Tag: affordable-housing
November 24, 2020
Indigenous Peoples: Centuries of Sustainable Living
By Alexa Roccanova Amidst a convergence of contemporary crises, private and public actors alike have championed sustainability as the ultimate goal for an environmentally, socially, and economically sound future. We’ve witnessed an inundation of seemingly “sustainable” alternatives for products, technologies, lifestyles, and systems that pose only slightly better versions of the status-quo — alternatives that by themselves, without a significant shift in the dynamic of our dominant systems, will not be enough to effectively mitigate climate change.
February 5, 2019
Monthly Forum: Affordable Housing Overview, The Path to Better Affordable Housing

The City, State, and Federal governments have provided subsidies for affordable housing for decades, but this housing is not built by them, it is built by developers. Many years ago, the belief was to build the housing as quickly as possible, which caused much affordable housing to be of modest yet horribly inefficient quality. Today, such housing meets or exceeds most sustainability standards, and tonight’s developers were among the leaders in this change over the years, and remain there to this day. Listen to the process and progress in this field, and decide if you might want to join this field by listening to these accomplished leaders.
Our speakers will include:
Les Bluestone has been involved in real estate development and construction industries for over 35 years working in New YOrk CIty and surrounding areas. Co-founder of Blue Sea Development Company and Blue Sea Construction Co., his firms developed and built New York State’s first affordable Energy Star Homes and New York State’s first three affordable LEED Platinum multifamily buildings. A former Board Chair of Habitat for Humanity NYC, Les is a founding board member of the Center for Active Design, sits on the boards of the New York State Association for Affordable Housing, the NYC Workforce Investment Board, and was appointed by the Governor to the NYSERDA Green Jobs Green New York Advisory Council.
Luke Falk is Vice President of Technology for Related Companies. His group drives technological innovation (including capabilities around energy management, marketing, adtech, IoT, and integrated experiences) at Hudson Yards, the largest private real estate development in the history of the US. Previously he was the Assistant Vice President for Sustainability in Related’s New York Development Group. In that role he developed distributed and renewable energy generation projects, and improved the energy performance and resilience of new and existing developments. He led the sustainability design of over a dozen LEED silver, gold and platinum buildings representing over $5B in capital investment including the tallest passive house in the world for Cornell Tech in New York City.
December 11, 2018
October Forum Recap: Passive House High Rise
By Jessica Bartolini; Photos by Olha Peralta
High-rise Passive House buildings were the subject of GreenHomeNYC’s monthly forum in October. The three presentations provided attendees with an overview of what implementing Passive House standards looks like in real life.
Gahl Sorkin Spanier of the Association for Energy Affordability (AEA) kicked off the evening with a presentation on how best to go about building a high-rise Passive House (PH) project. Kevin Brennan, formerly of AEA and now co-owner of Brennan Brennan Insulation and Air tightness, joined Gahl in sharing learnings from Passive House projects and training. AEA recently worked on an 86-unit PH affordable residence for seniors in Queens, in partnership with the non-profit organization HANAC.

Gahl emphasized the importance of holding training for the various trades building a PH project, noting that the main sources of air leakage are often at details where trade responsibilities are unclear. It is key, therefore, that training not only instill understanding of PH requirements, but also recognition of the importance of collaboration and coordinating across trades. Another takeaway from AEA’s experience is that training should not include more theory or math than necessary. Gahl noted that any general contractor personnel in a supervisory role should not only receive training, but also be empowered to teach others.
May 29, 2018
March Forum Recap: Sustainable Policy 201
by Miaoru Guan
June 4, 2016
April Forum Recap: Indoor Air Quality
by Jaime Alvarez
May 22, 2016
Living it up in Tiny Homes
By Samantha Lipsky As spring cleaning season concludes, many declutter devotees are likely contemplating, “Could I make do with less?” And, depending on the magnitude of decluttering, “How much space is needed to live a full life?” Tiny Life is a social movement and seeks to address such issues through lifestyle simplification. Inhabiting smaller, and sometimes mobile, spaces allows many the freedom to prioritize other aspects of life. Living in a smaller structure can free up finances and responsibilities, which in turn, renders greater flexibility in job choice and travel. What are Tiny Homes? Tiny homes can include micro-apartments, trailers, micro-homes, yurts, houseboats, and garages. Simply put, according to the television show, Tiny House Nation, the average home is 2300 square feet and tiny homes are roughly one-tenth that size. Carpenter and Assistant Organizer of the Meetup, NYC Tiny House Enthusiasts (NYCTHE), Tim Tedesco attests that there are many types of tiny residences. “Living in NYC is tiny living. Most people already live in tiny homes like within a small apartment and bedrooms within a shared space.” He elaborates that residents learn how to create a well-organized, optimally-designed home, in which each and every space has a function. (more…)February 24, 2016
January Forum Recap: Sustainability Trends from the Green Catwalk
by Megan Nordgrén Sustainability trends are constantly evolving and at GreenHomeNYC’s annual Green Catwalk, a number of hot topics were placed center stage as seven speakers discussed issues like carbon assets, solar technology, sustainable modular housing, green financing and benchmarking. Carbon Offsets in the Building Industry
September 10, 2015
August Forum Recap: The Economic Value of Green Building
by Jaime Alvarez Two seasoned building professionals and a financier came together on Wednesday, August 19th at the GreenHomeNYC August forum held at the Hafele showroom to share their experiences regarding the economic value of green building with a full room of over 50 curious attendees. The presentations emphasized that with attention to detail, green buildings can be built affordably. Steve Bluestone of The Bluestone Organization: Making green building cost competitive Affordable housing developer, Steven Bluestone, began the discussion showing how through years of practice and commitment to constant improvement his firm has left behind stagnant building practices and forged ahead past code requirements with a simpler building process which delivers more efficient buildings with significant cost savings to tenants. For over fifty years, small to medium multi-family housing has been built using concrete masonry unit, “cinder block,” structural walls and planks for flooring and roofing. The buildings would be structurally sound, but energy efficiency suffered as a result of minimal insulation, air sealing, and “thermal bridges”— where conductive material such as concrete is exposed to outdoor weather drawing in cold temperature indoors during winter, and warmer temperatures in summer, raising heating and cooling costs.
October 5, 2013
The Green Spotlight on BE NYC: Christopher Diamond
Countdown to BE NYC! With only

The second mortgage product is now rolling out with Fannie Mae. We’re working with some of their partner lenders to provide additional loan proceeds for energy efficiency improvements at the time of acquisition, refinancing, or even as a supplemental loan on top of an existing Fannie Mae mortgage. We’re fundamentally changing the way Fannie Mae underwrites loans: A portion of the projected energy and water cost savings can be used during the underwriting process.
What other discussions at the BE NYC conference are you most interested in attending? The ones pertaining to resilience. The steps we’re taking with energy efficiency will only reduce the changes to our climate. Over the course of my lifetime and my children’s, we’ll need to learn to adapt and be resilient as well. Interested in learning more from Christopher Diamond? Look for him at the Multifamily Track at BE NYC.
September 20, 2013
The Green Spotlight on BE NYC: Pat Logan
Countdown to BE NYC!
With onlydays until the conference, GreenHomeNYC is shining the spotlight on the experts who will be making the BE NYC an exceptional industry event!
