[Greenbuilding] NYC 90% emissions cut with windows
David Bergman
bergman at cyberg.com
Mon Mar 18 12:05:20 CDT 2013
Hi Corwyn,
The headline was probably intentionally
exaggerated and didn't literally mean just
windows and insulation. Here are some relevant excerpts from the article:
"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."
"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
citys 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. ...
"Its the third step, though, that may make the
above possible: energy conservation. Here, the
report isnt 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 Councils plans would carry
these standards to unprecedented levelsnot just
double-glazed windows, but triple-glazed
windowsand apply them to existing buildings as
well whenever theyre updated. Thats an awful
lot of work, but the potential payoff is bigger than you might expect."
"Its 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. "
"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. "
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.
David
David Bergman RA LEED AP
DAVID BERGMAN ARCHITECT | FIRE & WATER LIGHTING
architecture . interiors . ecodesign . lighting . furniture
bergman at cyberg.com www.cyberg.com
212 475 3106 twitter: @EcoOptimism
author -
<http://ecooptimism.com/?page_id=58>Sustainable Design: A Critical Guide
blog - <http://www.ecooptimism.com/>EcoOptimism
adjunct faculty - Parsons The New School for Design
At 12:35 PM 3/18/2013, Corwyn wrote:
>I have a very hard time believing that 90% of
>GHG emissions *even come from* window and insulation losses.
>
>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).
>
>Thank You Kindly,
>
>Corwyn
>
>--
>Topher Belknap
>Green Fret Consulting
>Kermit didn't know the half of it...
>http://www.greenfret.com/
>topher at greenfret.com
>(207) 882-7652
>
>
>
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