Tag: cost
August 19, 2013
Countdown to BE NYC!
With only
days until October 16th, GreenHomeNYC is shining the spotlight on the experts who will be making BE NYC conference an exceptional industry event!
One of the professionals participating in the conference is
Dan Rieber.
Dan inspecting a steam boiler
is the
Weatherization Director at NMIC (Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation) as well as a frequent speaker at GreenHomeNYC forums. He has a BA from SUNY Stony Brook. Over the past 20 years Dan has given numerous presentations on various weatherization topics at the
National Affordable Comfort conferences (ACI), National Multi Family Buildings conferences,
National Weatherization Training conferences, Regional Weatherization Program conferences,
NESEA, and GreenHomeNYC.
Dan will be speaking about “Steam Heat: Tech Tips for Successful Operation” as part of the Multifamily track at BuildingEnergy NYC.
What is weatherization and why is it important for residential buildings? How does it affect the resident’s quality of life?
Weatherization, in our Northeast climate, is mostly about keeping your building as efficient as possible during the heating season. This means making sure your walls are insulated (if they can be), insulating the roof, insulating pipes (heating and DHW), air sealing wherever you can, tuning your heating system to maximize its efficiency or replacing it for a more efficient unit. Repairing windows for drafts and replacing them if necessary.
Being sure that you are making domestic hot water in as efficient a manner as possible can have a big impact on your energy bill. Domestic hot water is made all year round and can use more energy than heating in some buildings. Energy efficient lighting is an important part of the energy efficiency equation too, but has less of an impact on the heating side. Mechanical ventilation is another item to be looked at. Over ventilating can have an effect on heating use and the resident’s comfort.
Resident quality of life is a big issue if people are cold in their homes. Seniors and young children are most susceptible to colder temperatures. On the flip side if people are overheated then the building is wasting money on fuel going up the chimney and there are health issues related to poor indoor air quality in this case. This leads to open windows in the winter time as well.
(more…)
October 2, 2009
We thought our readers would be interested in the
Urban Green Council’s new report “
Cost of Green in New York City.”
Urban Green Council recognized a need to study the cost premium of green construction in NYC. As they note, advocates often argue that green cost premiums are small, but that detailed research in our specific marketplace was needed. Urban Green Council received funding assistance from
NYSERDA and engaged
Davis Langdon to conduct a data-based study of the cost of building green in the City.
107 recent projects were studied in 2008 – 63 were either pursuing or had achieved LEED certification. These projects were evaluated as a group, and construction costs for two subsets were analyzed statistically: high-rise residences (38 projects) and office interiors (25 projects).
There were two major findings:
The Cost of Green in New York City found no significant difference in the cost per square foot between green and non-green buildings, based on analysis of luxury high-rise residential and commercial interiors projects.
In analyzing the data, the study also discovered that New York City LEED projects exhibit similar patterns of LEED credit achievement; certain credits are commonly achieved and others are rarely pursued.
This timely report also considers cost implications not only green construction, but all construction.
You can read the executive summary, or download the whole report if you’re a member
here.
October 1, 2004
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 Saves the Green
Cost Benefits of Green Buildings
By Erik D. Nevala-Lee
The environmental benefits of “green” buildings have never been questioned. The reduced intake of resources and the reduced output of waste accomplished through environmentally sensitive building reduce the negative environment impact of a building. Although the environmental benefits of green buildings are clear, how to afford a more environmentally sustainable living environment is not. Cost is a frequent excuse against building green. While it is true that the initial cost of green building can be more – an extra $3 to $5 per square foot, by some estimates – the life cycle cost of a green building is significantly less.
Read on at The Cooperator Web Site.
