Albanese boss to address buildings conference.

George Aridas, Senior Vice President of the Albanese Organization, will advise members of the energy and real estate industries about how to achieve high-performance buildings in an urban environment, as part of a conference being sponsored by New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. on April 14.

Aridas will speak about Albanese's experience in constructing the country's first environmentally engineered residential tower, which the firm recently completed in lower Manhattan's Battery Park City.

The conference, entitled "Creating the High Performance City," will address the ongoing need for reliable alternative energy sources, to ensure that New York City has a sustainable power supply and produces energy-efficient homes and work places. A key focus of the conference will be the promotion of partnerships between the public and private sectors, advocates and local communities to achieve these goals.

Thompson conceived the conference to foster innovation and investment in clean, affordable electric power and to stimulate the construction of energy efficient "green" buildings. Punctuating the comptroller's agenda will be a keynote address by Ashok Gupta, Director of the Air and Energy Program of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

"We will bring together leaders in architecture, building trades, banking and government to consider how sustainable choices can stimulate local economic development by bringing technical and financial innovations into the mainstream," the comptroller said.

Aridas has been invited to discuss lessons learned and future implications for urban development, stemming from AO's development of The Solaire. Designed as a model for healthy urban living, The Solaire was environmentally engineered to consume 35% less energy, reduce peak demand for electricity by 65%, require 50% less potable water, provide healthier indoor air quality and offer substantially more natural light than typical residential buildings.

Other participants on the panel will include Carlton Brown, Principal of Full Spectrum of New York, LLC, and Ed Ott, Director of Public Policy for the New York Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO.