 and 80 percent by 2050.​

Con Edison offers incentives worth up to 70 percent of project costs for eligible measures. Energy incentives for multi-family units for new construction or retrofits can cover up to 85 percent of projects.

Cuomo outlined the company’s efforts to protect its customers from climate change. The company is leading the transition to renewables and low-carbon economy while investing to harden its energy systems against severe weather.

With a deep understanding of the challenges owners of some of New York’s most iconic buildings face in trying to meet their energy efficiency goals, Cuomo discussed the company’s work to decarbonizing the steam system as part of Con Edison’s Clean Energy Commitment.

Transitioning the steam system includes a massive scale-up of technologies to supply clean energy. Con Edison plans significant investments in its steam system relating to clean energy, core service, climate resilience, and customer engagement through 2031.

Clean steam can help customers avoid costly, deep retrofits to their buildings and significant tenant disruption. Steam also frees up valuable space that would otherwise be filled with equipment for heating, hot water, air conditioning, and in some cases humidification and sterilization.

In addition to current steam customers, approximately 6,000 large buildings operating on oil or gas near steam mains could benefit from this transition. Of these buildings, more than 1,000 would have a net-zero cost connection.

At Climate Week NYC’s Roundtable Executive Series on Building City Resilience, Con Edison’s Shaun Smith, director of Distribution Planning, said: “Con Edison is 100 percent committed to a clean energy future and the goals of the CLCPA. We are guided by our Clean Energy Commitment and align our programs, such as Energy Efficiency and Clean Heat, to execute on these goals and focus on improving the lives of people in the communities we serve, including disadvantaged communities and environmental justice areas.”

Smith emphasized the care the company takes to make sure that the right information gets to the right customer and that the information is easy to understand and find.

Cliff Baratta, section manager in Con Edison’s Electric Vehicle Strategy and Markets group, kicked off his remarks at a press conference with Ford Motor Co., and FLO to support investments in infrastructure for a clean energy future, by saying, “Nobody is more excited about EVs than Con Edison.”

“As NYC’s electric utility, Con Edison’s role is nothing less than designing, building and operating the infrastructure that will underpin the entire shift toward electric transportation,” Baratta continued. “That goes hand-in-hand with our commitment to supply 100 percent clean power by 2040, as New York builds out its wind and solar resources.”

A cadre of employees volunteered to support the Friends of Governors Island on a landscape restoration project, with Billion Oyster Project and the Bee Conservancy.

Con Edison volunteers also supported the American Littoral Society for a shoreline cleanup at Spring Creek Park to celebrate International Coastal Cleanup Day.

Con Edison is also a proud supporter of the Fund for Public Housing’s Climate Action Network, a newly launched grant program to fund NYCHA resident-led projects in community climate action and sustainability.