Going Green and Saving Green

by Leslie Sikora & Debby Klein, Bellmarc Realty

There seem to be more planters and planted areas in front of buildings of all kinds all over town, and as spring approaches, we will be able to see more and more evidence of the greening of New York City. These are the obvious signs, as some of the 50,000 or so acres of undeveloped open space in the city becomes another flower bed or community garden.

So, aside from making everything look pretty, what other benefits will arise from planting gardens, retrofitting insulation and building ever more green buildings? More plantings bring more oxygen into the air: cleaner air, healthier people – there is great savings potential there. Along with mitigating climate change, all of these efforts will save money over time, far beyond their initial costs: by increasing the amount of planted space in Manhattan, we reduce storm water runoff to the sewers, and the filtering action of soil in a healthy environment cleans the water as it travels through. Better natural water filtration takes a part of the burden off water treatment facilities.

The greening of buildings means more than environmental bling – the expensive solutions like wind turbines, solar panels and roof gardens. It also means updating HVAC systems, more and better insulation, and feedback metering to help save energy. In some rental buildings, just the replacement of lighting fixtures in hallways, the use of compact fluorescent bulbs, replacement of outdated kitchen appliances and updating heating systems has brought about significant energy savings. Buildings that take every possible measure to retrofit and find efficiencies can expect energy savings up to 20%.

Architects and developers are beginning to work together and more buildings are being planned and built to conform to LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards. Architects working on these buildings have been able to show developers that building to these standards is no more costly than conventional construction, and indeed, such types of construction are ever more in demand. In the New York Times Real Estate Advanced Search, there is now a checkbox for “Green Building”!