New York State Electric and Gas Corporation (NYSEG) serves central, eastern, and western New York State, an area which, though mostly rural, includes the cities of Binghamton, Elmira, Corning, and Ithaca. Its territory includes one-third of the state's land area and a tenth of its population. With more than 775,000 electric customers and almost 220,000 gas customers, NYSEG serves a diversified population of industry, agriculture, recreational facilities, and colleges and universities.
NYSEG traces its history back to October 28, 1852, when six Ithaca businessmen pledged a total of $75,000 and incorporated as the Ithaca Gas Light Company. The fledgling company soon laid mains and built a coal gas plant. In 1853 Ithaca's streets saw their first lamps.
In the thirty years following the founding of Ithaca Gas Light, the use of methane gas grew steadily. Street lighting was extended beyond affluent business districts, while homeowners and businesses obtained lights for evening hours.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic currently sweeping through North America, stay-at-home mandates in all major cities are leaving city streets far more empty than normal; and its got many urban-adapted wildlife species making more brazen moves in mankind’s absence.
Its clear the change in societal patterning is having a ripple effect surpassing just the focal point of a virus spread.
While much of the American populous is practicing social distancing, other creatures are taking full advantage of the dampened human presence in urban settings.
While closing coal plants seems to be all the political rage today, I think it was a mistake to close down AES Somerset aka the Kintigh Generating Station.
Its foolish for the state to become so dependent on natural gas power when its a commodity that can go up and down in price
While some plants can also burn fuel oil, often the price of natural gas and oil are linked – a spike in one industry will effect the other
It comes at the time the state is also retiring Indian Point Nuclear Plant, further making the state dependent on gas and oil
The plan came online in 1984 after the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1977 and has pollution controls that exceed many of the older coal plants still operating in across the country
To be sure, it was one of dirtest industrial plants in New York when it closed – because coal is a dirty nasty fuel
It also has generated massive piles of waste – coal ash and gypsum-fly ash mix that is landfilled in massive mounds on site
While it’s hard to defend building new plants in an era when we are facing climate change, I think it made sense to retain this plant on the grid, especially when there isn’t renewable energy right away to replace it
This always was an odd plant is how it was connected to NYSEG' grid. Essentially the output of the plant was connected to NYPA's Niagara - Edic line. The electricity was transfered to the Pennsylvania grid which in turn back feed it to the massive coal fired plant in Homer City outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania which in turn has a 345 kV line that runs from Homer City Pennsylvania to Elmira which powers a lot of the NYSEG electric grid.
But all and all, it's actually a pretty modern coal plant with good scrubbers but uneconomic to operate with the low cost of natural gas and the high cost of the fees associated with moving the energy such a crazy way.
Good morning! Happy April Fools Day 🤡! Don’t get fooled, go fishing 🎣. Next Wednesday is Pink Moon 🌕. Partly cloudy and 36 degrees in Delmar, NY. ⛅ Calm wind. Warming up quickly, going to be a nice but maybe not so much for fishing with the trout spotting the shadows.
Today will be mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 52 degrees at 3pm. Typical for today. Light north wind increasing to 5 to 10 mph in the morning. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 42 degrees. The record high of 77 was set in 1986. 5 inches of snow fell back in 1924.❄
Going to work from home this morning out back 🏡 and then go to Five Rivers in the afternoon to work from there and update my podcasts and maybe get some YouTube videos to watch tomorrow when it’s not going to be so nice. I have some ag channels 🚜 to see what’s happening on farms these days as milk prices crash. 🐮
Solar noon 🌞 is at 1:00 pm with sun having an altitude of 52.2° from the due south horizon (-18.7° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 4.7 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 6:45 pm with the sun in the west (271°). 📸 The sunset is in the west (277°) starting at 7:19 pm and lasts for 2 minutes and 55 seconds with dusk around 7:50 pm, which is one minute and 8 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Gibbous 🌔 Moon in the south (182°) at an altitude of 71° from the horizon, 234,814 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 8:24 pm. At sunset, look for partly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 47 degrees. There will be a north breeze at 9 mph. Today will have 12 hours and 45 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 52 seconds over yesterday.
Tonight will be partly cloudy 🌤, with a low of 33 degrees at 4am. One degree above normal, which is similar to a typical night around April 3rd. North wind 7 to 9 mph. In 2019, we had clear skies in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 22 degrees. The record low of 17 occurred back in 1964.
Right now, a split verdict on the weekend. 😕 Saturday, partly sunny, with a high near 55. Sunday, mostly cloudy, with a high near 60. Typical average high for the weekend is 53 degrees. I am going to stay home this weekend, as it doesn’t look as sunny up north, and I’m hoping for more snow melt before I go up north next week.. I have a place in mind that will be good for three days of social distancing in the wilderness, where I doubt I’ll see anyone except maybe in a passing car. Good Friday is next Friday, which seems so odd as it’s been such a werid year, all things considered.
As previously noted, next Wednesday is Pink Moon 🌕 when the sun will be setting at 7:29 pm with dusk at 7:58 pm. On that day in 2019, we had partly cloudy, rain showers and temperatures between 59 and 44 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 55 degrees. We hit a record high of 88 back in 1929.
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