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MULTI-HOUSING NEWS, By Richard M. Cherry, president of Community Environmental Center

In just the past year or so, the public has come to accept the reality of global warming and its adverse impact on air quality, the weather and the consumption of energy. Coming to terms with this reality should be a wake-up call to the multi-housing industry to take advantage of a golden opportunity to lead the way in improving the environmental health of their communities—and to profit by doing it. For far too long, too many owners and managers of multi-unit buildings have been largely indifferent to the potential benefits of environmentally sustainable design and technology.

Investing in available “green” technology to improve energy efficiency, reduce consumption and help the environment reaps a quick payback and significant long-term operations savings for the owners and developers of apartment buildings.

New construction and renovations of existing buildings that meet LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards, the prestigious rating system developed by the U.S. Green Building Council, convert these co-ops, condos and rentals into high performing assets in the marketplace.

LEED-certified housing attracts buyers and renters who believe in conservation. It also fortifies the good will and loyalty of residents, who experience added comfort levels, including improved indoor air quality, as well as reduced utility bills.

Densely populated municipalities, coping with energy shortages, the threat of blackouts and poor air quality, are adding to the push to achieving sustainable buildings. In April, New York City’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg came aboard with his comprehensive PlaNYC 2030 blueprint to manage the city’s growth and conserve energy in environmentally responsible ways.

New York City also enacted Local Law 86, which requires that construction of municipally funded buildings (except housing and schools) within a certain size and budget must be LEED certified. Sponsors of the legislation, which took effect with the new year, hope it will inspire the private sector to go green.

Although not covered by Local Law 86, the legislation pointed the way for pilot programs involving multifamily housing sponsored by the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development and carried out by my organization, Community Environmental Center (CEC), a not-for-profit that is a preferred contractor for energy-efficient and high-performance green design and construction.

The bandwagon for sustainable design is blossoming into various incentives and subsidies sponsored by the federal government and by states and cities across the nation—available resources that the canny developer will want to explore. CEC (www.cecenter.org) has been assisting property owners in New York State to locate and apply for these incentives.

Such energy-efficient measures as upgrading heating and air conditioning systems, installing low-emissivity windows and Energy Star appliances, adding insulation and sealing leaks will generate many times the investment in life-cycle savings.

But why stop at these conventional energy efficiency measures? This is the 21st century, and we should take advantage of 21st-century technology.

Take solar power, for instance. It’s doable right now. CEC’s solar-powered Solar 1 exhibit and education center in Manhattan generates 3.52 kilowatts an hour from an 88-panel rooftop photovoltaic (PV) array, and our much larger, soon-to-be-built Solar 2 will actually be a net 0 energy user, meaning it will generate more energy from the sun than it will consume.

Other advanced, cost-effective technologies on the shelf are co-generation (enabling buildings to generate their own hot water and electricity and, to a limited extent, heat); heat-recovery systems (which capture and recycle heat otherwise lost through ventilation); and bi-lighting in common areas (activated from dim to bright only when monitors sense the movement of people, thus significantly reducing the cost of lighting hallways and stairwells).

One of our favorite “fixes” is computer-managed heating controls, which regulate heat via sensors throughout the building and warn of boiler malfunctions before they become emergencies.

Although automobiles seem to get all the attention, in reality buildings in the U.S. account for about one-third of all the energy, water and materials the nation consumes, according to the U.S Green Building Council. Here in New York City, buildings account for a whopping 79 percent of energy consumption.

We applaud the initiatives set forth by the mayor in New York City’s PlaNYC 2030. We’re all for squeezing more miles-per-gallon out of our cars while reducing exhaust emissions. Let’s pay more attention now to cutting energy consumption and improving the environment where we spend most of our time: indoors.