Green Retrofits

It's hardly controversial, given what the "g" in gbNYC stands for, to advocate the idea that green retrofits are a good idea for buildings in New York and elsewhere. But as the consensus grows that this is, in fact, what's going to happen -- at least in the sense that a greener built environment is so clearly wise, responsible and cost-effective that it kind of has to happen -- let's take a break from popping Cristal over the coming retrofit boom and fretting over the imperfections of our current capacities. During that break, we'd encourage you to take a walk (but bring mittens, it's cold) and maybe give some thought to just how we're going to pay for all those awesome retrofits that are surely coming down the pike. While we all broadly agree on what should happen when it comes to retrofits, it will be easier to believe that all those good things will happen when we have some idea how they will happen. Which brings us to... green leasing?

Michael Bloomberg (left) is like a little, orange, unimaginably wealthy litmus test. Or... well, really, he's more like a little, orange, unimaginably wealthy politician. Not just in the strictly literal sense -- for those just joining us, Michael Bloomberg is the mayor of New York City -- but in the sense that, despite his cosmos-altering personal wealth, he is also a prisoner to the rich-dude biases and interest group influence that have traditionally made politics so sclerotic and annoying, and have made "politician" something of a pejorative term. The "litmus test" part is this -- when you heard that Michael Bloomberg was rolling back the most ambitious (and, not coincidentally, onerous) element of his Greener, Greater Buildings Plan, did you feel surprised? Confirmed in your suspicions? It's relative, of course -- I personally felt a little of both -- but "disappointed" is a very acceptable answer.

First there was Trenton. Then Hartford. Then Staten Island, which isn't quite not New York City but is pretty close (and not for want of trying). Today, your correspondent for gbNYC/gbTheWholeFreakingWorld invites you to join him in exotic Buffalo, New York, where a retrofit has earned Western New York its first LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations and Maintenance certification. Let's go to Buffalo! Actually, you know what? Let's just read about it. Buffalo's like seven hours away from gbNYC HQ, and your correspondent doesn't even like wings (it's the bones, they make me sad) and it's already kind of late in the day.

At a conference held last Friday at the Durst Organization's LEED Platinum hopeful Bank of America Tower, the Bloomberg administration announced plans to launch a pilot green retrofit program for foreclosed one- to four-family homes in New York City. Sponsored by USGBC-NY, "Green and Affordable: Sustainable Strategies for the New Housing Marketplace" featured former Department of Housing Preservation and Development ("HPD") commissioner Sean Donovan, who announced the pilot program during his keynote address. The Enterprise Green Communities criteria will serve as the basis of the pilot, which is part of Mayor Bloomberg's New Housing Marketplace Plan, an initiative aiming to create sufficient affordable housing for 500,000 New Yorkers. GlobeSt.com was unable to obtain information from HPD about the number of homes that will qualify under the pilot program, or where those homes might be located. Funds for the pilot program will come, in part, from HUD, which awarded a $24 million grant to the New Housing Marketplace Plan back in January.