"We could probably reduce our electric bill on the Island by thirty percent." Rivercross resident Bob Liss was speaking of co-generation – a "green" strategy in which heat normally wasted is used instead to generate electricity. He was reporting last week to the Residents Association Common Council about a tour of the Island’s steam plant he had taken with RIOC President Steve Shane, RIOC Board member Mark Ponton, and consulting engineer Willard Warren (also a Rivercross resident).

For years, both Warren and Liss have promoted the co-gen idea with RIOC – the State public-benefit corporation that runs Roosevelt Island – to no avail. But Liss was optimistic as a result of the most recent tour, during which Shane asked representatives of the New York Power Authority (NYPA) to mount a study that would determine the options for use of the plant, which Liss told the RIRA Common Council runs at only 20% capacity – and burns highly polluting number 6 fuel oil.

By late Tuesday, however, NYPA had informed Liss that it would not conduct the proposed study, and Liss was planning to contact NYSERDA, the New York State Energy Resources Development Agency. Speaking with The WIRE on Wednesday, Shane said that the NYPA representatives had called a co-generation plan inefficient because the demand for steam is insufficient to efficiently piggy-back power generation onto production of the steam. He said, however, that David Kramer of the Hudson Companies has expressed interest in using steam for heating and cooling at the last three of nine Southtown buildings."

Shane said, "In my experience, it’s pie in the sky. But it’s pie in the sky worth pursuing. We are going to pursue it with NYSERDA."

"We have proposed that it be fueled by natural gas," Liss said in response to a question, "so the pollution is down to a minimum." In the past, State funds have been available for co-generation projects.

"I have asked that some of the savings be passed through directly to residents in the form of lower costs," Liss said, though pointing out that such a decision would rest with RIOC. Liss said he also hopes that some income from adaptation of the plant might become available to resident organizations through the Island’s Public Purpose Fund. "But," he added, "there is no guarantee it will come back to residents."

[The Public Purpose Fund was established when Manhattan Park was built. Instead of paying sales tax on construction materials, the builder paid those monies into the Public Purpose fund. Over the years, it has been used for various purposes – most recently, in a grant to the Youth Program approved at the last RIOC Board meeting.]

Any likely benefit to residents is, in any case, at least a year away. A NYSERDA study – if one is approved – could take several months to complete. Any resulting conversion of the Steam Plant would require bids, followed by construction that would, very likely, need to accommodate the hospitals’ need for steam during the interim period.

Former RIRA President Steve Marcus, now a Common Council member representing Rivercross, said that new buildings on the Island might be designed to use steam directly for heating and cooling.

Liss told the Common Council that if Roosevelt Island were placed on a separate power grid, it could become immune from area-wide power failures. Just how this would be accomplished would be subject to study and some future determination. Without a separate grid, power generated by the plant would be fed into the wider grid, sold to Con Ed. "We would be selling 20 megawatts to Con Ed," Liss said. In power industry planning, a capacity of one megawatt is considered about right to power approximately 1,000 homes.

Liss told the Common Council about a visit he made to Lincoln Towers on the lower west side of Manhattan, which he described as "680 apartments in two buildings." He said officials there "confirmed that they are saving an average of $600 per apartment through co-generation, and using the heat for garage space and common areas."