All Things Political: Who will protect our environment?

Adam Haber

I travel a fair amount for both business and pleasure.

For me, one of the joys of air travel is watching the skyline of a destination as the plane approaches the airport for landing.

What I have been seeing with greater frequency of late is many cities are covered in a brown haze of air pollution. London, Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix, Denver and South Florida are all recent destinations where I have witnessed poor air quality. New York City and Long Island are no better.

Recent political developments lead me to believe that protecting our environment, particularly our air quality, is of little importance to our new President.

Scott Pruitt, recently appointed by President Trump, was confirmed to lead the Environmental Protection Agency. He is a horrific choice.

Pruitt and his supporters firmly believe the EPA’s regulations are a drag on the economy.

Fossil fuel production is his first option to bring back good paying jobs, as opposed to investing in Green Energy.

Never considered are the increased costs in health care and global warming (which many on the political far right don’t believe is real). What seems to be happening with the recent Trump cabinet appointments is he is picking billionaires looking out for each other, environment be damned, as opposed to the well being of all.

So, what can we do?

In New York State, Gov. Cuomo has championed the cause of 50 percent of New York State energy production coming from renewable sources by the year 2030, up from roughly a little more than 26 percent today.

One way we can get there is through a New York State plan called K-SOLAR.

Right off the New York Power Authority website here is a description of the program: “K-SOLAR, a joint program of the New York Power Authority (NYPA) and New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), will provide NYS school districts, at no cost and no obligation, with the tools, and expertise to bring solar energy to their facilities and reduce their energy costs.”

We are investigating K-SOLAR for Roslyn Public Schools where I am a school board trustee.

In Roslyn, an average size school district in New York State, we spend roughly $700,000 per year on electricity.

Through K-SOLAR we would save roughly 25 percent on our electric bill, about $175,000 per year, with no up front costs, and our community would be saved from breathing in the pollution from fossil fueled electric power.

If every one of the 700 public school districts in New York State took advantage of the K-SOLAR program, the savings for public education would total over $120 million a year, with the additional benefit of cleaner air for all New York State residents.

Certain towns on Long Island, such as Southampton, have already mandated solar panels for all new construction on homes of a certain size.

The Town of Babylon has a forward thinking “Long Island Green Homes Program” that provides homeowners with an opportunity to make energy saving improvements to their homes.

The Town of Brookhaven also has a similar program. The Town of North Hempstead is participating in the “New York-Sun “Solarize” campaign, aimed at getting more homes and businesses to install solar, and begin saving money on their energy bills.”

I am so excited about pushing to go solar in Roslyn Schools I investigated solar panels for my home and am going for it.

Turns out when I purchase a home solar system I will receive over $17,000 in Federal and New York State tax credits, and the system will pay for itself in eight years.

The average annual return on my investment will be 14 percent per year, as I will save almost $150,000 over the life of the solar system.

Just my home will save 620,000 pounds of CO2 from entering the atmosphere.

Looking at another way, it’s the same as if I planted five acres of trees. I can’t imagine a better investment to make.

I am using the company Green Logic Energy, and recommend them.

To combat air pollution, and protect against the soon to be enacted Federal policies pushing for greater use of fossil fuels, residents, school districts and local governments should lead the way in protecting our vulnerable environment. Clean air must be a top priority, and solar power is an important part of our future for protecting air quality.

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