The Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza is a unique architectural masterpiece which houses 11,000 New York employees in a complex of ten buildings. The Plaza offers a world-class modern art collection, New York State’s Museum, Library and Archives, a distinctive performing arts center, convention center and more. It serves as a monument to the diversity and significance of New York, and also as a testament to Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller, whose determination and vision brought about its creation.
Representatives of the Sheridan Hollow Alliance for Renewable Energy (SHARE), the New York Power Authority (NYPA) and the NY State Office of General Services (OGS) met on December 15, 2021 for an update on the energy-related work being done on the Empire State Plaza.
Several years ago, SHARE successfully advocated for the state agencies to drop their former plan to build a gas-fueled combined heat and power plant in the Sheridan Hollow neighborhood to provide heating, cooling and electricity to the Empire State Plaza and other governmental buildings in downtown Albany. In September, 2019, NYPA and OGS announced a revised plan that included partially converting the Plaza’s cooling system to electric power in place of steam, installing LED lighting, replacing the emergency generator with one that is less polluting, and getting electricity from a solar farm that would be built at an old airport in Oriskany, Oneida County.
In the December 15 meeting, NYPA and OGS reported that one of the steam-powered chillers has been replaced with a new 6,500 Ton electric chiller. It will need to be tested further but work on it is expected to be finished in the summer of 2022. Two new 500 Ton electric chillers for data protection are installed and running. The exterior lighting has been changed to LED and the interior lighting is still being changed.
“Can serious and reflecting men look about them and doubt that, if (Thomas) Jefferson is elected and the Jacobins get into authority, those morals which protect our lives from the knife of the assassin, which guard the chastity of our wives and daughters from seduction and violence, defend our property from plunder and devastation and shield our religion from contempt and profanation, will not be trampled upon?” ~ Timothy Dwight, president of Yale University, 1800.
Aren’t you glad that nasty partisan politics is a new thing in America?
I hadn’t heard back from the bike shop, so I called this afternoon and they said they had a lower-spec model (Marlin 5) in my size XXL that I could test ride. Maybe I should have asked more questions, like whether or not they are also building the Marlin 6 in that size for my testing as promised, but I could test ride that Marlin 5 as it’s basically the same bike and either they can build the Marlin 6 or I can pick up somewhere else like their Hudson location. I think I’ll try to leave work at 4 PM tomorrow to give it a ride, and then go shopping thereafter. Plus then I can ask my question about the bike carrying rack to see if it fits the XXL bicycle.
I am having second thoughts about the upcoming weekend. The forecast was warm but decent, now it sucks with clouds on Saturday and Sunday and increasing chance of rain. Staying home saves money, and maybe I just need to go to more places to test ride bicycles, as I thought this had been closed down, but apparently like so many things in this world, what is closed down isn’t set a deal until you take delivery. At least I think I know what I want now, and after the test ride of Marlin 5 in XXL, if I have to order the Marlin 6 and have a local shop build it, even if I have to pay first, as long as I take delivery, I’ll be good.
The long range for the following weekend looks better, so maybe that will be my best chance to get out of town.
Also got myself some fresh broccoli which also will be good, though I’m mostly excited about the tomatoes and to a lesser extent the sweet corn. At the Empire State Plaza !
