May 10 2007
Solar One Green Energy, Arts and Education Center will be honoring two green building pioneers, the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) and Turner Construction Company at its annual Revelry By The River gala on the East River waterfront on Wednesday, May 9, beginning at 6:00 pm. The event will celebrate green buildings in New York City, including "Solar 2," Solar One's own net-zero, carbon-neutral building, powered by solar power, to be completed in 2008. Mayor Bloomberg, as part of his PlaNYC initiative, has allocated $3 million from the City's budget for this project.
Christopher Collins, Executive Director of Solar One, said, "With more and more attention being given to matters of energy, consumption, global warming and sustainability, we thought that it was time to recognize two of the true pioneers in the field of Green Building -- those whose efforts are creating solutions for our energy problems and are making New York City a more sustainable place to live, learn and work."
Revelry By The River: A Celebration of Green Buildings in New York will take place a week before Mayor Bloomberg's Climate Summit. In his announcement of the Summit, the Mayor noted that buildings account for 79% of New York City's carbon emissions. High performance buildings offer a significant opportunity to reduce New York's energy use through green building practices of intelligent design, efficient systems and onsite, distributed generation.
The USGBC catalyzed the green building movement with the creation of their Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification program in 2000. Under the LEED system, the USGBC has registered over 5,300 projects and certified another 734, for a total of 829 million square feet of commercial building space. With LEED projects in all 50 states and 12 countries, the USGBC is leading the way in promoting, "buildings that are environmentally responsible, profitable and healthy places to live and work."
To date, Turner Construction Company has completed or has under construction more than 200 green projects totaling over 51 million square feet and valued at over $12 billion. Turner has 260 LEED Accredited Professionals on staff.
"Turner is proud to receive this honor from Solar One for our efforts and long-standing nationwide commitment to green building practices. We are dedicated to the construction of buildings that create environmental solutions and healthier indoor environments for our homes, schools and offices through better energy and water efficiency. In New York alone, Turner has completed LEED Certified projects in excess of $1 billion, has projects underway worth in excess of $1 billion, and has an additional $3 billion of LEED Registered projects in the planning stages," said Charles Murphy, Senior Vice President Turner Construction Company and General Manager of Turner's New York Office.