Study: NY State Could Be Powered Entirely by Renewables by 2030

As it stands, New York state's renewable energy comes 20 percent from hydropower, 2 percent from wind and 2 percent from other sources, constituting a renewable energy capacity equivalent to that of the entire Northeast.

A recent joint Cornell and Stanford University study projects that with sufficient investment in renewables, the state could meet all of its energy needs through hydro, wind, solar biomass and landfill gas power by 2030.

To reach this target, the researchers anticipate that New York would have to supply half of its energy from 12,700 off-shore wind turbines, many of which would have to be built off the coast of Long Island.

Wind energy production faced a downturn with the onset of the economic recession and lower natural gas prices, but since 2004, New York has increased its capacity by more than 1500 megawatts.