Fossil fuel use per annum per capita in NYC is actually very low as compared to the rest of the country. Shared walls in apartments and houses make for good insulation, and daily travel distances are quite small.
But those things only work in a big city. What we need is a grand-scale project to convert the US economy into one based mostly on electricity and hydrogen produced using nuclear, hydro, and renewables. This should be combined with conservation wherever feasible without reducing comforts. It can be done — the challenges are engineering and financial problems at this point, not questions of theoretical physics.
The idea is to effect positive change WITHOUT reducing comforts.
