Ellen Honigstock, a member of the Urban Green Council Chapter Task Force for LEED Regionalization 2012, shares their initial findings on recommendations for LEED RPC 2012:

The USGBC recognizes the importance of projects that address region-specific environmental issues in their design; these Regional Priority credits were first introduced in the LEED 2009 rating systems.

Urban Green Council, along with all the other chapters of the USGBC, is currently evaluating which credits to prioritize in LEED 2012 for the five boroughs in New York City and Rockland and Westchester Counties.

Starting in late summer 2011, the Urban Green Council Chapter Task Force for LEED Regionalization 2012 began to meet monthly.  Shortly thereafter, the Chapter Task Force (CTF) identified five general categories of regional priority issues: Water, Air, Energy, Ground and Resources.

Focusing first on what the important issues should be rather than where they might occur, the CTF compiled a comprehensive list of 17 possible priority issues. These priorities were compared with the ones identified in LEED 2009 Regionalization in order to maintain as much continuity as possible.  The list was also compared with the recommendations in the Urban Green Council Green Codes Task Force Report to identify which environmental issues would benefit most from green incentives, rather than from proposed legislation.

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Green codes continue to fly off the City Council’s legislative shelf like bagels on a NYC morning. We can’t even keep track and we helped draft them!

Last Wednesday, the City Council gave New York a New Year’s present by prohibiting the sale, offer for sale, or installation of carpets and carpet cushions that contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in excess of the Green Label Plus standards from the Carpet & Rug Institute. Implementing the Task Force proposal Health & Toxicity 1: Limit Harmful Emissions From Carpets, we believe this law is another first in the nation for a municipality. While many jurisdictions have standards on paints and coatings, carpets haven’t received the same attention.

But they should. For those who aren’t familiar with VOCs, they are a class of carcinogenic chemicals behind “new car smell” that cause a host of health problems ranging from respiratory ailments to major organ damage. While paints and coatings off-gas VOCs very quickly, it takes longer for carpets to release their VOCs thus increasing the likelihood that end users will be impacted. Interestingly, the vast majority of U.S. carpet manufacturers meet the Green Label Plus standards — the problem is with imported carpets. So, in one package we have a new law that improves the health of New Yorkers and also increases the competitiveness of American carpet manufacturers.

For ongoing updates on the status of the GCTF proposals, check out our Codes Status Report.

Catherine is the President of Luthin Associates, an energy management consulting firm that proactively manages energy procurement and sustainability services for their clients.

With the passage of Local Law 43 by the City Council last year, a minimum of 2% biodiesel must be blended into all grades of heating oil – #2, #4, and #6 beginning in October 2012. Local Law 43 also requires that the sulfur content in #4 heating oil be reduced from 3,000 parts per million (ppm) to 1,500 ppm (a NYS law also passed last year requires that sulfur in #2 heating oil be reduced to 15 ppm by July 2012).

This came about because of New York City’s poor air quality – the Fed gives the city a failing grade. The NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has concluded that buildings using the dirtiest heating oils—#4 and #6—are a major cause of the city’s high air-pollution levels. Further, the hospitalization rate of New York City children with asthma (which is aggravated by pollution) is twice the national average.  This caused the city to look into cleaner alternative fuels for heating. One solution? A bit of biodiesel in the heating oil mix.

Biodiesel is a 100% renewable fuel that is made from domestic soy oil, recycled restaurant grease and numerous other sustainable “feedstocks.” Biodiesel contains zero sulfur and greatly reduces air emissions when blended with traditional heating oil.

Here are some of the most common questions on biofuels, and answers to them:

Where do I purchase these fuels?
By the 2012 heating season, when the legislation kicks in, all of these products are expected to be widely available. However, biodiesel is competitively priced and readily available today. All bioheat oil sold in New York must meet ASTM biodiesel spec D6751 and heating oil spec D396.

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For years, boiler service people have been saying (in strictest confidence, of course) that #6 fuel oil would soon be banned by the NYC Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP). In December, 2009, the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) released a report, The Bottom of the Barrel, (co-sponsored and co-authored by Urban Green Council) calling for just that, and soon after, the Green Codes Task Force did the same in recommendation HT 9, Phase Out Dirty Boiler Fuels. After a few twists and turns, it now appears to be happening through a local law passed last August and new boiler rules on which the DEP will hold a hearing next week. Why is this good, how did we get here, and what will it mean for building owners and operators? First, it’s good because #6 is the dirtiest oil available, and when consumed in even a well-maintained boiler, produces substantially more particulate emissions than either lighter and cleaner #2 oil or natural gas. These particulates, especially the ones that are smaller than 2.5 micrometers (in lay terms, that means very, very small), are a serious pollutant, since they readily penetrate our lungs and come to rest there, irritating and poisoning the tissue and giving rise to problems from asthma to lung cancer. However, #6 has historically been cheaper than other fuels, so it is now burned in about 10,000 of New York City’s larger buildings.

Getting rid of #6 will remove more particulate pollution from our air than would banning all the cars, trucks, and buses on our roads.

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Data is fundamental, but not always inspiring.

I’m always interested in efforts to communicate the environmental issues of our time that go beyond the raw data- through graphics, narrative, etc.  From the incredible John Thackara we learn of the Madrid In The Air project.  An effort to make the silent, invisible air pollutants in their community visible, and beautifully so.

I would love to see a similar project for the NYC region where we would presumably find a direct correlation between our air quality and our highways, our paved areas, our forests and parks. And the really exciting part would be the unexpected- the data that doesn’t track with our common sense understanding of the issues- and figuring out why.