Recalibrating what’s realistic for New York’s clean energy future

City & State New York presented its annual Energy Infrastructure Summit at lower Manhattan’s Museum of Jewish Heritage on Nov. 20, gathering public officials, private sector partners and nonprofit leaders to discuss major obstacles and how New York state can rise to meet growing demand for clean, reliable and affordable utility service.

Leading the charge at the daylong event was keynote speaker Rory Christian, chair and CEO at the state Public Service Commission, who called on the audience to “defy expectations through aspirations” and realize a system that is equal parts efficient and equitable.

The former engineer encouraged the audience to see beyond the standard binary of how expectations are viewed: realistic or unrealistic.

Christian offered another way of thinking about expectat