A little over 10 years ago, I began a four-year stint as a legislative attorney at the New York City Council. Back in those pre-PlaNYC and pre-Green Codes Task Force days, it was no easy feat to get the Mayor’s Office to concentrate on environmental legislation and we had a big one cooking at the City Council: Local Law 86, which required all city owned and funded construction over $2 million to be built to LEED Silver.

One of the people who would attend meetings at the Mayor’s Office on this legislation was an elegant, soft-spoken woman who seemed to know everything about the building code: Deborah Taylor. Unbeknownst to me at the time, she was one of the principal advocates for this green building legislation within city government. I later discovered she was probably the first person to propose that city agencies meet to develop a broad sustainability agenda – this became the “Mayor’s Task Force on Sustainability,” the precursor to PlaNYC. Without her,  PlaNYC may never have happened. Deborah also recognized that New York City would need to adopt its own version of the state energy code, both to close state loopholes and so the city could make its own amendments. This led to the city finally starting to enforce the energy code for the first time since it was adopted in the 1970s. Another Deborah special. And so on, again and again and again.

Long before Urban Green Council or the U.S. Green Building Council New York, before PlaNYC and the Greener, Greater Buildings Plan, before the Office of Long-term Planning & Sustainability, before the Green Codes Task Force, and before Local Law 86 there was Deborah Taylor. Working behind the scenes and without public credit, she nurtured much of the green building revolution we’ve seen in city government and her imprint is on so many policy accomplishments in the last decade.

Last month, Deborah retired from city government after nine years at the Department of Buildings, and eight years at the School Construction Authority before that. A great public servant, she is one of New York City’s unsung green heroes. Let’s all celebrate her enormous achievements and hope that other champions within the Department of Buildings will continue in her footsteps.

The same day last week the City Council helped us all breathe easier with a new law on chemicals in carpets, the Department of Environmental Protection released its new stormwater rule that encourages natural rainwater detention and retention, along with accompanying design guidelines. “Natural” here is not being used like the labels on cleaning products – here we are talking about honest to goodness mother nature. Rather than send rainwater to concrete tanks, sewers, and treatment plants, the new DEP rule encourages onsite reuse and natural infiltration.

It’s hard to overstate how much of a “180” this rule and the Green Infrastructure Plan represents for DEP, at least in terms of the principles involved. Until very recently, the only stormwater approach that mattered to DEP’s water engineers were those that could be measured in tanks and pipes. While we all know rainwater can be absorbed in the ground, directed into a rain barrel, and retained by a green roof, it wasn’t that easy to measure this capture. So it didn’t count at all for DEP. It does now.

The new rule is not a panacea for those who favor green infrastructure but is still a big step forward. The rule drastically reduces the allowable runoff from new construction and major reconstruction (a 90% reduction from previous limits). DEP will consider a range of approaches to reduce runoff including vegetative cover, green roofs, and permeable pavement. It will also consider open-bottomed detention systems that allow infiltration. Owners are required to provide maintenance for these systems so they work as intended. And finally, new developments next to a waterway must send rainwater into the waterway (rather than the sewer system).

Taken together, this rule implements 4 Task Force recommendations:

• SW 2: Reduce Stormwater Runoff From New Developments
• SW 4: Send Rainwater to Waterways
• SW 5: Encourage Innovative Stormwater Practices
• SW 6: Maintain Site-Based Stormwater Detention Systems

Another good day for green codes and a great way to kick off the New Year!

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.

The zoning drawn up in 1961 did not envision a city of new green buildings, nor did it foresee the retrofitting of older buildings. Today, we are at a crossroads with respect to the performance of our buildings. We know that they must accomplish much more than they were once designed to do – they can save energy and generate clean, renewable power; reduce the burdens they place on city infrastructure; support our ecology; and provide a healthier environment for New Yorkers. We also know that we cannot accomplish this only with new, high-performing green buildings. We must also improve the performance of our existing buildings, which represent 85 percent of the buildings we will have in 2030.

However, as highlighted by the Green Codes Task Force – convened by the Urban Green Council at the request of the Mayor and the Speaker of the City Council – zoning sometimes discourages or outright prohibits green building features.

So we need to continue a retrofit of our Zoning Resolution.

In the last ten years, the Department of City Planning has completed over 100 neighborhood rezonings and numerous amendments to the text of the Zoning Resolution, to promote transit-oriented development and sustainable growth in New York City. Through a series of green initiatives, we have improved the green infrastructure of our neighborhoods with street trees, front yard planting, and stormwater management for parking lots; enhanced alternatives to private automobile ownership and use with bicycle parking requirements and car sharing; and promoted the availability of healthy, fresh foods with our FRESH program.

Today, we are proud to unveil our latest initiative, Zone Green – the most comprehensive effort of any U.S. city to sweep aside zoning obstacles to the construction and retrofitting of green buildings. City Planning is proposing amendments to promote energy-efficient and green design. Zone Green would:

• Exempt external insulation from floor area and yard requirements, to enable existing buildings to add external insulation within their property line;
• Eliminate penalties for high-performance envelopes in the way floor area is measured, by exempting a portion of thicker, better insulated walls from floor area calculations when buildings substantially exceed energy code standards;
• Enable solar panels to be added on top of any building roof, by allowing them as a “permitted obstruction” above a height limit;
• Allow sun control devices such as vertical or horizontal shades or screens to project from building facades over required open areas;
• Allow more flexibility to accommodate a wide range of rooftop features, including green roofs and stormwater management equipment, boilers or cogeneration facilities, recreational decks, and stair and elevator bulkheads that provide rooftop access;
• Foster local food production by encouraging rooftop greenhouses, by allowing waiver of floor area and height limits for greenhouses on top of buildings without residences or sleeping accommodations; and
• Allow wind turbines to exceed a height limit on taller buildings and in locations near the waterfront, where winds are most conducive to power generation.

Zone Green will also include other legislation to improve building performance.  City legislation would tighten the energy performance standards for the building envelope, ensuring long-term energy efficiency by addressing the longest-lasting elements of the building. In addition, many buildings built before 1961 are subject to the New York State Multiple Dwelling Law (MDL), and would not be able to take advantage of the proposed provisions for external insulation. So the Department is preparing draft legislation for targeted amendments to the MDL to make possible the external insulation of these buildings.

This proposal builds upon other efforts under PlaNYC, including the Greener, Greater Buildings Plan, by using zoning to encourage buildings to outperform the New York City Energy Conservation Code. Removing zoning impediments to green buildings will give building owners more choices to make investments that save money, save energy, and improve the quality of our environment. By making these improvements possible, Zone Green can unlock the potential for as much as $800 million per year in energy savings.

Today the Zone Green text amendment begins the public review process, which includes referral to all 59 Community Boards, five Borough Presidents and Borough Boards, and review by the City Planning Commission and City Council, and is expected to take roughly six months. We have complete information about the proposal and public review available on DCP’s website, at nyc.gov/planning/greenbuildings.

This proposal would not be possible without the contributions of the Green Codes Task Force, whose recommendations helped spark the Zone Green effort. The continuing engagement of task force members has also been critical in shaping this proposal. We would like to thank Urban Green Council and the Green Codes Task Force for their continuing guidance and support as we take this critical step to bring our buildings into the 21^st century.

You can read the zoning text Amanda refers to here. Full disclosure: It is a little abstract and dry, but that’s just the way laws must be written.  It’s worth plowing through it if you would like to be involved in the process, since there will be public hearings and the opportunity to comment between now and February 12th, 2012.

Find out more on January 11th from the architect of Zone Green, Howard Slatkin, City Planning’s Director of Sustainability. After Howard’s presentation, a panel of industry representatives and Green Codes Task Force members will discuss the implications of the new zoning proposals. Details are here.

Back in 2007, in the world of high rise construction, Franco was the kingpin of New York City concrete.  His price to supply concrete to big construction projects reliably beat his competitors and he seemed to be getting rich doing it.  You didn’t want to ask too many questions.

At the time, I was working for one of NYC’s leading construction management companies and circulating within the concrete industry to build support for better concrete washout water management.  The rinsing of concrete trucks and equipment at construction sites generates highly corrosive water that flows down the street and into the sewer.  During rain events, these sewers empty into the East and Hudson Rivers as combined sewer overflow (CSO) events.  Other cities and states had more stringent rules about discharging concrete washout water in areas where it could harm people and enter waterways, but in New York City, the Department of Environmental Protection just required the water to be filtered through filter fabric or hay bales, in an attempt to reduce the amount of concrete hardening in the sewer and clogging drains.  Filtering was only partially effective at that and did nothing to address the public danger and environmental impact of the water’s chemical makeup and alkalinity, which is comparable to Draino®.  Draino is a product that used to be used to unclog waste pipes until it was found to corrode right through the pipe.

All the concrete trade organizations and manufacturers my colleagues and I met with agreed the practice was polluting, and even the manufacturers seemed surprised the DEP was allowing it.  When asked why the practice persisted, the manufacturers explained, “so long as the city isn’t making the waste water our problem, it’s not in our financial best interest to claim it.”  The most cost effective and environmentally preferable means of handling the washout water generated by rinsing the chute of a mixer truck, which is the primary source at most construction sites, is to capture it off the bottom of the chute with a pail, and return it with the truck to the concrete manufacturer’s own plant for treatment.  All concrete batch plants have wastewater treatment systems, and as the Cement League commented, “It make sense – a construction manager buys the concrete, not the concrete truck and equipment.  Therefore, any waste generated in maintaining this equipment should be the supplier’s.”  Franco, however, added one more kernel of insight: “I have beautiful trucks.  I’m not going to hook or attach anything to them unless some code requires me to.”

Technically, New York City already had a law on the books prohibiting corrosive water from being discharged down the sewer.  But because the manufacturers resisted claiming the waste water as their problem, construction sites were limited to two options: letting the water evaporate onsite in bins or sending a wastewater pump truck around to the site daily to suck it out of a dumpster and take it to a special waste water treatment plant.  The first was only possible at World Trade Center-sized sites and the latter was a logistics hassle, expensive and generated additional vehicle miles (environmental impact), so no one did it.  To get Franco and his kin to play ball in managing the wastewater in the most cost-effective and environmentally preferable way for a project, a better code would be required.

Which is exactly what the City Council passed today. Effective July 1, 2012, NYC will have a new building code prohibiting concrete washout water from entering sewers and catch basins.  Most importantly, the code offers special dispensations to mixer trucks so that the water from rinsing their chute is returned to the originating concrete plant with the truck. Read Urban Green’s detailed summaries of the laws here.

Let’s just hope Franco doesn’t chip the paint on any of his trucks when he installs the tank racks.

* Editor’s note: This name is a pseudonym.  We were concerned “Franco” might knock on our door looking for Charlotte.

Photo credit: Daniel X. O’Neil

Today brings another burst of Green Codes activity with the enactment of three new laws by the City Council. Urban Green played a critical behind-the-scenes role, working with the City Council, Mayor’s Office, and real estate industry for months to build support for these latest initiatives.

Thanks to today’s laws, there will be less soot in buildings due to better filters on large new ventilation equipment (Int. 592); grey, caustic streams of concrete wastewater from construction sites will no longer be filling the streets (Int. 576) [Read more about this one on Charlotte Matthew's post here]; and most new roads, driveways, and parking lots will contain 30% recycled asphalt (Int. 578). You can read our detailed summaries of the laws here.

Compared to major legislation we’ve helped develop, like the Greener Greater Buildings Plan, these bills are relative small fry. But bit by bit the codes are being improved, and collectively the Green Codes Task Force is having a major impact. With our advocacy, the Council has now passed 19 Task Force proposals, with 10 others enacted by other levels of government or in progress.

We can’t talk out of school, but I strongly encourage you to watch our newsletter and emails in the coming weeks for more good news on the codes front.

And if you value the critical work we’re doing on codes, I hope you will consider making a year-end tax-deductible contribution to our Advocacy Fund.

It took us awhile, but we finally totaled up all the Green Codes Task Force proposals that worked their way into PlaNYC 2.0. By our count, there are 16 Task Force proposals in PlaNYC that are not among the 36 in recently passed laws, new regulations, revised city programs or pending legislation (an additional 7 proposals noted in PlaNYC are part of this group of 36). This means the total number of Task Force proposals in play is 52—almost half of the original 111 recommendations! And this doesn’t even include many others that we know are being worked on by the City Council or Mayor’s Office but are not yet public. Our Codes Status Report provides the latest information on each proposal, including requirements for proposals that have become law.

Although PlaNYC specifically acknowledges the contributions of the Task Force, I suspect that the incorporation of Task Force ideas into PlaNYC was not always conscious. Many city agency staff actively participated on the Task Force, attending meetings, contributing to discussions, helping to generate ideas, and connecting with private-sector experts on sustainability. I would like to think that those discussions and interactions, along with the influence of PlaNYC, stimulated agency interest in sustainability. In short, the Task Force helped to create a sustainability culture within city agencies.

Pick any city agency that is key to sustainability, and you will now find senior staff  experts and green champions: Buildings has Deborah Taylor and John Lee; Environmental Protection has Carter Strickland and Sergej Mahnovski; City Planning has Howard Slatkin; DDC, which has long roots in green building, has David Resnick, Eric Boorstyn, and Tom Paino; and DCAS (which manages most of the city’s buildings) has Ariella Maron, Melissa Wright-Ellis and others in their energy group. This may seem so much the norm now that it’s taken for granted; yet most of these people occupy senior sustainability positions that didn’t even exist a few years ago.

The city employs a quarter million people and it takes a long time to shift the culture of such a large organization, which also has an upside. Now that sustainability is regarded as mission-critical, there has been a mindset shift among agency staff, allowing green initiatives to grow and prosper within the agencies themselves.  This may very well be as important a Bloomberg sustainability legacy as PlaNYC or any of the laws passed under his watch. So even if our next mayor doesn’t quite share Bloomberg’s passion for sustainability, it will still march on through city agencies and their committed staff.

If you’d like to learn more about green building in PlaNYC 2.0, join us on July 14th for a special presentation from Laurie Kerr, Senior Policy Advisor at the Mayor’s Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability, on these important initiatives. Event details are here.

Like the relentless drumbeat of the Energizer Bunny, the Green Codes Task Force just keeps going and going and going….

Last week, five new bills were introduced in City Council based on GCTF proposals. This was after extensive review by City Council staff and legislators, and each is very close to the original Task Force recommendation in substance.  Russell Unger and I got many questions about these bills from City Council staff.  Some of them we could answer, but many times we went back to the committee members and got clear and helpful advice on what was meant, how it could be reformulated to meet some concern without compromising intent, and in many cases, data on how much the proposal would or would not cost, if implemented.  A big “thank you” to all those Task Force members!

Two of the “Intros” (proposed legislation) will improve the indoor environment.  HT 1 (“Limit Harmful Emissions From Carpets”) and HT 2 (“Limit Harmful Emissions From Paints & Glues”), combined into Intro 0585-2011, will limit the VOC emissions of carpets and carpet adhesives and the actual amount of VOCs in paints, finishes, and other adhesives. This is a very big deal, as our carpets and finishes have been filled with materials that are very bad for us, in the sense of contributing to our chances of getting cancer. The intro makes it unlawful both to install and also simply to buy or sell materials that do not meet the standards.  (Yes, a small market smuggling in high VOC material from New Jersey may operate for a while, but it will be inconvenient, illegal, and will only last until NJ codes catch up.)

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A quarter of the initiatives in the latest installment of PlaNYC address green building, a far greater proportion than the 2007 plan, and many have their origins in the NYC Green Codes Task Force. The Task Force is highlighted in PlaNYC’s progress timeline and in the Energy chapter, in addition to being credited as a source in the Cross-Cutting Topics section on green building. PlaNYC calls generally for implementation of the Task Force report and its recommendations can be seen throughout the new plan – everything from reducing construction waste to establishing a standard sidewalk specification to improving water fountains in public parks. So a nod once again to the members of the Task Force for their hard work and success in shaping NYC policy.

Credit: 925 Bergen St, Brooklyn | © Big Sue LLC

Last week, the City Council passed three laws that will make New York City rooftops greener places. This brings the total number of NYC Green Codes Task Force recommendations that have been implemented by the Council to 16. Until the Mayor signs the legislation, they won’t be assigned a Local Law number so I’ll refer to them by their “Introduction” or bill number.

Two of these laws are about old regulations getting out of the way of green building. Introduction 341 implements Task Force recommendation Energy Fundamentals 14, Allow Large Solar Rooftop Installations. And Introduction 358 applies the approach to combined heat and power. Currently, the Building Code exempts a range of mechanical equipment on rooftops, including HVAC equipment and water tanks from building height restrictions. However, until these two laws were passed, solar and CHP equipment were not included in these exemptions – they are now.

Introduction 341 goes one step further for solar equipment. These same Building Code provisions limit the amount of rooftop that can be covered with mechanical equipment to 1/3 of the roof; otherwise it is counted as another floor of the building. Under the new law, solar equipment is not counted towards these limitations and can cover as much of the roof as permitted by other codes (such as the Fire Code).

The third law, Introduction 347, implements Task Force Proposal Energy Fundamentals 11, Reduce Summer Heat With Cool Roofs. This law updates existing Building Code requirements for reflective roof coatings to better align with LEED and clarifies exceptions to the standard. Under the changes, cool roof coatings will be required for reroofing of existing rooftops, and also for buildings constructed under the 1968 building code and normally exempted from many newer requirements. The law also clarifies that exemptions for green roofs apply to agricultural plantings and adds exemptions for:

*ballasted roofs;
*roofs used as playgrounds;
*areas under mechanical equipment or other rooftop structures;
*portions of roofs covered with decking materials.

You can read a far more detailed explanation of Introductions 347 (cool roofs) and 341 (solar), as well as all implemented NYC Green Codes Task Force recommendations on our web site.

Thanks to the City Council and their staff and the Mayor’s Office for makes these laws happen. Congratulations also to the Energy & Ventilation Committee of NYC Green Codes Task Force, whose recommendations formed the basis for these new laws.