Tag: air-quality

April 16, 2008

March 2008: Your green home: shopping for a green apartment and keeping it green

The Green Building Forum is held on the third Wednesday of each month (except December) @6:30 PM and features presentations by green building practitioners followed by discussion. The events are always free and open to the general public. Location: Pratt Manhattan, 144 W 14th St, Rm. 213 This month’s forum will look at how to shop for a green apartment and what to do when you move in to your green (or not so green) home. Emma Hamilton, a certified eco-broker, of the Corcoran Group will walk us through the process, from arming yourself with the right questions for the broker, seller, or owner to moving in. Then, Erica Brabon of Steven Winter Associates will tell us about energy and indoor environmental issues that you should watch out for once you’ve moved in. View full notes Emma Hamilton: As New York City’s second ever Certified EcoBroker, Emma joins the movement of professionals pushing the real estate industry toward energy-efficient, sustainable, high-end green design in individual apartments and throughout entire buildings. As a Senior Associate Broker with the Corcoran Group, this distinction allows Emma to bring a different perspective to the table for sellers, buyers and developers alike. Originally from Santa Barbara, CA, Emma was raised in London, England and is no stranger to the intricacies of real estate. She gained first-hand knowledge from her family who are highly involved in various aspects of the business, from lending and sales to landowners, developers and investors. An long time East Village condo owner with her Swiss husband Dave, a product designer, Emma also resides on The Nature Conservancy’s Young Professionals Development Committee and is a proud member of the East Village Community Coalition, the East Village Parks Conservancy, the New York Restoration Project and The US Green Building Council’s NY Chapter where she sits on the LEED for Homes evaluation committee. She also resides on the board of her condo association and is currently “greening” her own building. Outside of work she can be found cruising the city on her bike, playing tennis or discussing food at great length. Emma has also volunteered as a one-on-one mentor since 2002. Her “little sister”, now 17, stands a head taller than Emma and is receiving high honors in her junior year of high school! This event is hosted and co-sponsored by Pratt Institute.

March 1, 2004

Fumes and Formaldehyde

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. Fumes and Formaldehyde Taking Steps to Detox Your Building By Joshua Radoff Everyone knows the air in New York isn’t the best stuff in the world to breathe. But what most people don’t know is that the indoor environment is often more polluted and toxic than the world outdoors. In fact, a recent EPA study found that the indoor concentrations of 20 toxic compounds can be as much as 200 times higher compared to the relatively pristine urban outdoors. So let’s start with a basic – and, hopefully, obvious – principle: If it’s poisonous, carcinogenic, triggers asthma, or wreaks havoc on your nervous system, you probably don’t want it in your building. Seems like common sense, right? And yet most of the products we use to build and maintain our buildings are portable Superfund sites, making their way Trojan Horse-like, into our common and living spaces. The good news for building owners and managers is that once you know what to look for, keeping the toxins out is a relatively easy thing to do. Read on at The Cooperator Web Site.