Architectural and interiors firm MKDA has completed a 17,000-square-foot green office buildout for Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, a non-profit group that assists donors in philanthropic efforts across the globe. Rockefeller’s space is spread across the 9th, 10th, and 11th floors of 6 West 48th Street and incorporates a variety of green building products. MKDA is entrenched in the green building field; senior vice president Daniel DeSiena is a founding member of Green October, New York City’s first green interior design exposition.
December 10th, 2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | ContinuedGreen Building Products
Waste Lines: Chelsea Piers Makes A Green Move
Businesses go green for the same reasons people go to the gym, give or take a little “good PR” here and some “unfair media representations of the ideal body” there. Both moves are provoked by some combination – the percentages differ from instance to instance – of guilt, a desire to eliminate a certain amount of flab, and recognition that the latter not only expiates the former, but will make a lot of things better going forward. And so, in a downturn that – in this increasingly tortured metaphor – is the sort of economic equivalent of bathing suit season, sports-centered mega-development Chelsea Piers is slimming down, greening up and embarking on something of an energy diet.
December 9th, 2008 | David Roth | 0 comments | Continued
Sales Tax Exemption Proposed for Garden State Green Building Products
New Jersey may soon be the first state in the U.S. to offer a sales tax exemption for certain green building products. Bill S-1778, introduced by state senator Bill Baroni (R- Mercer/Middlesex) would provide consumers with an exemption from New Jersey’s seven (7) percent sales tax for EnergyStar-rated residential appliances, including refrigerators, ceiling fans, and fluorescent light bulbs. Although other states- including Vermont- have offered similar temporary green product sales tax exemptions, the New Jersey legislation would be the first to go permanently on a state’s books. The program would be called “Buy Green, Save Green,” and the bill is also being sponsored by Assemblywoman Pamela Lampitt, a Democrat from Camden.
August 1st, 2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 1 comment | Continued
SoHo Partnership Enters Supply Agreement for Biodegradable Trash Bags
The SoHo Partnership is a non-profit organization that hires homeless and jobless people through the BRC Human Services Corporation, another New York City-based organization that provides rehab and treatment programs for the homeless. The program cleans a 30-block area daily, removing over 15,000 pounds of trash, and also plants and maintains trees and other greenery and administers various recycling programs. Yesterday, the organization announced that it has entered into a supply agreement to purchase Perf Go Green’s biodegradable trash bags for use in its operations. The Perf Go Green bags debuted earlier this year at the International Home and Housewares Show in Chicago, and are manufactured from recycled plastics. The film that’s applied to the bags is biodegradable, and causes the bags to break down when disposed of in soil. SoHo Partnership founder Henry Buhl said that the organization is “absolutely delighted to announce SoHo as the city’s first neighborhood to use biodegradable trash bags.”
July 31st, 2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 1 comment | Continued