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Torchlight
More Than Hope
By: Nancy E. Anderson, Ph.D., Executive Director, The Sallan FoundationIssue: Torchlight #26Date: September, 2009
 
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© 2009 The Sallan Foundation, Inc. All rights reserved.http://www.sallan.org
 
 
Torchlight #26
More Than Hope
Thumbing through a recent issue of 
The New Yorker 
magazine, I was riveted by the full-page adstrumpeting “A planet of smarter cities” courtesy of IBM, “You have the chance to power your owncity” as Chevron introduces its online game called Energyville, and “1 billion people to feed. Achanging climate. Now what?” Monsanto muses. “If 41 MPG doesn’t charge you up, its batterywill” Ford assures me. Of course, this is advertising tailored to attract a
 New Yorker 
reader, but thesociologist in me was alert to the cultural status signal that climate change and energy brightly blared across glossy magazine pages. And it’s a signal with value for right now.So, what is New York doing right now, to capture this value? A summertime posting on the City’sown website calls for volunteers to paint 5-10 roofs in Long Island City a cooling white. OK, whatelse?The Greener Greater Building Planexhorts New Yorkers, “We need your help to GreeNYC. New York City can’t reach the target of reducing carbon emissions by 30% by 2030 without you.You can make a difference. We all can. By following some easy tips, you can save money whileyou save the environment, and make New York City a healthier place to live.” Scroll down the pageto find tips to follow about smarter use of air conditions. Reasonable, but compare this to thewealth of climate and energy-efficiency consumer information found on a London websitededicated to the Mayor’slow carbon zone initiative. Want more information about energy savingwashing machines, the best way to insulate your home, or a do-it-yourself home energy audit? It’sthere. A tour of London’s website makes it clear that New York City government can be doingmuch more to help its residents GreeNYC.What else is the City doing? The annual progress report on Local Law 86, the 2005 statute thatrequires the City to green its own construction, is due out in November. For the moment, the latestsign of the progress in the City’s effort to “lead by example” by upping the energy efficiency of municipal buildings is itsRequest for Informationrelated to the search for a firm to design, installand maintain solar power systems on the rooftops of City-owned buildings. This kind of searchsuggests that solar panels won’t appear on municipal roofs any time soon. Granted, it takes time for government to undertake something new and get it right, but PlaNYC was launched in April 2007and money is there now to green light work on City-owned properties. Success in efforts that take
 
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© 2009 The Sallan Foundation, Inc. All rights reserved.http://www.sallan.org
 
 
Torchlight #26
More Than Hope
less time to start up, like training building operators to conserve energy and establishing incentivesfor improving building efficiency — efforts that would have year-in-year-out paybacks — would besmart investments because even with extended term limits, time will run out for this Administration.As Torchlight readers know from previous columns on “the deep green quartet”, the most ambitious product of PlaNYC is the package of four bills introduced in the City Council at the request of Mayor Bloomberg. The major element of what is dubbed the “greener, greater building plan” bythe Mayor’s office, this legislation aims at transforming the energy efficiency standards and thedemand for energy efficient buildings for thousands of New York’s standing structures. After lengthy public hearings in June, negotiations over the legislation are still taking place exclusively behind closed doors, so what the final content will be is impossible to say. Still, word is to expect aCity-Council vote this fall.In the meantime, building professionals debate the energy efficiency and climate-change fightingcontribution of LEED-certified buildings. A recent multi-part article in
 New Solutions
argues thatthat truly climate-friendly buildings do cost more to construct, but over time will save money byusing muchless energy to operate. As well, other experts continue to write about the importance of measuring and verifying the energy efficiency of buildings that call themselves green. Some of these buildings are not making the grade. For example, a federal building in Youngstown Ohio is proving to bean energy-hog. Had it been a privately owned building, such information might nothave come to light and now, the US Green Building Council is revising LEED ratings to require allnew buildings to provide several years worth of energy and water bills. But as one knowledgeablewag said, “The plaque should be installed with removable screws, (o)nce the plaque is glued on,there’s no incentive to do better.”Despite setbacks and reservations, or perhaps because of them, the best design, construction andoperations practices are rapidly evolving while approaches to energy auditing and performancestandards are also the subject of intense professional and regulatory interest. After all, what get’smeasured gets managed and today locally and nationally, the market for energy efficient building is
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