Since 2004, GreenHomeNYC has presented monthly articles on green building construction, renovations, and management in The Cooperator, a Yale Robbins newspaper serving 3,300 New York City cooperatives and condominiums.

A Green Lining in a Down Market
Converting to an Energy-Efficient Building
By Erik D. Nevala-Lee

The realities of a depressed real estate market have finally settled upon New  York City. We’ve seen a significant drop in sale prices over just the past few months. This  has been coupled with a rapid increase in inventory levels as units stay on the  market longer, further exacerbating this downward spiral in price. While there  are many reasons for the slump in the housing market that can and have filled  many other articles and columns, the real question is what can a building do to  attract new buyers and to keep existing owners in their units in the future.  Green design and energy efficiency improvements provide an opportunity for  buildings to address demand for and price of their units on the market.  

Read on at The Cooperator

Since 2004, GreenHomeNYC has presented monthly articles on green building construction, renovations, and management in The Cooperator, a Yale Robbins newspaper serving 3,300 New York City cooperatives and condominiums.

Finding the Money
Green Building Financing
By Erik D. Nevala-Lee

Taking the plunge and renovating an existing multi-family building to be more energy-efficient is an important and exciting endeavor. The long-term financial payback from increased energy efficiency in a building is well documented. These significant potential savings, while tempting, doesn’t always seem to be enough to encourage people to make the necessary upgrades to their own buildings. 

Read on at The Cooperator

Since 2004, GreenHomeNYC has presented monthly articles on green building construction, renovations, and management in The Cooperator, a Yale Robbins newspaper serving 3,300 New York City cooperatives and condominiums.

Understanding What You Use Helps to Conserve
Reviewing Your Con Ed Bill
By Sharon Brind

With the constant rise in energy costs, the use of “peak generating plants” and increased individual energy consumption, we are seeing a direct impact on our monthly electricity bill. According to Con Ed, July 2008 set a new record of 6.7 billion kilowatt hours, or approximately 350 kWh hours per customer. Going forward it will cost more and more to light, heat, cool, and live in our homes. What can we do to lower our bill, become more energy efficient in our homes and essentially become more “green”?

Read on at The Cooperator

Since 2004, GreenHomeNYC has presented monthly articles on green building construction, renovations, and management in The Cooperator, a Yale Robbins newspaper serving 3,300 New York City cooperatives and condominiums.

Green Building Insurance Practices
The Climate is A-Changing
By Erik D. Nevala-Lee

One impact of climate change is being felt as natural disasters of increasing frequency and strength are causing extensive damage to homes and businesses. The four hurricanes of 2005—Katrina, Rita, Wilma and Dennis—caused more than $57 billion in insured losses from 3.3 million claims—the largest losses on record for the insurance industry. This sort of loss quickly makes insurers reevaluate the market and its potential risks. One way the insurance industry is dealing with the increased risk due to climate change is to leave the market.

Read on at The Cooperator

Since 2004, GreenHomeNYC has presented monthly articles on green building construction, renovations, and management in The Cooperator, a Yale Robbins newspaper serving 3,300 New York City cooperatives and condominiums.

Tracking Building Energy Usage
Energy by the Foot
By Aaron Yowell

Recent studies of energy usage in multifamily buildings have revealed that the least efficient buildings use up to seven times the energy of the most efficient—even when those buildings are otherwise similar.

It should surprise few readers to hear that a large number of buildings waste significant amounts of energy. In these days of high-profile environmental initiatives by Hollywood stars, mainstream hybrid cars and “green” lifestyle television programming, environmental awareness is at an all-time high.

Read on at The Cooperator

Since 2004, GreenHomeNYC has presented monthly articles on green building construction, renovations, and management in The Cooperator, a Yale Robbins newspaper serving 3,300 New York City cooperatives and condominiums.

Emerging Faces in Sustainable Development
Designer and Developer
By Erik D. Nevala-Lee

New Yorkers are obsessed with real estate development. We all pause to stare at the listings in our local real estate office window, and everybody knows the average price of an apartment in Manhattan (currently $1.7 million). Citywide, massive building and construction proposals like the World Trade Center, Brooklyn’s Atlantic Yards and Manhattan’s West Side Rail Yards dominate the news.

Read on at The Cooperator

Since 2004, GreenHomeNYC has presented monthly articles on green building construction, renovations, and management in The Cooperator, a Yale Robbins newspaper serving 3,300 New York City cooperatives and condominiums.

The Power of Green
Bringing Your Building Up to Speed
By Norma Dunkelberger

For the past couple of decades, interest in the environment and “greening” of residential buildings has been creeping into our daily lexicon; nowadays, the theories have become practice, and renewable or “green” power is now more accessible than ever before. With planning and guidance, just about any building can inject a little environmentally friendly, money-saving green into its daily operations.

Read on at The Cooperator

Since 2004, GreenHomeNYC has presented monthly articles on green building construction, renovations, and management in The Cooperator, a Yale Robbins newspaper serving 3,300 New York City cooperatives and condominiums.

Renewable Energy
Now Available for Delivery in New York City
By Joshua Radoff

In New York City, electricity is a lot like Chinese food. It’s ubiquitous, available for delivery right to your home, and is made with lots and lots of oil. But unlike a good Chinese restaurant, Con Edison, the electricity provider for almost all of New York City, has a menu with only one choice. And until recently, if you didn’t like that choice, well that was just too bad. Theirs was the only gig in town. But the days of one-electron-fits-all have come to an end. Now anyone who thinks that their electricity should come from sources that don’t pollute, don’t come from the Middle East, don’t contribute to climate change, and don’t double as weapons of mass destruction, can pick up the phone and order a new utility product called “Green Power.”

Read on at The Cooperator

Since 2004, GreenHomeNYC has presented monthly articles on green building construction, renovations, and management in The Cooperator, a Yale Robbins newspaper serving 3,300 New York City cooperatives and condominiums.

Green Corner: Understanding Lighting
The Good, the Bad and the Environmental
By Joshua Radoff

There’s nothing worse than bad lighting. Take an otherwise beautiful room and illuminate it with the wrong kind of light - whether too dim, too bright, too hot, too cold, too pale, or too bleak - and the mood, feeling, and livability of the space is ruined. And the worst of the bad-lighting culprits are the cold, bleak, buzzing, latter-generation fluorescents that make you feel like you’re trapped in some Soviet-era mental hospital, or the Matrix, or some other world that has forgotten its love for humanity.

Read on at The Cooperator Web Site.