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Hi Corwyn,<br><br>
The headline was probably intentionally exaggerated and didn't literally
mean just windows and insulation. Here are some relevant excerpts from
the article:<br><br>
<font color="#0000FF">"The report takes as its starting point this
foundational statistic: 75 percent of the readily measured carbon
emissions in New York City come from buildings. That makes it very
different from the nation as a whole, where agriculture and
transportation are among the biggest culprits."<br><br>
"To get those emissions under control will require three main steps,
all difficult but none inconceivable. The first is probably the most
ambitious and innovative: gradually retiring the city’s massive, aging
steam heat system and replacing it with high-efficiency electric heat
pumps. Low-rise residential buildings would get individual mini-split
pumps, a relatively easy fix, while high-rises would need to convert from
steam to central geothermal heat pump systems. ...<br><br>
"It’s the third step, though, that may make the above possible:
energy conservation. Here, the report isn’t asking residents to cut
backit refers to stripping waste and leakage to the bare minimum. Tweaks
that seem smallinsulation, plugging air leaks, heat-recovery
ventilation, fluorescent lightingloom big. New buildings in the city
already include some of those measures. But the Urban Green Council’s
plans would carry these standards to unprecedented levelsnot just
double-glazed windows, but <i>triple</i>-glazed windowsand apply them to
existing buildings as well whenever they’re updated. That’s an awful lot
of work, but the potential payoff is bigger than you might
expect."<br><br>
"It’s in service of this goal that the report makes one of the few
suggestions that might raise New Yorkers’ hackles from a quality-of-life
perspective: capping the percentage of see-through glass on high-rise
buildings at 50 percent. "<br><br>
"Even with all those changes to its buildings, the city would still
need serious cuts in its emissions from transportation and waste to reach
the grail of 90 percent by 2050. "<br>
</font>and it goes to point out that NYC's transportation emissions are a
lot lower than most of the rest of the country due to the fact that so
few NY'ers own and drive cars.<br><br>
David<br>
David Bergman RA LEED AP<br>
<font size=2 color="#808080"><b>DAVID BERGMAN</b> ARCHITECT | <b>FIRE
& WATER</b> LIGHTING<br>
</font><font color="#808080">architecture . interiors .
</font><font color="#008080">ecodesign</font><font color="#808080"> .
lighting . furniture<br>
</font><font size=2 color="#808080">bergman@cyberg.com
<a href="http://www.cyberg.com/" eudora="autourl"><u>www.cyberg.com</a>
</u></font><font color="#808080"> <br>
</font><font size=2 color="#808080">212 475 3106 twitter:
@EcoOptimism<br><br>
</font><font color="#808080">author -
<a href="http://ecooptimism.com/?page_id=58">Sustainable Design: A
Critical Guide</a><br>
blog - <a href="http://www.ecooptimism.com/">EcoOptimism</a><br>
adjunct faculty - Parsons The New School for Design</font> <br><br>
<br>
At 12:35 PM 3/18/2013, Corwyn wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">I have a very hard time
believing that 90% of GHG emissions *even come from* window and
insulation losses.<br><br>
I wish people wouldn't try to hype their proposals by giving such
numbers. Huge savings are possible, but at least try to make them
look plausible or they will be dismissed out of hand (as I did).<br><br>
Thank You Kindly,<br><br>
Corwyn<br><br>
-- <br>
Topher Belknap<br>
Green Fret Consulting<br>
Kermit didn't know the half of it...<br>
<a href="http://www.greenfret.com/" eudora="autourl">
http://www.greenfret.com/</a><br>
topher@greenfret.com<br>
(207) 882-7652<br><br>
<br><br>
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