Infrastructure, Hard and Soft
One of the most encouraging developments in the real estate community over the last ten years has been the stark realization that advances in technology must be accompanied by advancements in the...
View ArticleA Small Space for Storage, a Giant Leap for Recycling!
On December 20, 2012, NYC enacted Local Law 60 of 2012 that requires new residential buildings to provide adequate space to store and segregate refuse and recyclables, implementing the Green Codes Task...
View ArticleDaylighting: Steps Big and Small Pay Off
On January 15 I had the bright idea to attend Let There Be Daylight, an event discussing a report (of the same name, released in December) showing that at least 114 million square feet of New York City...
View ArticleAll Together Now: A New EBie Award
Now in its second year, the EBie Awards from Urban Green Council, USGBC New York, are a nationwide juried competition for people working in Existing Buildings who have made great strides in improving...
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Is That a Dishtowel – or Wall-to-Wall Carpeting?
Last July, I posted that the Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s adAPT NYC competition was seeking proposals for “micro-units,” meaning apartments less than the minimum 400 square feet...
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When NYC Loses 50% of its Drinking Water
Within the next decade, an aqueduct that supplies half of New York City’s drinking water will be shut down for 6-15 months of repairs. Amazingly, almost no one knows about this. The Delaware Aqueduct...
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This is 40!
A New York City Council vote today brings us to a new milestone: 40 Green Codes Task Force proposals are now incorporated into laws and practices. The particular proposal that brought us to this...
View ArticleWork of the Building Resiliency Task Force Progresses
The work of the Building Resiliency Task Force, convened at the request of Mayor Bloomberg and Speaker Quinn, is now well underway; over 200 members have rolled up their sleeves and taken a first pass...
View ArticleLEED, the GSA and Dark Money
I attended Greenbuild for the first time in 2004 when it was hosted in Portland and it was truly a revelation. I understood for the first time, in a really tangible way, that I was not alone in my...
View ArticleLearning from Benchmarking
By the end of 2013, over 1,400 New York City buildings will have to comply with Local Law 87: Audits and Retro-commissioning, the second in a series of laws that make up the Greener, Greater Buildings...
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Two Degrees
We are surrounded by recommendations. Everywhere we turn we find grand solutions to the grand problem of climate change. Many of the visionaries around us insist on broad policy moves, like a carbon...
View ArticleJumpstart your LEED EBOM Certification
To qualify for LEED EBOM, an ENERGY STAR score of 69 or higher was a benchmark many older buildings just couldn’t achieve. The score means that the building performs better than 69% of buildings with a...
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A New Lesson Plan for Green Schools
Students at Explore Charter School in Brooklyn Recently, Director of Programs, Tiffany Broyles Yost and I were invited to speak about sustainability in the classroom at Explore Charter School, a K-8...
View ArticleHow We Make Things
The New York Times carried a remarkable, front-page piece this weekend on the severe health risks of a chemical called normal propyl bromide (nPB), a substance known for many years to cause nerve...
View ArticleWhat My EP Experience Means to Me
I first discovered and joined Urban Green Council’s Emerging Professionals about three years ago when I first moved to the city. I was looking for a job in the architecture industry and wanted to meet...
View ArticleGaining an Edge through Sustainable Operations
When you’re already one of the pioneers in building sustainability, how do you keep your edge? You use training to keep your staff engaged in the strategies and work practices that make buildings...
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NYC Agencies Expand Green Training
New York City continues to be leader in greening its buildings and reducing energy consumption. In 2011, NYC piloted its groundbreaking Energy Incentive Alignment Program at seven of its largest...
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Honoring Heroes in Existing Buildings at the 2013 EBie Awards
Urban Green rolled out the green carpet for the 2nd Annual EBie Awards Wednesday night to an excited buzz of anticipation in the packed house at Times Square’s Hard Rock Café Theatre. Award presenters...
View ArticleBuilding Resiliency Revealed
On Tuesday night, Urban Green Council held the first public Building Resiliency Task Force event since its unveiling with Mayor Bloomberg and Speaker Quinn on June 13. A sizable crowd met at the Con Ed...
View ArticleSalon Recap: Innovative Techniques for Air Purification
Poor air quality is said to contribute to approximately six percent of deaths annually in New York City. Citywide initiatives are in place to reduce the pollutants produced by burning fuels that...
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