Author: John Costanzo, MAPLE New York Executive Director
Long Island is often mischaracterized as solely a bedroom community of the NYC business sector. While it’s true that Long Island was the birthplace of the first housing development in the U.S. for returning World War II vets (Levittown), it has a much more storied history.
Its towns and villages date back to pre-colonial times and while named for their English counterparts of Southampton, Southold, and Norwich by its early settlers, it also played a key role in the Revolutionary War effort to separate from England. Long Island supported General George Washington, Patrick Henry and other Revolutionary War leaders who, with the help and support of the local mainly farming community, used the Island’s excellent access to the sea and roadways to move war materials and men between the northeast and New England.
It’s also where virtually all the fighter jets deployed by the US in World War II were built by Republic, Fairchild, and Grumman, who also built the first Apollo Lunar Module on Long Island that landed the first men on the moon. So, the Island was at the forefront of development in the U.S. aviation and aerospace industries. While it helped shape the future of our country in these ways, there’s another revolution occurring here that will shape the future of our nation and the world… that is, the development of Sustainable Energy.
I had the honor recently as the Executive Director of the MAPLE Business Council's NY chapter, to host some of our members and guests on a visit to the Advanced Energy & Technology Research Center at Stony Brook University (AERTC), and the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), one of the nine US Department of Energy research labs. We learned about these amazing institutions’ efforts to develop new battery technology and wind power right off the coast of Long Island. Among many other renewable energy and scientific research to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels and current battery technology, research is also hard at work to understand the very structure of atoms.
AERTC
The Advanced Energy Center (AEC), located in the Research & Development Park at Stony Brook University, is a partnership of academic and research institutions, energy providers, industry, and government. The mission of the AEC is to increase the efficiency of current energy systems, while promoting the adoption of alternative and renewable sources to reduce New York’s carbon footprint.
The AEC conducts cutting edge research and development of new technologies to generate, transmit and distribute, store, and manage energy; including but not limited to alternative and renewable sources, by accelerating deployment of these new technologies, and providing education and training to disseminate the skills necessary to implement, maintain and capitalize on their enhanced functionalities.
As New York State’s designated Center of Excellence in Energy, the AEC facilitates cross collaboration of researchers, industry, and energy subject-matter experts throughout the state. This collaboration culminates in the annual Advanced Energy Conference attracting 2000+ attendees with 500+ public and private companies participating, and 40 colleges and universities engaged.
BNL
Originally serving as Camp Upton, a World War I army training camp where Irving Berlin wrote "God Bless America" while training there, Brookhaven National Lab (BNL), located in Upton, a hamlet in the town of Brookhaven, Long Island, is now the home to one of the nine U.S. Department of Energy Labs.
The Laboratory's 2500-plus staff members lead and support diverse research teams that address the DOE mission to ensure the nation's security and prosperity by addressing its energy, environmental, and nuclear challenges through transformative science and technology solutions. Among Brookhaven Lab's current initiatives are nuclear science, particle physics, accelerator science and technology, quantitative plant science, and quantum information science.
Visit to the Lab's Ion Collider
One of the highlights of our day was visiting the Lab's Ion Collider. Within a huge facility that Yankee Stadium can fit into is a two mile-long circular collider where research scientists from around the globe crash lasers into atoms to peer into the structure of matter, and for a glimpse into the origins of the universe. The only one of its kind ever built...and right here in Long Island.
Battery Research
We were shown how BNL's scientists are now able to peer into the structure of batteries while they are discharging energy to better understand their function and dynamics.
Partnering with Industry
And we learned how both organizations are partnering with companies in the transportation and logistics sector and like UPS, BMW, and other industry sectors to develop and test new battery technology that will eventually replace Lithium Batteries and the Combustion Engine.
New York Hydroelectric Power Project
And, finally, we heard from the COO of Hydro-Quebec's U.S. Subsidiary, Serge Abergel. Hydro-Quebec is a Quebec based energy company that operates some 60 hydroelectric generating stations, making it one of the largest hydroelectricity producers in the world.
Close to 100% of the electricity they generate uses water, a generating option with very low greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and no toxic waste. This clean energy is delivered to customers across Quebec and soon to Long Island and vicinity through their current joint project with NY State to bring hydroelectric power from Quebec to the downstate NY region.
It was enlightening to learn that Long Island is again at the leading edge of a transformational initiative, this time in Renewable Energy research and development, and partnering with members of the Transportation & Logistics industry and other sectors in this endeavor.
Many thanks to Bob Catell, Chairman of the AERTC, and Dave Manning, Director of Stakeholder Relations and External Affairs at BNL, and their teams for hosting our members for a unique and amazing day of learning.
John Costanzo, Executive Director, MAPLE New York