August’s forum will discuss working with contractors in both residential and commercial projects. Along with teams of architects, designers, and specifiers, the future of green construction is in the contractors’ hands. Please join GreenHomeNYC on August 18th to hear how these innovative people are greening our skyline, one building at a time.

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Curious about what’s in Home Star Energy Retrofit Act of 2010, commonly know as “Cash for Caulkers”? Construction Software Advice has a excellent and thorough run down of everything in the proposed legislation, including details of each of the thirteen retrofit types eligible for funding.
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Coming this fall… The New New York, GreenHomeNYC’s revolutionary interpretation of the typical New York street fair. Get it in your schedules now: Saturday, October 2, 2010, all day. Third St between Bond and Hoyt in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn.

We’re bringing to the street the latest education, products, and visions for a greener New York City, and we’re practicing what we preach. This event will serve as a prototype to “green up” all future New York street fairs by minimizing trash, composting/recycling waste, using biofuel, and more. Visit greenhomenyc.org/thenewnewyork for more.

Be a part of this paradigm-shifting event that will bring a deeper understanding of what a truly green New York City can be by involving the residents of New York to TAKE ACTION. (more…)

On June 8, Mayor Bloomberg and Buildings Commissioner Robert LiMandri, in conjunction with Sustainable CUNY, announced the creation of three Solar Empowerment Zones in the City. The zones have excellent potential for solar power. Being inside one of the zones gives technical assistance, and streamlined paperwork for getting solar installations authorized. (more…)

On June 9, 2010 the City Council released nine bills, accomplishing a milestone towards greener building construction and retrofitting, geared towards water and lighting energy conservation and efficiency. This effort has been led by the NYC Green Codes Task Force, initiated by Mayor Bloomberg and Speaker Quinn. The taskforce is charged with changing the building code to tackle urban environmental issues on a larger scale. Here are short summaries from New York City Council, with links to the draft bill text.
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GreenHomeNYC board member Alison Novak reflects on behavior and green buildings.

Recently I’ve been hearing too much of the same depressing argument: we can’t solve climate change through technology alone but the masses of consumers won’t alter their behavior until there is a direct economic cost to them, such as vastly higher fuel costs. Then I was fortunate enough to attend the latest of the Garrison Institute’s “Climate, Buildings and Behavior” conferences (a GreenHomeNYC Partner-in-Practice was also in attendance, Miquela Craytor, representing Sustainable South Bronx). Re-examining the tenets of neoclassical economics in light of data provided to us by behavioral economics and neuroeconomics, gave me a glimpse of an alternate way of looking at the problem of getting people to change how they live without waiting for dire circumstances.
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Tuesday’s New York Times discussed the economics of green retrofits, and the Deutsche Bank/Living Cities Building Energy Efficiency Data Report –

The practice of retrofitting buildings with simple, environmentally friendly technology like more-efficient boilers and better-quality windows has been around for years, but there is little research on how much energy these changes actually save — and by extension, how much money they can save landlords and lenders.

In an effort to supply that information, Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the German bank, is financing the creation of a public database of several hundred retrofitted buildings in New York City and a companion report to determine the savings from such moves.

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A green building news update from Capitol Hill, by GreenHomeNYC volunteer Adam Szlachetka.

Despite trouble with the larger energy policy overhaul on Capitol Hill, on May 6 the House and Senate advanced bills to improve energy efficiency in homes and other products nationwide.
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GreenHomeNYC volunteer Brian Rahm’s final reflections on his path to becoming LEED AP. Read parts one and two.

I realized after taking the exam that, whether you are new to the principles of green building or have sustainability expertise already, my advice is the same. The Green Associate exam is not so much a test of your sustainability or building knowledge as it is a test of your familiarity with the LEED process, AS SEEN THROUGH THE EYES OF THE USGBC. You are essentially becoming their representative, and the Green Associate exam is a form of Boot Camp. You must know their rules and play by them.
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GreenHomeNYC volunteer Brian Rahm reports from an evening event organized by New York Academy of Sciences, about post-occupancy evaluation in green buildings.

On Thursday, April 15th, The New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS) hosted the third event in its four part series entitled “Green Building Solutions: What’s Working?” The series consists of presentations and updates from leading architects, building researchers, city and national policy makers, and developers. The third installment was a discussion on Post Occupancy Evaluation (POE) and served to highlight and explore the crucial and often problematic transition between building design and construction, and building occupancy, operation and management.

If there was a take home message from the evening, it was that building performance is as much a function of operation and occupancy behavior as it is a function of clever and sustainably savvy design. This is an important lesson for those who look to technology and green design as the answer for improving building performance both in terms of energy efficiency and reduced resource use. When buildings are not used as they were designed, or when design fails to properly consider the practical needs of operating staff and occupants, performance will suffer.

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