City’s First Electric Vehicle Charging Station at Brooklyn Bridge Park

Here are some pictures of the recently-installed solar-powered electric vehicle charging station at Brooklyn Bridge Park's Pier 1. It was donated to the park by Brooklyn-based renewable energy developer Beautiful Earth Group (BE) and is constructed of two recycled steel shipping containers stacked on top of each other — acquired from a New York vendor. 

 

The charging station is completely powered by 24 photovoltaic panels on the roof. The panels catch solar rays throughout the day and store them in 40 battery packs inside so there is a constant energy supply for park vehicles. BBP will use the station to charge four of its electric service vehicles — two GEM cars (battery-operated Global Electric Motorcars) and two Toros. 

This will result in more than $200,000 in savings from gasoline costs and tens of thousands of dollars in savings from electricity costs over 25 years (25 years is the warranty for the photovoltaic panels, according to BE Manager of Sustainability Amanda Cleary, although they will probably last much longer). In that period of time, the charging station will have saved more than 530 tons of CO2 from being emitted into the atmosphere.

“The charging station dovetails perfectly with the park’s sustainability ethos, and helps us to extend the ways in which the park has conserved finite resources and limited its carbon emissions,” said Regina Myer, President of Brooklyn Bridge Park in an e-mail message, “While allowing us to use vehicles that are efficient for park maintenance and help us to keep the park in terrific condition for visitors.”

Read my full story here. 

NY Times Feature on Habana Outpost Owner

Check out this feature in the New York Times on Sean Meenan, owner of Fort Greene eco-friendly restaurant Habana Outpost. Among the local hot spot's sustainable elements are "solar panels, a rainwater-collection system that feeds the toilets, a recycling and composting station, wheat-board wall paneling, corn-based plastic cups and a blender powered by a bicycle."

According to the Times, Meenan opened another location in Malibu and will soon be expanding to Las Vegas and LA.

Sustainable Flatbush to Host Energy Forum

Sustainable Flatbush and its partners will host a Neighborhood Energy Forum on Saturday, March 20, 2010, at the Brooklyn College Student Center, 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. At this event homeowners, tenant organizations, landlords, and building managers will learn what they need to get started with major energy efficiency projects — from energy audits to weatherization to solar-electric, for both large multi-family buildings and one- to four-family homes.

“Inefficiency drives up energy costs, contributes to air pollution — almost 80% of New York City’s greenhouse gas emissions are produced by buildings — and hurts everybody, especially low-income people. That is why Sustainable Flatbush is organizing this event, to help residential building stakeholders raise the money they need for major energy efficiency upgrades and renewable energy projects, and for neighbors to share resources and best practices,” said Anne Pope, executive director of Sustainable Flatbush.

Event partners so far include National Grid, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), ConEd, and Flatbush Development Corporation.

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Coney Island Wonder Wheel Is Going Solar

This summer the Coney Island Wonder Wheel will be getting 32 solar panels, reports the Daily News. The panels will generate enough power to light bulbs on the ride’s 16 cars, which were removed for safety reasons in the 1980s. A battery will store energy for not-so-sunny days, according to the News, which also reports that if all goes well this summer, more solar panels could be installed the following year, powering the entire ride off solar energy.

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Solar-Powered Film Series Starts Thursday

This Thursday evening, solar advocacy group Solar One and social network GreenEdge Collaborative NYC will pair up for the second year in a row to deliver an eco-themed solar-powered film series, putting a local spin on global issues.

The six-film series will be shown over six nights: Thursday, Friday and Saturday of this week and next. Film topics range from the World Water Crisis to electric cars. Each film will be paired with a relevant segment from Brooklyn filmmaker Michelle Vey’s From Elegance to Earthworms, a documentary about New York-based environmental groups.

Screenings will be followed by one or two guest speakers and a question and answer session. The speakers are from local environmental groups and businesses, said Judy Harper, New York City chapter director of GreenEdge. “The movies are about big issues,” she explained. “We want to bring them back to the local area.”

Doors will open each night (figuratively, since the screenings are outside) at 7 p.m. with the films starting at 7:45. The projector and audio will be powered by a solar system on the roof of Solar One, at 23rd Street and FDR Drive in Manhattan, where the screenings will take place. Chris Neidl, outreach and advocacy coordinator at Solar One, said that the solar power is collected and stored in a battery bank, allowing it to be used after dark.

Though the film series will be shown in Manhattan, the event has a strong Brooklyn influence. GreenEdge Collaborative NYC was founded in 2006 by then-Park Slope resident Carolyn Gilles. She wanted to connect businesses and residents who live sustainably. Since then, GreenEdge has expanded to include a Kentucky chapter, and a San Francisco chapter is in the works. Gilles has relocated to Kentucky — “I moved five weeks ago and I miss [Brooklyn] dearly,” she said — but GreenEdge still has a strong connection to Brooklyn.

“We’re very much born and bred in Brooklyn,” said Harper. “It’s where we have built the most support.”

In a nod to these Brooklyn roots, several of the guest speakers are from Brooklyn organizations. For Thursday night’s film, Addicted to Plastic, a documentary about solutions to plastic pollution, speakers will be Vey and also Amanda Gentile, a co-founder of the Brooklyn Green Team. On Sept. 18, The Garden, about a community garden in Los Angeles, will be shown, followed by speakers Juventino Avila, co-owner and Chef of Get Fresh Table and Market in Brooklyn, and Stacey Murphy, founder of BK Farmyards. Gilles said the films were chosen to emphasize current topics in environmentalism and she hopes attendees will gain something from the screenings. “I hope that they walk away inspired to take action and make changes in their daily lives.”

Neidl — who happens to be a Brooklyn resident — hopes to “build the reputation and understanding of solar power” through the film series, demonstrating “the message and the medium” at the same time.

The series should also be a good time. Previous years have seen as many as 400 people in attendance, said Neidl, noting that though this is the second year GreenEdge has been a partner, it’s the fifth year Solar One has hosted film screenings.

“It’s a fun way to learn about the environment and what’s happening currently,” said Gilles.

Screenings for the Solar-Powered Film Series will be on September 10, 11, 12 and 17, 18 and 19. The event is free. Doors open at 7 p.m.

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Brooklyn Heights Solar Panels, Before and After

This month, a roof on Columbia Heights in northern Brooklyn Heights was retrofitted with solar panels. At left, workers are seen beginning the installation. At right, a few days later, the installation is complete but the sun has not risen high enough to eliminate the shadow from a taller building across the street, not shown here. However, the sunlight has still reached part of the mansard roof to the right of the solar panels. The roof where the panels have been installed will receive sunlight for much of the day, but many brownstones don’t receive sufficient sun to cover the cost of putting in solar panels.

Photos by Henrik Krogius

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Green Courses at City Tech in Downtown Brooklyn

NYC College of Technology in Downtown Brooklyn is offering several green-themed courses through its continuing education program in the upcoming semester:

Photovoltaic Installation
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 6-9 p.m., from 11/3 - 12/5, for $600
Presented by the Center of Sustainable Energy of Bronx Community College. Learn the basics of solar photovoltaic technology and how it is installed and maintained. Course includes four all-day Saturday lab sessions at Bronx Community College (11/7 - 12/5).
For more information click here.
Prerequisite: a professional background in engineering, architecture, electronics, building construction and related areas.

Solar Hot Water and Heating Systems Workshop
Wednesday, 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., October dates TBA, for $290
The course will cover solar thermal systems (introduction, types and applications); solar thermal collectors and system components; solar thermal design and system sizing; installation of solar hot water systems; solar control strategy; system startup, maintenance and trouble-shooting; and solar savings and performance estimates.

Introduction to Green Roofs and Living Walls
Thursday, 6-9 p.m., from 9/24 - 12/3 (no class on 11/26), site visits: Saturdays, 11 a.m. - 4 p.m., 10/3 & 10/7, for $470
This course offers an introduction into green roof and living wall construction, installation and maintenance. Topics include green roof benefits and incentives, reviews of green roof products, water-proofing, roof membranes and drainage. An introduction into green roof horticulture and irrigation as well as two site visits to local green roof projects. Can be taken in preparation for the Green Roof Professional Accreditation Test which will be offered in 2009.

Green Roof Professional Accreditation Test Prep
Saturday, 10 a.m. - 2 p.m., 10/10, for &70 plus a $20 registration fee.
Intended for those students interested in preparing for the Green Roof Professional Accreditation Test offered by the independent non-profit organization Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, which will be offered for the first time in October. The course will cover topics anticipated to be on the test and will help students come up with a study plan. Will review basic green roof design, engineering and installation. Students planning to take the test prep should have som eprior knowledge of green roofs including the different kinds of green roof systems, green roof plant and soil types, and general design and installation details.

City Tech is also offering a free, green-related community program:

Urban Energy: Incentives for Solar, Wind and Energy Smart Savings
Saturday, 1 p.m. - 5 p.m., 10/24
Will discuss how you can benefit by switchign to renewable energy. Presentations by representatives from the Center for Sustainable Energy at Bronx Community College, the NYC Economic Developoment Corporation, the Pratt Center for Sustainability, Future Green, Con Edison and Aeon Solar.
Free, but registration is required.

Visit www.citytech.cuny.edu/academics/continuinged for more information about these and other City Tech continuing education courses, and how to register.

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Heights Resident Turns Solar Activist

Len Gelstein, of 11 Montague Terrace in Brooklyn Heights, wanted to install solar panels on his home, but discovered that because his roof is oriented slightly north of east. For solar panels to be a good option, the roof either needs to be flat or tilted slightly south. Not to be discouraged, however, Gelstein plans to spread the word to his neighbors about solar energy. Read the full story by Zoe Thomas here.

Photo by Mike Plotz

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Congresswoman Clarke Urges New Yorkers to Take Action

Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke, along with Greenpeace NYC field organizer Eva Erbskorn, submitted an editorial to the Eagle about the current climate crisis.

Given that hurricane season is upon us, we may soon be confronted with intense storms caused in part by global warming. "Unless we take action immediately," Congresswoman Clarke writes, "that means more flooding of basements, more disease, and more drinking water shortages (and worse)."

She urges New Yorkers to take action: "We can start by investing in efficiency and clean energy sources like solar and wind power, as well as in smart transportation, like more subways and buses."

For Congresswoman Clarke's full editorial, Greener Economy Essential in Face of Rising Waters, click here.

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Chamber Recognizes Green Buildings

The Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce and its Real Estate and Development (RED) Committee announced the winners of Building Brooklyn Awards for this year. Of the 12 recipients, two are green buildings: Galapagos Art Space and the Perry Building at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

Carl Hum, Chamber president and CEO, said that past winners have been environmentally friendly, but this year was the first year a specific award was given to a green building. This would be the National Grid Award for Energy Conservation, which the Perry Building received.

Opened in early April, the Perry Building (above) is the nation’s first multi-story green industrial facility. It is on track to receive LEED gold certification and features the first permanent building-mounted wind turbines to be operating anywhere in New York City.

The turbines, combined with rooftop solar panels, will provide electricity for the building’s lobby and other common areas, which will amount to about 10 percent of the overall energy. Other green features of the Perry Building are reflective roofing and pavement to reduce surface temperatures, the use of recycled rain water in toilets, recycled building materials, high-efficiency lighting fixtures, natural ventilation systems and special accommodation for bicyclists and low-emission vehicles.

Awarded in the Arts and Culture category, Galapagos Art Space (above) has shown a commitment to the environment from the get-go. A LEED-silver certified building, all of the steel is 80 percent recycled, the concrete is 30 percent recycled, the toilets are low flush and the sinks have low water flow. The 1600 square foot lake inside the venue is filled by a well, so as not to waste city drinking water.

Galapagos director Robert Elmes has said, “if the arts can’t show leadership, who can? ... We have a responsibility to lead with social issues.”

The ceremony and cocktail reception for the awards will be held on July 15 at Stage 6 at Steiner Studios in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, a green building in the yard that will apply for LEED Silver certification, in part for the adaptive reuse of a 150,000 square-foot WWII era building.

For more information and the full list of recipients, see the story here.

Photos courtesy of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce.

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Brooklyn Navy Yard Sails Forward On Wind and Solar Power

Mayor Bloomberg came to the Brooklyn Navy Yard (BNY) yesterday to open the new Perry Avenue Building, the nation’s first multi-story green industrial facility. The $25 million building, which began construction 18 months ago, is on track to receive LEED gold certification and features the first permanent building-mounted wind turbines to be operating anywhere in New York City.

The building “heralds the emergence of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, the city’s most successful industrial business, as the nation’s greenest industrial center as well,” said Mayor Bloomberg.
He also announced the creation of Duggal Greenhouse, a 60,000-square-foot LEED platinum certified facility that will be a “center for designing and manufacturing eco-friendly products.”

These projects, as well as other green initiatives, will create 800 new construction jobs and “more than 1,700 new permanent jobs over the next two years, many of them in green manufacturing and design,” the mayor said. Right now, there are 350 green jobs at the Navy Yard, but “within two years we project that there will be nearly three times that many.”

Mayor Bloomberg made his announcements on the roof of the building, in front of the new wind turbines. He was accompanied by Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Robert Lieber, BNY Development Corporation Chairman Alan Fishman, BNY Development Corporation President Andrew Kimball, Borough President Marty Markowitz, Council Member David Yassky and Assembly Member Joseph Lentol.

The turbines, combined with rooftop solar panels, will provide electricity for the building’s lobby and other common areas, which will amount to about 10 percent of the overall energy. The rest comes from a power plant in the Navy Yard, which uses natural gas.

Other green features of the Perry Avenue Building are reflective roofing and pavement to reduce surface temperatures, the use of recycled rain water in toilets, recycled building materials, high-efficiency lighting fixtures, natural ventilation systems and special accommodation for bicyclists and low-emission vehicles.

SurroundArt will lease the building, and will create a Museum Resource Campus to serve the art industry and institutions in New York City.

Five wind- and solar-powered street lights (below), created by Duggal Visual Solutions (who will create the Duggal Greenhouse), have been installed in the Navy Yard. Eventually, there will be 90 of these street lights in the facility.

“Not only do the [wind- and solar-powered street lights] cost 35 percent less to install than their more conventional counterparts, they’ll also save the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation about $11,000 annually in the cost of electricity,” said Mayor Bloomberg.

Borough President Markowitz said of Baldev Duggal, the mastermind behind the wind-solar street lamps, “these are the kind of visionaries that this city is investing in. That’s why I know that our future is going to be superb. It has to be. New York, and especially Brooklyn, among the most environmentally active communities across the country, will lead the way.”

President and CEO of the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation, Andrew Kimball, said, “It’s easy to be green when you have a mayor who’s become an international/national leader on urban sustainable issues ... it’s easy to be green when you have local elected officials who are pushing us everyday to create those jobs, particularly green jobs.

“Most of all it’s easy to be green when you have tenants like SurroundArt and Duggal Visual Solutions and 30 other green manufacturers already doing business inside the Navy Yard,” Kimball continued. “People across America are talking about green jobs, they’re talking about the future. We have those jobs here today at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.”

The expansion of the Navy Yard and creation of green sector jobs is part of the city’s “Five Borough Economic Opportunity Plan.” This plan will “help New Yorkers find work today, create jobs in diverse sectors in the future, and make our neighborhoods more affordable and more green as we go,” said Deputy Director Lieber.

New York City is implementing a $250 million capital funding program to improve and modernize the Brooklyn Navy Yard’s infrastructure. The expansion will add over 1.5 million square feet of new space. Mayor Bloomberg announced last month that the city’s $35 million project to reconstruct several roadways in the Navy Yard area and upgrade water and sewer systems will benefit from nearly $5 million now available due to the Federal stimulus allocation to the city.

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Celebrating the Sun at Hannah Senesh

It wasn’t sunny by any means last Sunday, but that didn’t stop the Hannah Senesh Community Day School in Carroll Gardens from celebrating the sun with its Solar Fair.

Children and adults from the school and the surrounding community flocked to the fair, where they listened to sun-themed music, got their faces painted and made solar ovens and pinwheels. Recycled yogurt containers, used to plant sunflowers, were donated by the Park Slope Food Coop.

Master composter Marion Stein brought a worm composting bin and information from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden on composting, and representatives from solar energy advocacy group Solar One led workshops where children built small solar-powered cars (above).

Borough President Marty Markowitz took the stage to congratulate the school, which he called “one of the best, not only in the neighborhood but in the entire city.” He presented Nicole Nash, who is the head of the school, with a proclamation and declared that day “Solar Day in Brooklyn U.S.A.”

Every year, Hannah Senesh sends their students to Jewish environmental education institute the Teva Learning Center, said science teacher Lisa Ochs. This year, the school and the institute decided to put on the fair in celebration of Birkat Hachama, a Jewish blessing honoring the sun that is said once every 28 years.

Birkat Hachama takes place next Wednesday, April 8, when, according to Jewish tradition, the sun will be in the same place it was when it was first created.

Hannah Senesh took this opportunity to teach the entire student body about the power of the sun. “In February and March, every grade in the school has been learning about the sun and solar energy,” Ochs explained.

Sixth-graders made the solar ovens, seventh-graders built a bike generator — which would generate electricity when pedaled — and eighth-graders worked together to build a solar cell.

Children came in droves and packed into the gym at Hannah Senesh to learn about solar energy, sitting with rapt attention as they watched a skit put on by the Teva Learning Center. The performance explained where we get our electricity right now, and demonstrated how much more efficient it would be to use only solar power.

“The sun is sending enough energy every day to the [entire] earth to power all of the earth’s energy needs for a year,” Ochs said.

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In Tough Economic Times, Going Green Is Still Possible

Sure, you want to go green. You’d really like to install solar panels on your brownstone, but you’re a little wary of the price. But did you know that you could get a rebate, tax credits and a property tax abatement? That’s where Rob Ashmore comes in.

He’s the founder of Aeon Solar, a company that installs solar panels in New York, New Jersey, California and Colorado. And if you want to get panels for your home or business, Ashmore will take care of everything for you.

One of his clients is Rolf Grimsted, who runs the mom-and-pop realty company R & E Brooklyn, with his wife. When retrofitting his property at 93 Nevins St. in Boerum Hill, he wanted to make it “what we thought the new urban home should be,” which was as green as possible.

The building (right) is made up of two townhouses, both of which Ashmore fitted with solar panels. “It was one of the first green choices we made,” Grimsted said. The building has good southern exposure, he explained, which makes it “well-situated” for solar power.

Grimsted also installed radiant heating in the floors and sourced as many of the materials as locally as possible. The townhouses have health benefits from the clean filtered air in the building. It’s so healthy that the American Lung Association awarded it Health House certification.

Ashmore explained that the original cost for two solar panel systems was $27,000 each. New York state offers a rebate at a rate of $4 per watt for the first 5,000 watts and $3 per watt for the next 5,000 watts. Since these systems were 2,700 watts each, the rebate was $10,800 per system, making the after-rebate cost of each system $16,200. Grimsted then got a state tax credit of 25 percent, or $4,050, per system. After subtracting that from the after-rebate cost ($12,150), he got a federal tax credit of $3,645, or 30 percent.

The rebate and tax credits took the cost of each solar panel system down to $8,505. But the incentives don’t stop there, Ashmore said. Grimsted then gets a property tax abatement of 35 percent or $2,976.75, split up over the next four years. So each year, he will have a property tax abatement of around $744, making the actual cost of each system to be about $5,528.

And that doesn’t even include the money saved on each townhouse’s electric bill over the next 30 years. Ashmore said the electric bill will be about $75 less per month, per system.

Aeon Solar’s next project is installing solar panels on a brownstone on Columbia Heights in Brooklyn Heights. This system costs $70,000, and after the rebate, tax credits and property tax abatement, the end cost will be $16,640, Ashmore said. “The savings on their Con Ed bill will eat away at that cost, typically in about five years,” he added. After that, “All the power that system produces is free.”

So, as it turns out, it pays to be green.

Photo courtesy of R & E Brooklyn

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