University Holds Groundbreaking for New Co-Generation Plant

NYU broke ground in mid August at the site of its new, environmentally friendly co-generation plant in a ceremony attended by elected officials, local leaders, and University representatives.  The facility will be located underground on Mercer Street between West 3rd and West 4th Streets.
    Co-generation, also known as combined heat and power (CHP), refers to the simultaneous production of electricity and thermal energy. A major component of NYU’s “Green Action Plan” — the University’s wide-ranging sustainability effort (www.nyu.edu/sustainability) — and its commitment to meet Mayor Bloomberg’s PlanNYC 2030 challenge, the new co-generation facility will lead to a 75 percent reduction of regulated pollutants and a decrease of over 5,000 tons of greenhouse pollutants emitted annually. In addition, the facility will triple the University’s capacity to provide power to its buildings with cleaner energy and will remove these buildings from the over-burdened local utility grid.
    
    The project, which was endorsed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and by Community Board 2, is expected to be completed during summer 2009.
    
    The land over the facility will be landscaped as a new open space. NYU will work with the New York City Parks Department; a Community Advisory Committee (CAC) of local residents, Community Board members, and local elected officials; and Mathews Nielsen, a landscape architecture firm chosen by the CAC to collaborate on creating an inviting, usable, and visually pleasing open space. The work of the CAC is expected to conclude in the fall when the proposed design will be reviewed by Community Board 2.

From left: City Council member Alan Gerson, President John Sexton, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, Courant Institute for Mathematical Sciences Director Leslie Greengard, Senior VP for University Relations and Public Affairs Lynne P. Brown, Project Manager Martin Kushner, and Senior VP for Operations Alison Leary