Trust-funded task force proposes building-code improvements
A grant to the Urban Green Council helped assemble the NYC Green Codes Task Force to produce the building-code proposals discussed in the article below.
Crain's New York Business
Published: 2/1/10
By Daniel Massey
New rules for insulating all-glass high rises and getting stores to
shut off their lights after hours were among 111 proposals unveiled
Monday by a panel of environmental experts charged with devising a
blueprint to green the city's building stock.
The
recommendations of the NYC Green Codes Task Force affect the city's
building codes as well as rules impacting zoning, health, consumer
affairs, and environmental protection.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg
and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who convened the panel in
2008, will review its report. Some of the recommendations are likely
ready for immediate implementation, while others will need further
review.
“Right now, the only way for most New Yorkers to
benefit from green building is if they happen to be in a high-end
residential or office building, or perhaps a government building,” said
Russell Unger, executive director of the Urban Green Council, who
chaired the task force's steering committee. “Implementing green
changes to the building and other codes will make sustainable features
available to everyone.”
The panel was comprised of "200 of the
greatest minds on green buildings,” Mr. Unger said, and its work was
funded by the Mertz Gilmore Foundation and
the New York Community
Trust.
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