{"id":90471,"date":"2026-01-05T23:36:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T23:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/90471\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T23:36:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T23:36:10","slug":"ed-ny-needs-affordable-right-now-solutions-for-energy-future-qns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/90471\/","title":{"rendered":"Ed | NY needs affordable, \u2018right now\u2019 solutions for energy future \u2013 QNS"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the quiet residential blocks of Queens, from College Point<\/a> to Rosedale<\/a>, the rising cost of living continues to squeeze families and constrain household budgets.<\/p>\n

At the same time, a wave of energy mandates threatens\u00a0to further impact New Yorkers anxious about the financial consequences.\n<\/p>\n

While the long-term goal of a greener New York is one we all share, we cannot afford to pursue policies that will drive up costs at the expense of our families\u2019 financial survival or the\u00a0reliability of our power grid<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, we are seeing a welcome shift toward reality in our leadership and away from tunnel vision toward electrification.\n<\/p>\n

A more moderate \u201call-of-the-above\u201d energy stance, including the decision to delay implementation of the state\u2019s All-Electric Buildings Act, is long overdue. Energy diversity that creates more options for New Yorkers is the most common-sense way to achieve affordability and reliability. Now with policymakers returning to Albany to start the new year, they must continue to recognize these practical and financial realities as they advance energy policy.<\/p>\n

Among the most pragmatic, immediate, and cost-effective paths\u00a0forward\u00a0to meet the state\u2019s climate goals is\u00a0the use of biofuels\u00a0for both building heat and transportation.\u00a0Made from resources like cooking grease,\u00a0rendered\u00a0animal fat, and soybean byproducts, biofuels\u2019\u00a0lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions\u00a0are\u00a0up to 86 percent lower<\/a> than those of petroleum diesel.<\/p>\n

The push for electrification as the only viable climate solution often ignores a simple financial truth: Many New York homeowners cannot afford to spend\u00a0thousands of dollars<\/a>\u00a0to rip out their existing heating systems for heat pumps, nor can heavy-duty vehicle operators like trucking\u00a0companies and municipalities\u00a0both replace their entire fleets and install adequate, fast EV chargers at the same time. In contrast, biofuels are a drop-in\u00a0solution,\u00a0meaning they can be used in existing systems and fuel tanks today without\u00a0the\u00a0potentially\u00a0expensive price tag associated with electric upgrades coupled with rising utility costs.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s\u00a0also\u00a0an option\u00a0that\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0burden the\u00a0statewide energy\u00a0grid\u2019s thinning reliability margins, which could\u00a0cause blackouts<\/a> in New York City and Long Island as early as next year.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t a future solution that is unproven at scale. The state already is requiring that biofuels increasingly be used to replace fossil heating oil, with many distributors delivering blends of heating fuel that utilize biofuels well beyond the amounts mandated by the state.<\/p>\n

New York City in particular is leading by example. The city has\u00a0converted<\/a>\u00a0its entire heavy-duty vehicle fleet to\u00a0what\u2019s\u00a0known as\u00a0renewable diesel and is currently\u00a0transitioning\u00a0the Staten Island Ferry. By next summer, all city trucks and vessels\u00a0will be running<\/a> on this clean fuel source.<\/p>\n

The issue is that biofuel supply must continue to increase if more homeowners and municipalities are going to transition from fossil diesel to greater amounts of biofuels. As lawmakers begin their new legislative session, taking up policies like a clean fuel standard would spur practical momentum towards state climate goals, as would policies that allow both biodiesel and renewable diesel to be used for building heat.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, we don\u2019t have to choose between environmental progress today and protecting the pockets of the working-class families who make this city run. For the sake of our neighbors across the city and state, let\u2019s choose a path that is green, reliable, and \u2014 most importantly\u2014 affordable.<\/p>\n

\"\"Allison Heaney. Photo courtesy of Allison Heaney<\/p>\n

Allison Heaney is the president of\u00a0the College Point-based Skaggs-Walsh, a third-generation family-owned business and division of the Energy Conservation Group.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the quiet residential blocks of Queens, from College Point to Rosedale, the rising cost of living continues…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":90472,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[4762,9,24,63,2584,134,136,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-90471","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-staten-island","8":"tag-energy","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-city","11":"tag-nyc","12":"tag-op-ed","13":"tag-staten-island","14":"tag-staten-island-headlines","15":"tag-staten-island-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}