Archive for Meredith Taylor
Governor Paterson Looks to Turn New York State Greener
Governor Paterson recently signed an Executive Order that created the New York State Green Procurement and Agency Sustainability Program, a plan to, among other things, leverage the state’s buying power to boost environmentally-friendly products and services. The Governor said that it is “critically important that the State of New York take the lead as a steward of our environment.” Two new efforts detailed in the Order include the purchase of 100% recycled paper for daily use and in printed publications, and the separation of recyclable materials in all offices.
Popularity: 8% [?]
6May2008 | Meredith Taylor | 0 comments | Continued
Brooklyn Named to List of Top 10 Green Roof Cities
Green Roofs for Healthy Cities (”GRHC”) recently released the results of its 2007 Green Roof Survey, which collects data on the size, composition, and location of green roofs in North America. The survey, which GRHC has been conducting annually since 2004, placed Brooklyn at number 4 on the list of the top 10 green roof cities, with 102,908 square feet of green roofs implemented in 2007. Chicago came in first for the fourth year in a row with 517,633 square feet. GRHC points to Chicago’s policies that support the creation of green roofs, such as F.A.R. bonuses and tax increment financing, as the reason for their repeated superior ranking. The survey also found that green roofs grew thirty percent in overall square footage in 2007. The full top ten list can be found after the jump.
Popularity: 9% [?]
25Apr2008 | Meredith Taylor | 3 comments | Continued
MTA’s Limited Edition MetroCards to Celebrate Earth Day
The MTA announced yesterday that five million green MetroCards will be issued starting on Earth Day, April 22. The limited edition cards will have a list of environmental facts on the back and will be dolled out via MTA vending machines. Ironically, the MetroCards themselves won’t be recyclable, though the MTA did admit at a news conference Monday morning at Grand Central Station that it may be time to move to a more earth-friendly material for the cards. The green MetroCards are meant to draw attention to the MTA’s new sustainability initiatives, which are the result of recommendations from a panel on renewable energy.
Popularity: 6% [?]
14Apr2008 | Meredith Taylor | 0 comments | Continued
Pope Benedict XVI Inspires Long Island Churches to Take Environmental Action
Some local religious institutions are going green, motivated by current Pope Benedict XVI’s positioning of climate change as a moral issue. Last month, the Vatican added environmental degradation to the Church’s list of sins and, last year, the Pope announced that 1,000 solar panels would be installed on the roof of Vatican City’s main auditorium. Melanie Griffin, a Sierra Club spokeswoman, told Newsday that Pope Benedict’s “vocal support particularly for climate solutions could really tip the balance in world action.” During his upcoming visit to the United States, the Pope will celebrate Mass at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C.- the first LEED-certified baseball stadium in the country.
Popularity: 6% [?]
11Apr2008 | Meredith Taylor | 0 comments | Continued
225 Varick Street: National Audubon Society’s New Green Headquarters
The National Audubon Society, one of the country’s oldest and best-known wildlife conservation groups, has just moved into a new eco-friendly headquarters, the New York Times reported this weekend. The office, which occupies the seventh floor of 225 Varick Street, went well beyond the criteria needed to receive LEED Platinum certification, according to John Flicker, Audubon’s president. The idea was to lead by example, and Flicker reported that the Society was able to “meet the LEED standard more fully than [it] anticipated and with less effort that [it] expected” due to the increased availability of green building materials on the market. The project registered under LEED for Commercial Interiors (”LEED-CI”) and is currently awaiting formal certification- for Platinum or otherwise- from USGBC.
Popularity: 16% [?]
8Apr2008 | Meredith Taylor | 0 comments | Continued
Big Box Stores Jump on the Green Bandwagon
Home improvement stores like Home Depot and Lowe’s have kicked up their marketing push for energy-efficient and eco-friendly products sold in their stores, the Times Herald-Record of Middletown, New York, reported earlier this week. Due to increased awareness of issues like sustainability and climate change, as well as rising fuel costs, customers have been requesting projects like energy-saving light bulbs, efficient insulation, and energy-saving appliances in record numbers. Natedra Banks, the senior manager of environmental innovation for Home Depot, told the paper that “builders, in general, want to know which products would give them more LEED credits, and you also have those people who want to know what they can do it themselves to make an impact on the environment.”
Popularity: 11% [?]
28Mar2008 | Meredith Taylor | 0 comments | Continued
Monday LEEDoff: A Peek at Brooklyn’s First Living Wall in Williamsburg
Consulting team Sphere Trending recently posted some photos on its blog of the Oulu Bar & Eco-Lounge in Williamsburg, home of Brooklyn’s first living wall. The wall covers the front façade of the 2500-square-foot building, which is aiming for LEED Gold certification and was designed by architect Evangeline Dennie. Dennie has some amazing installation photos of the vegetal wall in her online portfolio. Having dealt with these kinds of wall installations a little myself, I can tell you they’re not easy to mount or maintain, so my hat goes off to Dennie for making this one look so good. Some of Oulu’s other green features include biodegradable ceramic tile on the walls, water-based grout sealer in the bathrooms, natural Mica panels promoting light exchange, sheetrock exterior walls made of recycled material and post-consumer recycled paper, and a garage door that provides natural ventilation.
Popularity: 11% [?]
24Mar2008 | Meredith Taylor | 1 comment | Continued
CUNY’s 280 Buildings Get $110M Greener
The Baruch College newspaper The Ticker has a nice wrap-up this week of all the green initiatives going on at CUNY schools across the City. CUNY is New York’s largest university system, with 23 campuses and 280 buildings. Over the past ten years, CUNY has invested $110 million in upgrading its facilities to make them more eco-friendly. The science lab at Bronx Community College, for example, runs entirely off solar panels on its roof, and two more solar roofs are planned at LaGuardia Community College and Kingsborough Community College. CUNY’s first eco-friendly science building just opened at Lehman College and additional sustainable science buildings are planned for City College and Brooklyn College.
Popularity: 9% [?]
20Mar2008 | Meredith Taylor | 0 comments | Continued
Green Design Features Announced for Mets’ Citi Field
Newsday and MLB.com reported yesterday that the Mets are planning to incorporate a variety of sustainable features into the new Citi Field, set to open in April 2009. The $800 million stadium is being built using 95 percent recycled steel, and will be lit for night games using energy-efficient field lighting. The bathrooms will feature low-flow plumbing elements like hands-free faucets and waterless urinals that the EPA estimates will save 4 million gallons of water a year. The Mets also plan to install a 15,000 square foot green roof on the administration building in order to cut down on heating and cooling costs and are working with the MTA to continue to encourage people to take public transportation to games. The club has also partnered with EPA’s Energy Star program and will implement a recycling program with its concessions vendor, ARAMARK.
Popularity: 15% [?]
14Mar2008 | Meredith Taylor | 0 comments | Continued
Monday LEEDoff: Brooklyn Children’s Museum Set to Become Nation’s Greenest
Last Thursday’s New York Times provided an update on the six-year-old renovation of the Brooklyn Children’s Museum, which is set to upen up in May. The museum, located at the corner of St. Marks and Brooklyn Avenues in Crown Heights, hopes to be the first green children’s museum in the country, and is seeking LEED certification. Among its energy-saving attributes are a system of photovoltaic roof panels that will generate about 2.5 percent of its electricity, a geothermal system of heat pumps, and six 300-foot-deep wells that will heat and cool the building.
Popularity: 6% [?]
3Mar2008 | Meredith Taylor | 1 comment | Continued
Huntington Village: Long Island’s Surprising Green Side
This past weekend’s New York Times Real Estate column “Living In” featured a glimpse of suburban Huntington Village on Long Island. While the storybook downtown and long commute to Penn Station aren’t totally surprising, Huntington’s progressive green initiatives are. Last year, the town became the first in New York State to offer incentives to residents who own hybrid or alternative-fuel vehicles. Parking on the street and in the town’s four commuter railroad station parking lots is free for residents with a “Keep Huntington Green” car decal, and they also receive free beach passes.
Popularity: 16% [?]
26Feb2008 | Meredith Taylor | 3 comments | Continued
Brooklyn Center for the Urban Environment’s New HQ Seeks Borough’s First LEED for Commercial Interiors Rating
One of the organizations tapped by the City to move some programming space into the redeveloped Brooklyn Navy Yard Historical Center is the Brooklyn Center for the Urban Environment (”BCUE”). BCUE is already on the move, though. Last month, the organization relocated its headquarters from Prospect Park to new digs near the Gowanus Canal. BCUE recently revealed some details about its new office, including that its space will seek a Gold rating under LEED for Commercial Interiors (”LEED-CI”); it would be the first recipient of a LEED-CI rating for office space in Brooklyn.
Popularity: 9% [?]
20Feb2008 | Meredith Taylor | 0 comments | Continued
NYU Students and Faculty Strive to be Green Giants
New York University daily student newspaper Washington Square News reported yesterday on the recent efforts by NYU to reduce its environmental footprint and increase awareness of green issues. The NYU administration recently announced three new sustainability initiatives designed to save energy and money, as well as educate students and faculty. NYU Sustainability Task Force project administrator Jerry Friedman told the paper that university has “the opportunity to be a leader in environmental scholarship. No school is doing more than we are.” Among the environmental programs planned are an Educating for Sustainability lecture series and a “teach-in” related to green building. Robert Gottleib, author of the book Forcing the Spring: Transforming the American Environmental Movement, will be speaking about urban environmental policy on March 10, and past lecture topics include global warming and ecology.
Popularity: 4% [?]
15Feb2008 | Meredith Taylor | 1 comment | Continued-
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