The Oil Drum

Green buildings are an important component in the transition to an energy efficient future, so I think its worth pointing out new developments that make energy efficiency a design priority.

The City of Sydney has outlined a vision for 2030 that aims to redevelop a lot of areas on the city fringes in a sustainable way. The first development to fit into this new scheme of things is a project planned for the old Kent (CUB) Brewery site, to the west of Central Station, known as Fraser's Broadway.

Solar One has been a beacon for many in the local sustainability movement in NYC. The solar powered one room structure on the East River and 23rd Street has hosted countless public events, education sessions and served as a hub for many people interested in green buildings. Now they have a short video that offers a glimpse of their new proposed "Solar 2" which will be NYC's first Carbon Neutral Building that will produce more power than it consumes.

Mayor Bloomberg has announced a city contribution of $3 million to the project, but more private donations are required to make the target of a a 2008 ground breaking. Check out the video and consider the possibilities.

There's so much going on these days in the sustainability movement in New York & beyond, it's hard to keep up. Green Buildings NYC notes that the Borough of Queens is getting in on the action. The Queens botanical garden's new building is looking to get LEED Platnium and draw over 17% of its electrical needs from a small solar panel array. GBNYC also notes some new solar powered trash cans and that there is enough roof space from old former industrial buildings in just Long Island City alone to make green roofs with the same square footage as Prospect Park.

While Battery Park City hosts some of NYC's more well known Green Buildings, there is an hot race to construct the first Green Building in Williamsburg that the New York Post Real Estate section recently covered:

"We're competing with another architecture firm that's literally [working on a building] around the corner."

Are they competing over air rights? Sight lines? Customers? None of the above. Whoever finishes first will have erected the first environmentally friendly building of its size in Williamsburg.

Why? Well, aside from the whole environmental angle, there's that always important "money factor":

228 East Third Street - A Green Building under Contruction by Chris Benedict

While transportation is the biggest consumer of oil in the US, heating/cooling, lighting and running the appliances in our homes is an enormous user of energy resources. And much of it is crucial to our survival. As we approach the types of infrastructure improvements we need to make in this country, the buildings in which we live are prehaps the most important.

While there are a number of green buildings that have been completed in NYC and across the country over the last few years, there have only been a few major retrofits of old buildings that I am aware of. Most neighborhoods and cities don't even have any real Green Buildings. But just because it's old and wasn't built with LEED in mind, it doesn't mean it can't be improved. Considering the housing stock of NYC turns over pretty slowly, even if all new buildings are built to LEED gold or platinum standards, it will take over 100 years to make the city's housing stock environmentally friendly on a grand scale. In the short term it is much better to simply retrofit an existing building to be as green as possible for the rest of it's useful life rather than tear it down prematurely and built it up from scratch.

How could we differentiate for prospective home buyers or renters which buildings they should choose because it their green features? How could we stimulate recalcitrant real estate companies to invest in retrofiting older buildings to consume less energy and water? What features would be appropriate for a real estate agent or a management company to promote as green?

Every year, we get new laws and this year there are a few good ones that should help raise the energy efficiency of new buildings and large appliances in rental apartments.

From the NY Daily News

JUICE SAVER: New appliances purchased for rental apartments have to be Energy Star certified, potentially reducing utility payments for tenants. The federal Environmental Protection Agency certifies certain appliances as energy-efficient.

EASY BEING GREEN: New city construction projects must be built according to environmentally sound principles. The edict will affect about $12 billion in construction over a 10-year period. The law is intended to reduce pollution and to cut costs in city-owned buildings by using energy more efficiently.

Write a letter to your council person and thank them for these laws and ask for more like these.