A New York City Council vote today brings us to a new milestone:  40 Green Codes Task Force proposals are now incorporated into laws and practices.

The particular proposal that brought us to this milestone was UE1 – Increasing Biodiversity in Public Landscapes.  In UE1, the Green Codes Task Force was concerned about the impact of public landscaping practices on urban ecology.  Foreign species and monocultures widely used in landscaping tend to displace native plant species, and deprive native birds and other animals of the habitat to which they had been accustomed.  Many of these species also tend to run amok, spreading far beyond the original planting sites.  In addition, many monocultures require intensive irrigation and fertilization, wasting water and polluting the environment.

The law passed today requires the Parks Department to maximize the use of plant species that are native to New York City, where appropriate, and to prohibit the planting of invasive species.  Native species tend to require less water and fertilization, and are more likely to survive drought and disease.  The use of native species also helps preserve our natural ecosystems, which help clean the air we breathe and the water we drink.

The Council also passed a related law requiring that Parks Department plantings help in stormwater control.  The Parks Department is to develop a manual providing information about what plant species and planting materials (i.e., soils) best facilitate stormwater retention, and guidelines for planning and structuring plantings for stormwater management.   This law encourages innovative stormwater management practices, as the GCTF called for in its proposal SW5.

Both the stormwater rules and the native species rules are to be followed in Parks Department plantings starting on May 1, 2014.   The manuals the department develops will also be available on the city’s website for public use.

On December 20, 2012, NYC enacted Local Law 60 of 2012 that requires new residential buildings to provide adequate space to store and segregate refuse and recyclables, implementing the Green Codes Task Force proposal Resource Conservation 2: Provide Recycling Areas in Apartment Buildings. We are hopeful that this measure will help NYC get closer to its peer cities in rates of recycling waste.

In New York, space is always at a premium. Many buildings don’t have enough space to separate the various categories of recyclables, and to keep them separate from general trash. This makes it challenging for building residents and supers to manage the flow of recyclables, so the recyclables tend to get mixed in with the trash. Under the new law, buildings that go up after January 1, 2014 will have to make room to handle recycling properly.

Making something more convenient often means that it will be done better and more often. With space, recycling efforts become more convenient. Currently, New York recycles about 33% of its waste, while Los Angeles recycles over 60% of its total waste and Chicago over 55%. San Francisco, an unsurprising champion in this field, recycles almost 70% of its waste. Making recycling easier in New York’s residential buildings should improve our rates!

For more details about the new requirements, check out the Legislation at a Glance.

Dear Friends,

The Staff and Board of Directors at Urban Green Council wish you and your families the best during this trying time in the tri-state area. We know many of you have been without power in your homes and offices since the storm hit, and some have suffered far worse.

Among other things, this storm has left us at Urban Green thinking about how personally buildings affect our lives. We have also been considering, from the range of issues we tackle as an organization, what the right emphasis is to place on maintaining the habitability of buildings during a major infrastructure failure. The NYC Green Codes Task Force struggled with this question back in 2008 when it was somewhat in the realm of the hypothetical. The consensus on the Task Force at that time was that it didn’t make sense to impose any major requirements on buildings to improve their resilience.

We recommended fairly limited code changes like requiring toilets and sinks to be able to operate in a blackout, water tanks to be retained in buildings that already had them, and that protective measures be taken for hazardous materials stored in flood zones. One significant exception is that we proposed flood maps be based on projected future flooding that takes into account climate change instead of historical flooding. In an article published in the Gotham Gazette on Monday, advocacy director Cecil Scheib and I discuss the challenge of addressing building resilience through public and private efforts, but it’s an uphill battle.

It’s breathtaking to witness the destructive scenario now unfolding in lower Manhattan. Countless high-rise buildings have been rendered inoperable due to the power outage now in its fourth day. For most of these buildings, especially public housing, this means there has been no water to flush toilets unless it was carried upstairs by hand, no water to wash dishes, and no water for showers. And it’s dark. New buildings are required to include backup generators for elevators and water. In light of Sandy, we (and many others) will be thinking hard about potential new requirements for existing building stock.

Was Sandy climate change in action? The technical answer is that no particular weather event can be ascribed to climate change, but the increased frequency of extreme weather events has been predicted by climate scientists for years. Governor Cuomo nailed the general sentiment with his comment this week: “We have a 100-year flood every two years now.” About the only good thing that can be said about Sandy is that it may prompt more serious discussion about climate change.

This terrible storm is a good reminder of the critical importance of the work of the green building movement and Urban Green Council. We are hoping to minimize the number of storms like Sandy through our efforts to reduce carbon pollution, but we nevertheless need to prepare and adapt for more of them in the future. If you are interested in volunteer opportunities to help in the aftermath of this storm please visit NYC Service.

Please note that our office in lower Manhattan remains closed until power and access is restored but most of the staff remain available via email. Again, we hope this message finds you safe, and we look forward to working with you on the many lessons to be learned from Sandy.

Sincerely,

“Cracking the Energy Code training was excellent. The departure from the ‘bullet point slideshow with code clauses’ was refreshing…. the course manual is an extremely well thought out, graphically clear product, which I have already referenced a dozen times since the training.”

This is quite a statement for a course outlining code material!  We’re happy to say it’s consistent with other feedback from students who have taken Cracking the Energy Code, which Urban Green developed with the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA).  Data compiled from the 44 courses delivered since last September show that 85% of students feel that the course has met or exceeded their expectations.

The Course was funded by New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) and gives an overview of the 2010 Energy Conservation Construction Code of New York State (ECCCNYS-2010), including compliance methods.  It also covers some of the fundamentals of low energy design.

Wanting some insight from an insider, I asked instructor Paul Reale to share his thoughts on why Cracking the Energy Code is keeping students revved up and excited to learn.

Jessica Cooper: How long have you been teaching Cracking the Energy Code?

Paul Reale: The first time I ‘cracked it’ was March 6^th and I’ve taught another five since.

JC: Who is your primary audience for the course?

PR: The main target audience is architects, building engineers, lighting designers and code officials, but I believe the course helps lots of people working in or with the building industry: sustainability service providers, policy makers, building inspectors and even to some degree environmentalists. Thus far, the vast majority of students have been architects, but so many more can benefit from it.

JC: How does this course compare  to similar courses?

PR: Umm, have you ever read any energy conservation construction codes?  Let’s put it this way – it’s good material for your nightstand if you’re an insomniac.  Yet the vast majority of students that have taken this course find it excellent.

JC: What are the biggest areas of concern for students?

PR: Roughly speaking, the level of code requirements, administration, and scrutiny by code officials has increased by an order of magnitude.  This is definitely a “wow, I’m glad I learned this” kind of class!

JC: Any personal favorites in the curriculum?

PR: I particularly like the practical parts about thermal bridging in a building envelope as well as techniques for energy efficient lighting.  And the heat wheel slide? I’ve gotten some pretty good reactions from that one.  It’s like a 2-minute rock concert to an engineer.

JC: So where do you see this code having the biggest impact?

PR: There are three main areas addressed: building envelope, mechanicals (like HVAC equipment) and lighting.  It’s hard to pick one of the three because they’re all addressed to a great degree, though perhaps the longest-term impact is on the envelope, because an envelope retrofit is not easy.  You really need to try to get it right from the very beginning, and the effects last for the life of the building.

JC: Do you have any insights on future policy in energy conservation and/or sustainable building? 

PR: Ok, serious question so let’s close on a serious note.  As much as the new code will tighten energy consumption (and greenhouse gas emissions, for that matter) resulting from buildings, it’s still a far cry from a sustainable energy and emissions budget.  In the not-so-distant future, our buildings will have to be much more efficient, and you can’t get there without an incredibly tight, well-insulated envelope.  That’s fundamentally incompatible with a glass tower.  There – I said it.  But if you come take the class, I’ll tell you how it’s possible to use a lot of glass yet still comply with the current code!
Cracking the Energy Code sessions are being scheduled in New York City and throughout New York State through November 13, 2012.  Register on NYSERDA’s website (more Course dates coming soon) or e-mail us if you want Cracking the Energy Code offered near you. 

Paul is teaching his next session is Thursday, August 9 at the Center for Architecture.  Sign up today!

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.