Industry gets wake-up call on protecting environment.

Late last year, the Irish American Building Society (IABS) held the real estate industry's first Green Awards to underscore its commitment to pursuing a green agenda for New York.

The IABS continued the dialog in January with its Green Forum and here, with a roundtable comprising NYC Councilman Jim Gennaro (Queens/NYC Environmental Protection Committee Chair), Meg Carey, President of MCEnergy, Inc., a green power broker and energy consultant, and, from The Durst Organization, Timothy Clancy, Chief Operating Officer, and Eugene Walsh, building manager for 4 Times Square.

Chairing the roundtable was Gerard McCabe, President of the IABS, a practicing attorney and head of KPC Gemb Energy. Part two of the roundtable discussion can be read next week.

McCabe: The recent newsflash of Kilimanjaro with a greatly diminished snowcap was a vivid wake-up call to save our environment. But there's still resistance to implement green practices--whether it's from a lack of education, inertia, fear of cost, etc.--despite the products, programs, and cash incentives that are available. Our purpose today is to offer practical advice that takes the "mystery" out of achieving a green or high-performance building. Let's start with the basics.

McCabe: Councilman Gennaro, you're sponsoring legislation requiring new City projects to meet LEED Silver Standards--what was the thinking behind such legislation?

Gennaro: Two key beliefs drove it: 1) government should lead the market by adopting techniques and technologies that the private sector may see as too new or expensive.

At the same time, green buildings' "external" benefits--improvements to health and the environment--are part of our core mission. So for us, there's no money "wasted" on benefits enjoyed by society at large. And 2) many green building attributes, such as reduced electricity and water use, save the government money by reducing the stress on infrastructure. The good news: studies show most buildings can be built to LEED Silver at only a small premium; one looked at the psf cost of 93 non-LEED and 45 LEED-seeking buildings and found no statistically significant difference in the cost of green versus conventional construction.

McCabe: Why not make this mandatory then for all new private construction?

Gennaro: Because we have every reason to hope it won't be necessary.

Since so many of New York's developers, builders, architects and trades work on billions of dollars in City projects, the real estate industry will be exposed to green building once the legislation passes.

They'll learn it often has little or no additional cost implications and, hopefully, prospective tenants will demand it. In effect, we'll be "subsidizing" the training of the private sector as we step out front of the market.

And while the costs of the first projects will probably reflect some premium for training people unfamiliar with LEED, the potential for green building to take off on its own is high enough that it's prudent to stay the hand of regulation until we give the market a chance to evolve.

McCabe: What's the status of the legislation?

Gennaro: We expect to see it become law by late spring or early summer.

McCabe: Let's turn to what the private owners or managers can do now. If a company has done nothing so far, what's a good first step?

Carey: Nothing's easier than a paper transaction and so purchasing green energy is a great first step. It's no more complicated than purchasing any other building supplies. And if your company has to fulfill internal environmental criteria or the International Standards of operations (ISO) green energy purchasing guidelines, it accomplishes that immediately, provides you with the necessary compliance certifications, and more.

To buy green power, tell your energy supplier that you want to commit a percentage of your purchase to green power--wind, solar, bio mass, some forms of hydro, etc. They will advise you on the costs and handle the paperwork, while folks like us can document the environmental benefits--down to how much pollution is avoided due to your purchase, i.e. NOx, SOx and CO2. It's the same as buying power--but this is key--you're doing so in a socially responsible way.

McCabe: The environmental benefits seem loud and clear ... but does it cost more?

Carey: No and yes.... because you have to place it in context with your entire energy program. For example, we have a major institutional client with 3 million SF in Manhattan for whom we purchase power--both "brown and green" supplies.

They have committed to purchasing 5% of their portfolio from a green source. It costs them an additional $30,000 a year, but because they have also locked in a fixed price contract with an alternative supplier, they also saved $485,000 in one year. It may cost more on one side of the balance sheet, but if you're energy savvy, you are pursuing other energy-reduction programs that more than balance it out.

Clancy: At Four Times Square Tower, where we also use photovoltaics and other self-generating energy systems, including two 200 kw unit fuel cells. As part of our commitment to sustainable energy, we use 10% windpower throughout the Durst portfolio.

McCabe: Any issues with reliability?

Clancy: None whatsoever. Distribution is handled through the same transmission system that brings us our other power, so it's really a non-issue.

McCabe: Since the industry is trending green, do you think there will be legislated percentages for green power purchasing at some point in time?

Carey: It's happening now. New York State's Retail Renewable Portfolio Standards mandate that by 2013, 25% of the state's energy supplies must come from a renewable source.

But there's already a bandwagon effect underway. Without marketing pressure from us, 5% of our clients committed to purchasing a portion of their power from a green source three years ago; today it is up to 15% and we see it happening throughout the industry. And there's a marketing advantage regardless of your property's size--it builds good will with tenants.

McCabe: Back to purchasing supplies. We can make the point you don't have to be forced by legislation or be handed a rule book to buy green.

The Internet has a wealth of information that with a few clicks can get you to a manufacturer and a local representative for green versions of products you buy everyday.

It can be as simple as changing out lighting--which can consume a high percentage of total energy expenditure--and switching to high-grade T-12 or T-8 lightbulbs.

On a more sophisticated level, anyone building new or doing a substantial retrofit is hurting themselves in the long-run if they don't look at Digital Lighting Management (DLM). This equipment--which has software that allows you to operate from any computer--monitors lighting levels with great precision and provides almost instantaneous load-shedding.

It can turn off lighting "office by office" or "zone by zone", and lower the lumen output--up to 30% in some situations--without detection by the human eye.

Walsh: I'd agree with focusing on electricity first. There are a lot of different applications; Variable Frequency Drives at 4 Times Square are very effective and make a measurable difference in energy consumption. Just make sure the equipment is validated to make sure it's operating at its exact specification.