NYC: How Existing Buildings Can Change the World
At this week's Urban Green Council EBie Awards (short for existing buildings), we snapped US Green Building Council's Judith Webb and BuildingGreen president Nadav Malin. (Urban Green Council is the USGBC's Big Apple chapter.) Judith tells us the US houses 5.6 million existing buildings, almost every one a candidate for energy, water, and money savings. EBie nominees hailed from six states and account for 14M SF of improved properties that have saved 30 million gallons of water and as much energy as 1.7 million Americans use each year. Imagine the impact, she says, if 1,000 or 100,000 existing buildings put in modular green roofs, exchanged their exterior halide lights for LEDs, or installed low-flow toilets or solar panels. (We'll pass on the solar-powered toilets for right now though.)
