City University of New York
As this nation's largest urban university, the City University of New York (CUNY) plays a significant role in our sustainable future with an educational footprint that spans 24 academic institutions and over half a million students, faculty and staff. With a population larger than most cities, CUNY is leading a transformational change on its campuses, in the City and throughout the State through the work of Sustainable CUNY. This strategic program focuses on Campus and University Sustainability and supports the establishment of renewable energy protocols by providing market support for New York’s solar and storage industries, including the energy resiliency infrastructure, through the Smart Distributed Generation (DG) Hub.
Sustainable CUNY is an integral program of the Office of Sustainability and Energy Conservation in the University’s Department of Facilities Planning, Construction and Management.
Sustainable CUNY
Sustainable CUNY is a strategic program that focuses on Campus and University Sustainability by providing training, planning and project implementation that enables the University to meet climate change and sustainability requirements as well as energy reduction targets.
In addition, Sustainable CUNY supports the establishment of renewable energy protocols and provides market support for New York’s solar and storage industries, including energy resiliency infrastructure, through the Smart Distributed Generation (DG) Hub.
Sustainable CUNY formed the NYC Solar Partnership in 2006, working collaboratively with the NYC Mayor’s Office of Sustainability, and the New York City Economic Development Corporation to develop and implement comprehensive plans for large-scale solar integration in NYC. Sustainable CUNY formalized the Smart DG Hub after Hurricane Sandy, folding in solar+storage and bringing in Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) and NYC AHJs to work on creating a pathway to the marketplace for storage.
Sustainable CUNY is an integral program of the Office of Sustainability and Energy Conservation in the University’s Department of Facilities Planning, Construction and Management.
Tria Case, Esq.
University Executive Director of Sustainability and Energy Conservation, Lead for NYC Solar Partnership and Smart DG Hub
Tria Case, Esq., is the University Executive Director of Sustainability and Energy Conservation for the City University of New York (CUNY). Prior to joining CUNY in 2006, Ms. Case served as the Director of the Office of Environmental Business Services for Empire State Development, supporting policies and programs across NYS that facilitated local government and industry in meeting NYS environmental regulations. In the initial stages of her work at CUNY, Ms. Case coordinated the development of individual sustainability plans, and a task force for each CUNY campus to support implementation. As the Sustainability Director, Ms. Case coordinates and provides resources to CUNY’s 25 institutions of higher education to meet the goal of reducing CUNY’s energy consumption and fight climate change through the Sustainable CUNY Conserves program. Ms. Case secures and manages multi-millions in funding for operations and maintenance projects including a revolving loan fund, the Sustainability Investment Fund, which supports energy savings projects on CUNY campuses. Since 2006, Ms. Case has led the development and the implementation of multiple Federal, State and City funded solar, and now storage, programs on behalf of NYC and NYS, working with large stakeholder groups and leading to a significant growth in solar capacity, with storage expected to follow the same trajectory. Ms. Case formed the NYC Solar Partnership in 2006, working collaboratively with the New York City Mayor’s Office of Sustainability and the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) in developing and implementing comprehensive plans for large-scale solar integration and the associated economic development in New York City. One of the current focuses of Ms. Case’s work is to identify and address soft or ‘Balance of System’ costs for the implementation and adoption of solar in NY. In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in 2012, Ms. Case formed the Smart Distributed Generation (DG) Hub, with City, State, and Federal participation, in an effort to integrate storage and DG into emergency power and resiliency deployment. Ms. Case received her undergraduate degree from Union College and earned her J.D. from Brooklyn Law School.
The Solar and Storage Ombudsmen, also known as DG Ombudsmen focus on streamlining the process of implementing solar and storage and work to reduce the soft costs. Additionally, the Solar Ombudsmen serve as resources to installers, municipalities, utilities and end users. Contact an Ombudsman
Communications
Laurie Reilly
Ms. Reilly directs communications for Sustainable CUNY of the City University of New York, and the NYSolar Smart Program. Reilly is the author of multiple key sustainability documents and grants and is responsible for coordinating and implementing internal and external sustainability communications across CUNY’s 24 academic institutions. Since 2006, under the direction of Tria Case, Ms. Reilly has played an integral role in implementing multiple Federal, State and City grants designed to address the balance of systems costs for installing solar including the U.S. Department of Energy NYC Solar America City Partnership, SunShot Rooftop Challenge I & II programs, and projects under the NY-Sun Initiative. In addition Ms. Reilly worked with Ms. Case to form the Smart Distributed Generation Hub. Ms. Reilly spent 18 years as a broadcast journalist and won five New York State Broadcaster's Awards as a writer, producer and anchor for providing in depth coverage on science, technology, health and politics on both television and radio. Media questions can be directed to Laurie Reilly through nysolar@cuny.edu
IT Team
Moe Hajissa
Clement J Wu
Center for Advanced Research of Spatial Information (CARSI)
Hunter College, City University of New York
Support Staff
Kitty Preston
Environmental & Productivity Liaison