Energy

It takes a special type of person to walk past the bright lights of the theater district and think, “man, that’s pretty wasteful.” You may or may not be that type of person, but your author definitely is. I also have never really been able to suspend disbelief on the “singing when you should be talking” thing that kind of defines musicals, so it’s probably not that surprising that I see a big, dumb carbon footprint where I’m supposed to be seeing Broadway’s good-timey glitz. While I may never learn to stop worrying and love Crybaby, The Broadway League – a group representing the theater owners and producers footing the bill for said glitz – are preparing to ensure that the Great White Way is about to get a bit greener. Yes, Broadway, a national institution based on all-singing, all-dancing spectacle, is turning its attention to the notably less glamorous topics of recycling Playbills and lighting marquees with LED bulbs.

Intervale Green is a $45 million, 127-unit affordable housing development under construction in the Morrisania section of the Bronx. Project sponsor WHEDC teamed with energy consultant Steven Winter Associates to reduce the building’s expected energy costs by 35 percent through numerous sustainable design elements, including the installation of EnergyStar appliances and light fixtures. Other green design features include two different green roofs, low-e windows, and non-toxic paints and sealants- important because the Morrisania neighborhood holds the unfortunate distinction of the highest asthma rate in the Bronx

Currently, 439 nuclear reactors in 31 nations supply 15 percent of global electricity, and 31 new plants are currently under construction throughout the world, including in Finland- Europe’s first in 15 years. Last week, in a fascinating and expansive cover piece on nuclear power’s “new age,” The Economist reported a projection that global nuclear capacity [...]

A number of real estate industry representatives participated in Real Estate Media’s The Greening of New York City Commercial Real Estate: Making a Profit While Making a Difference panel at the Harvard Club in Midtown on Wednesday morning. Fiona Cousins, Chair of USGBC’s New York chapter, delivered the event’s opening address, noting that “[i]n New [...]

The Stillwell Avenue Subway Terminal Train Shed, located on Coney Island in Brooklyn, earned Honorable Mention recognitions in the AIA Committee on the Environment’s Top Ten Green Project Awards for 2007 (which were handed out back in May at the AIA’s National Convention in San Antonio). I was just out at Coney Island recently and [...]

Stephen thought I might be writing about Syracuse this month and picking up where he left off with his post on May 21st about New York State’s first LEED-H Gold project in Syracuse. I do want to get to Syracuse and will soon.
And I will surely get to Rochester too. I was lucky enough to [...]

Earlier this week, I received a press release describing the launch of a new solar roofing company called DRI Energy (announced yesterday). A subsidiary of one of the larger roofing contractors out West (the DRI Companies), the new venture will assist clients in each step of solar installation, from concept through engineering and financing, as [...]

On Tuesday, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee held a hearing entitled “Green Buildings: Benefits to Health, the Environment, and the Bottom Line.” You should be able to access an archived webcast of the hearing here, as well as hard copies of the testimony provided by each witness.
The Committee heard testimony from Robert Fox [...]

One the initiatives proposed in Mayor Bloomberg’s PlaNYC 2030 is a $3 million pledge from the City towards the Solar 2 Green Energy Arts and Education Center, which will aim to be New York’s first carbon-neutral building and also seek a LEED Gold rating (image to the left). The remainder of funding for the $12.5 [...]

According to a confidential report obtained by Crain’s New York Business, and included as part of this week’s edition’s cover story, the Bloomberg administration is in the process of outlining an energy proposal that it will include in its PlaNYC 2030, which remains under development. One of 2030’s overarching goals is to achieve a thirty [...]