New York City has plenty of famous nicknames: The City That Never Sleeps, The Concrete Jungle, The City So Nice They Named It Twice, and so on.
Now, thanks to a ground-breaking zoning code update, New Yorkers may be excited to embrace one of its newest titles: the "City of Yes."
Earlier in 2023, the New York City Council passed the City of Yes for Carbon Neutrality zoning regulations to promote sustainable initiatives such as creating clean energy and giving residents easier access to chargers for electric vehicles.
These revised zoning laws have allowed over 8,500 acres of parking lots to be covered by solar canopies, which could power more than 130,000 homes when completely built out, as reported by Electrek.
"By modernizing our city's zoning code, we have taken a bold step forward in fighting climate change while delivering cleaner air, lower energy costs, smarter waste management, and better access to EV technologies to New Yorkers across the city," said Mayor Eric Adams.
Not only do the "City of Yes" regulations allow for more rooftop space to be covered by solar panels, but they also permit EV charging stations to be installed in an additional 400 million square feet of space throughout the city.
These changes are paving the way for the New York City Council's ambitious goals of reducing the area's planet-warming pollution by 2050, paying special attention to the transformation of the city's energy grid as well as encouraging shifts to EVs and public transit.
By installing solar panels on existing structures and promoting the use of EVs, NYC is both reducing its carbon footprint and setting a great example for other cities to help create a cleaner, greener future that benefits our planet and our future generations.
Although many are thrilled by this news and the eco-friendly developments to come, people are advocating for these types of clean energy initiatives to come to parking lots all over the country.
"These are great anywhere, but it especially drives me crazy to see huge parking lots in California and Arizona that could be covered with these, with a party bonus of keeping cars cooler during those Arizona summers especially!" one commenter highlighted.
"It's easy to think of this as a win for New York, but bring it local," another brought up. "Consider how many sizeable parking lots you can name in a several-mile radius from your home. For me, that's hundreds of acres. This is an idea that is LONG overdue."
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