The sweeping ambition of New York state’s net-zero vision is matched by the sheer bulk of the proposed framework for the journey.

Many key details are buried within the 445-page scoping plan finalized a month ago. But other details are not there — some because they have yet to be worked out; others because the necessary technology has yet to be perfected.

The Alliance for Clean Energy New York (ACE NY) hosted a well attended online information session on the subject Wednesday and expects to host several more.

ACE NY Executive Director Anne Reynolds was a member of the Climate Action Council, the 22-member body that drew up the Scoping Plan over three years and sent it to the legislature and governor on Dec. 19. (See New York Climate Scoping Plan OK’d.)

She served as moderator of Wednesday’s webinar and introduced it by noting that its title — “What’s In the Plan?” — was not particularly creative or snappy.

“But it is a question that I have been getting a lot lately,” she said.

New York’s goals under the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act of 2019 are familiar by now: 70% renewable energy by 2030; 100% zero-emissions electricity by 2040; and an 85% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by 2050.

ACE NY is both an advocate for these changes and a representative for the organizations and businesses that will make them happen, and in some cases profit from the effort.

As such, they have a keen interest in knowing how the state will move to make those changes — but significant parts of that roadmap are unknown, as they must be hammered out through New York’s often opaque political process. (See Scoping Plan ‘Sets Course’ for NY Climate Goals, Raises Questions.)

That is a secondary purpose for the information sessions, Reynolds said: Keeping the Scoping Plan in the public eye and moving it forward, now that the part-time New York State Legislature is back in the Capitol.

“We wanted to do this early in the legislative session specifically so that action in the legislature on climate would be informed by this climate Scoping Plan,” she said.

Panelists from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and New York Department of Public Service each gave summary presentations on aspects of the plan, then opened the air to questions, such as, where does nuclear power fit into the plan?

Jessica Waldorf, chief of staff and director of policy implementation at DPS, said “nuclear is one of many technologies that will be considered” to reach the 2040 zero-emissions goals. “A lot of decisions” will need to be made before 2029, when recurring zero-emissions credits expire, she added.

Are there land-use policies that will reduce single-person vehicle miles traveled?

Adam Ruder, assistant director of clean transportation at NYSERDA, said that in fact, land-use patterns have a strong correlation to the carbon-intensive practice of people traveling one per vehicle. “As far as what policies we can do to encourage different land uses, that tends to be trickier because land-use decisions tend to be local decisions and not something the state can influence in many cases,” he said. But the state can use funding, financing and technical assistance to encourage municipalities to pursue “smart growth.”

After the December blizzard that dumped 4 feet of snow on Buffalo and was blamed for more than three dozen deaths there, can battery-powered emergency vehicles be trusted?

“These first electric trucks are not going to be the snowplows,” Ruder said. “We’re not there yet. The good thing is that we have time, and the technology is improving and is a lot better now than it was five or 10 years ago, and in another five or 10 years is going to be a lot better still.” Electrification must progress strategically, he said, starting with what is possible now.

Will backup heat sources be needed at homes with heat pumps during northern New York’s severe winter cold snaps or during multiday post-blizzard power outages?

Possibly, said NYSERDA senior adviser Vanessa Ulmer. Cold-climate heat pumps should meet the test in well insulated houses in most of New York, she said, but older houses and residents of the coldest parts of the state may need to discuss a backup or supplemental heat source with the contractor who installs their heat pump. For prolonged outages, some combination of on-site generation and/or storage and backup fossil heat may be the best strategy, she said. Finally, heat pump technology is likely to improve. “I think there will be multiple answers, and that’s an active area of research and development in New York state.”

How will the necessary construction of transmission lines be financed?

Waldorf said ratepayers and private investors pay for the expansions already under way, but substantially more investment is needed. “We’re hopeful that other resources such as funding coming out of the federal government will help support” the projects.

Is there a dollar estimate on the cap-and-invest system proposed in the Scoping Plan?

“We don’t have a final design yet,” said Vlad Gutman-Britten, assistant director of policy and markets at NYSERDA. Every policy in the Scoping Plan will have a robust public discussion before it is implemented, he said, so cap-and-invest will come into sharper focus through 2023. “There’s a lot more to come; there’ll be a lot of opportunities to provide input and feedback.” (See Hochul Highlights Cap and Invest in State of the State Address.)

Is there any control over the carbon footprint of electricity generated out of state and imported into the grid?

The state will look to address that by 2030 or 2040, Waldorf said.

How will the state keep the lights on when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine, and the output of wind turbines and solar panels are reduced?

Gutman-Britten said such shortages will be intermittent and infrequent, as the grid is being designed to meet the state’s needs. Overall reliability, Waldorf said, “is something that we’re constantly thinking about.” DPS is balancing the increasing use of intermittent zero-emission power sources with energy storage and development of technology that does not now exist at scale. “It’s a key consideration that the state is well aware of and paying attention to on a daily basis.”