Tag: Green Building

  • Interview: Reducing Greenhouse Gases from Buildings—Filling the Skills Gap 

    By Jude Jussim   Tom Sahagian knows there’s no time left to dawdle in controlling the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from New York City’s buildings. The problem: There’s a shortage of people with the right skills to do it. Sahagian is not talking about policy wonks. “The life of the mind is not what’s going to…

  • Can NYC’s Energy Use Data Save The Earth?

    By Warren Berger   On Earth Day 2015, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced One New York City: The Plan for a Strong and Just City (OneNYC). As part of the plan, Mayor de Blasio committed New York City to reduce carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2050 from 2005 levels (80 x…

  • 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…

  • March Forum Recap: Sustainable Policy 201

    by Miaoru Guan   The Sustainable Policy 201 Forum featured four speakers working towards sustainable, affordable housing through diverse but connected roles. Michelle Andry works at New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), where she focuses on energy efficiency, clean energy, and energy affordability initiatives impacting low-income housing. Francesca Camillo, Project Manager at…

  • February Forum Recap: How to be Cool and Efficient

    by Yiran Song   Air conditioning is increasingly considered to be a required amenity in both residential and commercial settings. But concerns about global warming and greenhouse gas emissions gives us no time to waste in achieving more energy efficient AC systems. In the February GreenHomeNYC Forum “How to be Cool and Efficient”, three industry…

  • January Forum Recap: The Green Catwalk

    by Jenny Nicolas   At the annual GreenHomeNYC Green Catwalk, seven speakers presented the latest information on everything from ventilation to greening the moving industry to O&M to-do lists within the sustainability space.   Part 1: Eat, Breathe, Move, & Check Sustainably   Changing Our Relationship with Food Ricky Stephens, co-founder of AgTech X, set…

  • GreenHomeNYC Year in Review: Taking on the Environmental Challenge

    by Pamela Berns   It’s been a year marked by extreme weather events, with hurricanes, fires, droughts, and flooding all across the globe. In the United States we saw Houston drown and Santa Rosa burn just a few months after Trump’s pullout from the Paris agreement in June. Climate advocacy groups, local policy makers, corporations,…

  • NYC’s 80 x 50 Goal: Is it Realistic? How Do We Get There?

    By: Tom Sahagian   As you probably know, “80×50” means reducing greenhouse gases produced in New York City 80 percent by the year 2050. As a practical matter this almost certainly means we must reduce the combustion of fossil fuels by 80 percent — either by increasing energy efficiency or by increasing the amount of…

  • November Green Building Tour Recap: Building Towards Resilience

    by Brigitta Berze   It’s been five years since Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast, leaving a trail of destruction in the New York area.  During the “Building Towards Resilience” Green Building Tours event, Henry Gifford of Chris Benedict R.A., led a tour through 327 and 334 East 8th Street – two Lower East Side buildings…

  • September Forum Recap: Spotlight on Hudson Yards

    by Jennifer Urrutia     Residents of the New York City “concrete jungle” are no strangers to construction and development. And while development is booming in New York City, there has never been a project quite like Hudson Yards, the largest private development in the history of the United States.  Hudson Yards is located in Midtown…