Inc.

The American Cancer Society of New York and New Jersey announced earlier this week that its Hope Lodge New York City, Jerome L. Greene Family Center has earned LEED Gold certification from USGBC.  Located at 132 West 32nd Street adjacent to Penn Station, the project was part of the much larger, 459-unit Epic rental apartment building, co-developed by the Durst Organization and Franciscan friars of the adjacent Holy Name parish on West 31st Street. The Hope Lodge was designed by New Haven-based CAMA, Inc.; SLCE Architects and FXFOWLE were architects for the building superstructure. (Note that The Epic was seeking a LEED Silver rating from USGBC, but it's unclear whether the project actually earned formal certification).

Profiled in last week's small business report in Crain's, Ardour Capital is a five-year-old investment bank that focuses exclusively on renewable energy and sustainable technology. Notwithstanding the persisting gloom on Wall Street (more on that in the context of green later this week), the firm expects revenues this year to top $10 million and double by 2009, up from $3.9 million in 2006. According to managing partner and co-founder Brian Greenstein, "[t]here's a recognition that this sector is going to be one of the ones that grow." Ardour's 25 staffers review companies across the green power sector and then distill the technologies down for potential investors. Since opening its doors, Ardour has helped raised over $1 billion for 30 companies; earlier this year, it worked with California-based eco-friendly printer Colorep, Inc. in securing a $24 million private investment.

• Ardour Capital
• Colorep, Inc.

The April 2008 issue of eco-structure profiles the Dancing Wings Butterfly Garden at Rochester, New York's Strong National Museum of Play, a hands-on interactive learning institution geared towards both children and adults. Dancing Wings was part of Strong's recent $37 million expansion effort and includes a number of sustainable design features, including a 4000-square-foot, 50-foot diameter tensile-fabric membrane roof designed and installed by Amherst, New York-based specialty contractor Birdair, Inc. The PTFE-coated roof allows up to 40 percent of natural light to penetrate into the habitat below, where over 800 butterflies are free to roam. It also assists the museum in achieving cost savings from decreased interior lighting requirements, minimizes the museum's heat island effect, and contributed minimally to the project’s overall construction waste. Birdair has installed similar tensile-fabric roofs on a number of high-profile projects, including University of Phoenix Stadium in Arizona (site of Super Bowl XLII) and Denver International Airport.

As the U.S. housing market continues to cool, Kermit Baker, chief economist of the American Institute of Architects, believes that the continued strength of the green materials sector, despite the downturn, owes itself to the price of oil. Quoted in The Wall Street Journal Online, Baker says that “[f]ifty-dollar- to sixty-dollar-a-barrel oil is the biggest driver . . . . If oil went down to $28 a barrel, I'm not sure how much of this would stick.”