Wind Power

• LEED Silver hopeful Edge condos in Williamsburg stick it to our favorite maverick, Sarah Palin.
• Not all gloom and doom in commercial leasing; AOL inks 15-year lease for 76,000 square feet of additional space at LEED-AB registrant 770 Broadway.
• Regulators bless massive $1 billion, 346 megawatt offshore wind farm in southern New Jersey.
• New York City's first electricity-powered delivery truck starts making deliveries in the Bronx; price tag a cool $216,000.00.
• Approval process begins for Related's LEED Silver hopeful
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Designed by Perkins+Will and Lilker Associates Consulting Engineers, the New Space for Women's Health will be New York City's first stand-alone birthing center, offering women and their families prenatal and postpartum care, childbirth education, social work, and psychological services. The three-story project is pursuing a LEED Gold rating from USGBC; green features will include efficient HVAC, water, and lighting systems, among other LEED standards. Lilker's healthcare division sought to design a "relaxed and warm setting" for patients that simultaneously conserves energy. The team is also considering installing wind turbines and solar hot water panels. The 8000-square-foot project involves the conversion of a former parking garage on West 30th Street in Midtown and should open sometime in 2010.

• Birthing Center Seeks LEED Certification (REW)

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In 2005, the 800-square-foot OPEN House was conceived and constructed by 75 students at Old Westbury, Long Island's New York Institute of Technology. Made from wood, the house debuted at the 2005 Solar Decathlon and took home fifth place as a fully operational showcase for solar and hydrogen fuel cell technology. In 2007, it was re-entered in the Decathlon with a few upgrades, including an array of 35 solar panels and a rooftop pool for heating and cooling, which was designed to simulate the heating and cooling principles of a geothermal system. The prototype included a performance dashboard displaying the home's energy consumption in real-time. Although the prototype cost $400,000.00 to construct, at the time students believed that a similar home could be mass-produced for around half of that amount.

The Dynamic Tower - a 1380-foot, rotating residential high-rise, will break ground in Dubai within a few months, according to Italian architect David Fisher, who discussed details about the project at a press conference today at the Plaza Hotel in Midtown. According to Dr. Fisher, a second Dynamic Tower will soon follow in Moscow with a third to come here in New York City. GlobeSt.com reports that although Fisher did not provide specific details about the New York iteration of the project, he did note that he is already talking to developers about bringing the concept to Gotham. The Dubai tower will cost $700 million and consist of 80 floors; the 70-story Moscow version is budgeted at $400 million.