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 Alliance to Save Energy Board Member Peter R. Smith serves as the Managing Director for the Climate Change, Energy and the Environment Group for the Pataki-Cahill Group. Mr. Smith joined Pataki-Cahill after serving for nearly four years as the President and CEO of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). While leading NYSERDA, he oversaw a $400 million budget dedicated to research, economic development and deployment of progressive energy programs and technologies throughout the State of New York, establishing almost 3,000 energy efficiency, conservation, renewable resource, economic development and research projects, including the establishment of the nation’s first clean energy technology park. Mr. Smith also represented New York State's energy policy interests as part of Governor Pataki's Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) leadership team, and spearheaded NYSERDA’s implementation of the nation’s first state-administered Renewable Portfolio Standard, requiring 25 percent of New York’s electricity to come from renewable resources by 2013.
Efficiency News: Who are your clients at the Pataki-Cahill Group, and what kind of services do you provide them in the Climate Change, Energy and the Environment Group?
Peter Smith: At Pataki-Cahill, we provide clients with strategic advice and guidance on energy efficiency issues. Today, everybody wants to be green. Everybody wants to know how to address their carbon footprint, or the way they use energy, yet they are not quite sure how. This project came out of George Pataki’s Administration; John Cahill was his Chief of Staff. The Pataki Administration believed that you can address energy and environmental issues in ways that help the economy. It’s not a zero-sum game. It’s an issue that can be won by introducing new technology and new practices, and by making people aware of their energy use, including how they use energy and what they can do to save it.
Our practice is housed within Chadborne & Park LLC. We’re a very small firm, but we have on the order of 20 clients, ranging from large utility and renewable companies, to start-up companies that need some traction in the marketplace in order to make it across that ‘valley of death’ from having a really good product, to having it be commercially viable and deployed.
Efficiency News: How can energy efficiency help a new company – of any size – overcome initial financial challenges?
Peter Smith: Energy efficiency can be a valuable mechanism for both large and small companies. For example, one of our large companies is developing what they hope will be the first green, sustainable ski resort in Snowmass, Colo. So we are looking at it from all angles – not only as being sustainable and lessening the carbon footprint, but by saying to the company, “We know this is a for-profit venture, so use as much energy as you need, but make it the most efficient use of energy that you can.” Energy efficiency is the most cost-effective resource that we have to address not only rising energy costs, but also carbon.
We have large real estate developments in the metropolitan area. The philosophy we share with these companies is: we only get one shot to make it energy-efficient and green. So it’s necessary to incorporate energy efficiency on the front end [of the building process], and look at it not as a cost but as an opportunity.
Efficiency News: I understand that prior to forming the Pataki-Cahill Group, Gov. Pataki established the nation’s first green building tax credit incentive program. Can you discuss the impact this program has had on green building tax incentive programs around the country?
Peter Smith: During the Pataki Administration, we introduced and passed the first green building tax credit in the nation – perhaps in the world. What we kept hearing was, “Yeah, I’d like to do that LEEDS certification, but we have a split incentive between who builds it and who pays for the energy bills at the end of the day.” We decided that to get developers over that hurdle, we would provide a state tax incentive for the developer to design in green and energy-efficient features. It was immensely successful, and especially popular with some of the large developers – particularly the forward-thinking developers such as the Durst Organization, which built 4 Times Square, the first green high-rise building.
We provided incentives to the market place, and found that a little bit of incentive stimulated builders to compete with one another and say, “I want to be the one who has the greenest building.” Particularly in commercial space in Manhattan, we found that the marketplace would reward the developer to charge more rent per square foot because the consumer says, “I’m in a green building, I have healthier air, I’m energy efficient, I have photovoltaics on the roof.” It became a marketing tool for the developers. So we did this across upstate New York where we helped create the Department of Environmental Conservation building, the first green building in the region.
Efficiency News: How has involvement with the Alliance helped you in your efforts to promote energy efficiency?
Peter Smith: It is an incredible help, because the Alliance is that non-biased, focused, authoritative view. The Board is made up of not just public sector folks, but also private sector groups: utility companies, energy service companies, etc. The Alliance brings credibility to all those people who sit on that board; it brings a kind of imprimatur to the message. If you are an Alliance Associate, it’s because you want to be part of the debate. It’s an opportunity to hear different points of view and to get your particular viewpoint on efficiency or legislature on the table. Needless to say, I’m very honored to be on this Board.
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