The four red and white smokestacks that loom over the western edge of Queens are a familiar sight to New Yorkers, but a plan to convert the Ravenswood Generating station to 100% renewables could mean that their days of spewing smoke are coming to an end.
Ravenswood currently supplies about 20% of NYC’s electricity by burning natural gas and oil, running four large generator, the largest of which is nicknamed Big Allis. As Solar One got to see on a field trip there many years ago, the amount of fuel required to keep the turbines spinning at Ravenswood is awe-inspriing…and terrifying. It also contributes to some of the worst air quality in town; child asthma rates in the three NYCHA housing developments that surround the plant are significantly higher than in the rest of Queens.
Its emissions are also at odds with New York’s ambitious climate goals, which is why the current owner, Rise, Light and Power, is working on a plan to convert to zero-emissions, 100% renewable generation.
At the end of June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the federal Environmental Protection Agency did not have the authority to mandate emissions from power plants in West Virginia v. EPA. This decision has been widely seen as a blow to the country’s ability to meet its climate goals, which would also give other countries an excuse not to meet their own.
The U.S. Senate’s passage this past Sunday of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is the single most important act by the U.S. Government ever to combat climate change. While the total package is $740 billion, approximately $375 billion will go to efforts to fight climate change, and experts believe it will 
Atlantic hurricane season is upon us, and the forecast is for storm activity 65% above normal. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Climate Prediction Center’s 2022 Atlantic Hurricane Season forecast predicts 14 to 21 named storms with winds of 39 mph or higher, with six to 10 of those possibly becoming hurricanes with winds of 74 mph or higher, and three to six possibly becoming major hurricanes with winds of 111 mph or higher. It’s also a La Niña year, the weather pattern that contributed to the 2010-2012 hurricane season that produced Irene and Sandy (map shows Sandy hitting the East Coast on October 29, 2012).
Climate chaos, soaring inflation, drought, war- if you’ve been following the news lately, you’ve seen the dire predictions of a looming food crisis. And even more people will need food in the years to come. In fact, a new study from Stanford University’s Carnegie Institute estimates that the global food supply will need to double by 2050 in order to feed everyone adequately.
This spring, NYC has already experienced a few days of unseasonably hot temperatures- and we should all expect many more to come over the next few months, both in New York and across the US.