Tag: water

June 17, 2020

Film Review: The Story of Plastic

By Tamanna Mohapatra   This documentary is in the same vein as the other popular “The Story Of…” series that first came to the public’s attention from founder Annie Leonard in 2007.  I remember being very influenced by ‘The Story of Stuff’.”  This movie is no different. The opening scene is a bit jarring yet somehow familiar…islands of dirty plastic with people swarming through it. The folks handling the heaps of plastic seem somewhat resigned  to this fate.   What is the Story of  Plastic? Where does it come from? Why is it so ubiquitous? What, if anything, can we do about it? These are some of the questions this documentary explores in some urgent depth. (more…)

July 25, 2019

Monthly Forum Recap: Water Energy Nexus

June Forum Recap: Water Energy Nexus: Opportunities in our Water and Wastewaster Infrastructure By Evan Mason, LEED GA
  On June 19, 2019, GreenHomeNYC hosted a forum on the Water/Energy Nexus. We are used to thinking about energy and water conservation, but we often overlook the fact that conveying water to us uses electricity. Our two speakers helped us better understand that bringing water to our bathrooms and kitchens takes a lot of energy; once we embrace this concept, we can appreciate that conveying clean water to our homes and businesses presents myriad opportunities to reduce greenhouse gases.
  Water and Energy—Real Life Strategies to Reduce Consumption, Save $ and Reduce GHGs
  (more…)

June 18, 2019

Monthly Forum: Water Energy Nexus

 

Most people wonder how much energy it takes to heat up water. However, people rarely consider how much water it takes to produce energy or to produce our food and other manufactured goods. These are questions this forum will attempt to answer in order to help participants understand their true water and energy usage. Join us!

 

Date: Wednesday, June 19, 2019 Time: 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM Place: TOTO Showroom, 20 West 22nd Street, 1st floor, New York, NY 10010

  REGISTER HERE!   (more…)

January 27, 2018

October Tour Recap: Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant

by Noah Siegel   Have you ever wondered what happens to the water you use after washing the dishes, taking a shower, or flushing the toilet? GreenHomeNYC visited the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant in Greenpoint, Brooklyn to learn how the NYC Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) sustainably handles wastewater treatment. Our tour was led by LaToya Anderson, the Science and Environmental Protection Educator for the NYC DEP.   As the largest of NYC’s 14 wastewater treatment facilities, Newtown Creek handles an impressive 310 million gallons of wastewater every day, and up to 620 million on a rainy day.  As we approached the site, the first thing we noticed were the glistening, futuristic digester “eggs”. Since 2010, these alien-esque digesters have become an iconic piece of the Brooklyn cityscape, especially when illuminated with bright blue LEDs in the evening.   Anaerobic Digestion Inside the digesters, a biological process called “anaerobic digestion” takes place.  Bacteria breaks down “sludge”, the organic material removed from our sewage. For this process to take place, the digesters are kept at 98°F and are completely sealed to create an oxygen-free environment. In total, these digesters can hold 24 million gallons of sludge at any given time.   (more…)

May 30, 2017

Rainwater Harvest: A Solution to Our Water Crisis?

by Tamanna Mohapatra   Anyone following the climate change debate is acutely aware of a few facts – the rising temperature of our earth, melting glaciers around the world, the lack of urgency to take action on the part of most world leaders, and last but not the least, the alarming depletion of water resources.  According to the United Nations, “Water scarcity affects more than 40 per cent of the global population and is projected to rise. It is estimated that 783 million people do not have access to clean water and over 1.7 billion people are currently living in river basins where water use exceeds recharge.”   But people who know these facts also know that we can still solve our climate change problems, and that in most cases, it’s not a matter of scarcity but a matter of good management. According to the World Water Council, “there is a water crisis today. But the crisis is not about having too little water to satisfy our needs. It is a crisis of managing water so badly that billions of people – and the environment – suffer badly.” (more…)

March 1, 2017

Monthly Forum Recap: Everyday People and Sustainability

by Theresa Baker   If you’re trying to make more sustainable choices in your daily life, the GreenHomeNYC February Forum offered plenty of options.  The evening featured four speakers who spoke passionately about ways that “everyday people” in New York City can improve their quality of life, save energy and live more sustainably.   Simple Steps for Everyone Carmel Pratt, a Sustainability Consultant for Steven Winter Associates, spoke on the top ten ways to save energy in your apartment or home.  Pratt pointed out a stunning statistic – the average American uses 140-170 gallons of water per day through choices they make in the kitchen, bathroom and laundry. By simply not running water when washing dishes, limiting shower time, and using cold water instead of hot when doing laundry, residents can significantly reduce this usage. (more…)

February 25, 2017

Sea Change: Sea Level Rise and New York City’s Resilience Efforts

by Samantha Yost   In 2012, Superstorm Sandy was a wake-up call to New York City, signaling that the demands of a changing climate are the “new normal,” and the city needs all hands on deck to mitigate the damage of future storms.  Although much of the damage caused by flooding events occur during storms, sea level rise is very much a wildcard; higher water levels stack with coastal flooding, increasing the amount of damage that may result.   How much sea level rise can we expect in the next century? Nobody can say for certain how much global sea level rise we can expect in the next century. Changing sea levels are caused by two main factors: the melting of continental glaciers (most significantly in Greenland and Antarctica), and thermal expansion.  Warmer objects expand, and a warmer climate means that our oceans will physically expand in size. (more…)

January 28, 2016

February Forum: Water Management in the City

Water is a central aspect of all of our lives, and yet the complexities we face with managing it in a city of nearly 8.5 million people, often fly under the radar. Constantly supplying it, managing demand, keeping it clean, protecting ourselves from it (i.e. sewage, storms, sea level rise, etc), using it more efficiently and also teaching people about it, are all critically important to keeping such a massive city running. At a time where one American city is facing a major health crisis due to water contamination, we want to examine what is being done in our own city to keep us healthy and safe, and what we can do to support that. For our February Forum, we will hear about how the City of New York manages water in the present and the plans being pursued for the future.

Date: Wednesday, February 17, 2016 Time: 6:30-8:00pm Place: Hafele America Co., 25 East 26th Street, New York, NY 10010

Click here to register! 

To speak on this topic we are bringing in:

Vlada Kenniff, Managing Director of the Demand Management and Resiliency group in the New York City Department of Environmental Protection. She manages a portfolio of sustainability and resiliency projects that cover a Water Demand Management Program, Climate Resiliency Program, and Green Infrastructure Projects. In the last five years with the agency, Vlada worked on the Sustainable Storm Water Management Plan, Managed the NYC Green Infrastructure Plan, and the Water Demand Management Plan

Michele Moore, Senior Advisor to the VP of Disaster Recovery at the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA). She oversees over $3 billion in disaster recovery funds to repair and protect from future storms, over 33 NYCHA developments severely damaged during Superstorm Sandy. Looking at these 33 developments as campuses, Michele is part of a team working to change the way water is managed on these sites through NYCHA’s Stormwater Management Through Placemaking Initiative. Recently NYCHA was awarded funding for this initiative for our Sandy damaged developments on the Lower East Side of Manhattan through the National Disaster Resiliency Competition, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

 

January 24, 2016

New York City Energy Water Performance Map

  Last month, the NYC Mayor’s Office of Sustainability released the New York City Energy & Water Performance Map, developed in partnership with the New York University Center for Urban Science and Progress.   This website makes NYC Local Law 84 publicly disclosed data much easier to use by mapping all reported buildings and providing a well-designed set of analysis tools.  The Map shows how buildings compare to other similar buildings in energy and water management, and identifies top performing buildings in the city. It also empowers New Yorkers to understand the energy, water, and climate change impacts of the spaces they rent and buy.   Visit the NYC Benchmarking Visualization Website for more information and to access the Map.    

April 8, 2015

Green Building Tours: Oko Farms Aquaponics Tour

There’s something fishy going on in Brooklyn, but in the best way possible!   Despite predictions of snow, several intrepid GreenHomeNYC members made their way to Bushwick last month for a very informative tour of a local aquaponics farm.  Oko Farms was founded by budding entrepreneurs Yemi Amu and Jonathan Boe, in collaboration with the Brooklyn Economic Development Corporation.  It’s currently the largest outdoor aquaponics farm in New York City.   What is aquaponics?  In simplest terms, it’s a method of growing fresh water fish and plants within a closed loop system that generates little or no waste. In the course of the tour conducted by co-founder Amu, it became apparent that this highly sustainable farming method can play a vital role in healthy, nutritious food production. (more…)