Brooklyn (NY) Chamber holds Energy Summit and Expo
The Brooklyn (NY) Chamber of Commerce is positioned to be a leader in developing a clean energy economy, and recently hosted a Brooklyn Energy Summit and Expo to talk about the city’s clean energy future. The chamber brought together community innovators and leaders to focus on workforce development, and discuss energy efficiency and savings.
New York City has set many clean energy goals, including reaching carbon neutrality by 2050, using only clean electricity by 2040, and creating 1000 megawatts of solar energy by 2030. With ambitious goals, the city has implemented laws that require all new buildings to have solar panels. This may be easy for some new developments, but not all corners of the city can support the transition all at once, and cities like Brooklyn are looking to become innovative and impactful in trying to meet clean energy goals and standards.
The summit included a panel discussion with leaders in the industry and community, with the focus to discuss Brooklyn’s biggest struggles to meet climate goals. The panel included leaders from:
Con-Ed
New York State Energy Research and Development Authority
Equinor
U.S. Energy Storage Development
National Grid
Reflective Energy Solutions
American Association of Blacks in Energy (AABE)
Slow Factory
A keynote presentation was given by Mark Chambers, senior director for building emissions and community resilience at the White House Council on environmental quality.
At the heart of the discussion was the Build Back Better Act which will aid in clean energy development and EV infrastructure. With new development comes new job opportunities and room for economic growth in the Brooklyn community. “The goal is to engage in a community wide and community focused conversation on how we are going to undertake this massive cultural, technological and practical shift in the energy space. We need a workforce, a skilled workforce that’s going to be able to implement a lot of this change,” said Randy Peers, President and CEO of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce. “In Brooklyn, we’ve cultivated a lot in the energy-tech sector, so I think Brooklyn can be a nation leader in the energy transition.”
The Brooklyn Chamber is a leading example of a chamber of commerce claiming their seat at the table, and being at the forefront of clean energy discussions, while sitting at the crossroads of workforce development, environmental justice, and adaptivity to the clean energy transition.