Combating Climate Change

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Producing Clean Electricity

Solar for Riverdale

While learning about different energy sources, I realized that my school's empty rooftops had great potential for solar energy. I measured the rooftops, created solar models in HelioScope (image below), calculated savings, and gathered quotes from two companies. I presented to the administration and board of trustees, who agreed to a 493 kW solar PPA arrangement (enough to power 50 households) that will cover six buildings, promote renewable energy, and save the school tens of thousands of dollars every year.

85% of New York City's electricity comes from fossil fuels. This installation will generate 540 megawatt-hours of clean electricity per year.

Cobenefits:

Currently, when the power goes out in the River Campus, there is no WiFi, heat, or lighting. This happens around three times a year. Our installation will add a battery to the lower school to make sure the campus has 4–6 hours of backup power during the outages.
EV charging in the carports
Live energy generation data will be displayed in campus hallways and used in the science curriculum.

Will save ~250 MTCO₂e each year

Renewable Energy Research

I researched a novel compound for organic solar cells' absorbance layer at the Lee Research Lab in NYU's Molecular Design Institute and wrote a 14-page lab report. I will be a coauthor on a future peer-reviewed journal publication. See more here.

Electrification

Students for Electric Buses

I formed a coalition of students, faculty, and administrators at Riverdale and Fieldston to integrate electric school buses into SuperSelby's all-diesel fleet, improving passenger health and city air quality and combating climate change. Each bus will save 17 MTCO₂e per year. Transitioning whole fleet will save 1,428 MTCO₂e per year.

Electric Leaf Blowers

I convinced Riverdale's facilities to transition from gas to electric leaf blowers. Not only is it better for the environment, but it also reduces noise pollution and improves workers' health.

Saves ~0.675 MTCO₂e per year

Connecting Street Vendors to the Grid

Electricity from Generators

There are thousands of street vendors in NYC using gas generators for their electricity. Each vendor burns 450 gallons of gas per year on average, releasing 4 MTCO₂e. I am attempting to connect street vendors to the grid with the support of the Street Vendor Project. Each vendor connected to the grid will save 4 MTCO₂e per year. If all vendors connected to grid, we would save 40,000 MTCO₂e per year.
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Electric Ferries

I advocated for electric ferries on Manhattan Community Board 1 by putting in a budget request to the DOT for electric ferries and speaking in favor of electric ferries to NYC Ferries.

Energy Efficiency

Stopped Bus Idling

Wrote to my school's bus contractor to enforce NYC's law banning bus idling. The day afterward, buses went from idling for hours to minutes.

Saves ~6.7 MTCO₂e per year

Buseroo

Encourages public transportation Easier for students to go places Students save money on car services and more equitable transportation.

Saves ~1.7 MTCO₂e per year

Stone House Group Internship

Researched building retrocomissioning for energy efficiency and NYC energy efficiency Local Laws.

Raising Public Awareness

TEDx Talk

Upper School Climate Solutions Presentation

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Middle School Combating Climate Change Presentation

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Petition for Electric School Buses

Received 313 petition signatures for SuperSelby's adoption of electric school buses, kicking off Students for Electric Buses.

The Need for a Nuclear Renaissance Presentation

Presented on the need for a nuclear renaissance at Brown University.

Article on Nuclear Energy

Published an article in my school's newspaper about the need for supporting nuclear energy.

Mitigating Climate Change's Effects

Urban Miniforest

Made a Community Board resolution amendment to recommend the developers of the Holland Rotary to create a Miyawaki forest to improve air quality, lessen the urban heating effect (which saves HVAC emissions), and act as a flood resiliency measure.

Flood Resiliency

In discussions on Lower Manhattan coastal resiliency projects as a member of Manhattan Community Board 1's Environmental Protection Committee.