energy efficiency

New York House magazine’s first annual Best in Green Building Competition has been ongoing here in 2008 in no small part due to the efforts of gbNYC’s Paul McGinniss, who also served on the panel of judges that whittled the competition’s entries down to 12 back in September. To be eligible, homes had to be single-family and located in one of the magazine’s upstate editorial coverage areas (Westchester, Rockland, Putnam, etc. counties) and built between 2000 and 2006. The purpose of the competition? Simply to identify “exemplary” green residential projects and promote sustainable design. The judges used criteria from the USGBC’s LEED for Homes system during their review, but a LEED application was not a prerequisite in order to qualify.