Features Mann Report

The Real Estate’s Always Greener

Photography by Nic Lehoux

New York City Ranks Second in The U.S. Green Building Council’s Top 10 States for LEED List

Second to None (Or in this Case, Massachusetts)

 For years, the state of New York has been a leader in green building, and it ranked second on the most recent Top 10 States for LEED list. This annual ranking highlights states with the most LEED-certified square feet per capita in a given year. In 2017, the state of New York added 3.39 square feet of certified space per resident. This is a result of businesses, property owners, and policy makers working to improve quality of life by building better. To date, there are more than 1,900 commercial projects in New York that are LEED certified, representing more than 358 million square feet of space. New York City has always been a leader in innovative design and construction and its developers and designers were some of the earliest inspirations for, and adopters of, the now global LEED certification program.

New York’s ranking is due in large part to New York City’s commitment to transforming its built environment. The city is leading the way by creating an energy efficient, low-carbon future that is equitable for all residents. Recently, it announced ambitious goals to achieve an 80 percent reduction in citywide greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, compared with 2005 levels. The city is aiming to meet its targets in part through the Greener, Greater Buildings Plan, which requires owners of buildings larger than 50,000 square feet to annually measure their energy consumption and green codes that require LEED Silver certification for most city-owned and funded buildings.

The Ones to Watch

Diverse projects certified in New York City during 2017 that helped the state of New York achieve this ranking include the Animal Haven Adoption Center, 10 Hudson Yards, Dream Charter School in Harlem, Colombia University’s Jerome L. Greene Science Center and Lenfest Center for the Arts, Bloomberg LP’s 120 Park Avenue office, the Boriken Neighborhood Health Center in East Harlem, and the Henry J. Carter Specialty Hospital & Nursing Facility.

One particularly noteworthy project certified in 2017 was the LEED Platinum certified Phase 1 of The House at Cornell Tech, a net zero student housing project at Cornell Tech on Roosevelt Island. The residential high-rise is 26-stories, hosts 352 units and is home to about 530 graduate students, faculty and staff. It is also the largest Passive House building in the world, and is expected to use 60-70 percent less energy. The building is projected to save 882 tons of CO2 per year compared to a similar code building, which is equal to about 5,300 new trees being planted. The Hudson Companies and The Related Companies developed the project, and consulting firm Steven Winter Associates, Inc. joined the project team to provide an array of green building, energy efficiency, and accessibility services.

Other notable LEED certified projects in the city include World Trade Center Tower One, the Bank of America Tower at One Bryant Park, the Empire State and Chrysler Buildings, the Vanguard Chelsea, the American Cancer Society Headquarters, Colombia University’s Northwest Corner Building, Barclays Center in Brooklyn, the Solaire, which was the first LEED Platinum residential high rise certification in the world, Thurgood Marshall U.S. Courthouse, and the Stephen Sondheim Theatre.

Why it Matters—and What the Field is Doing

The annual Top 10 States for LEED list holds considerable weight among LEED users, green building experts, and state leaders, as LEED is far and away the most widely used green building rating system in the world. The list represents states making significant strides in sustainable building, design, construction, and performance over the past year. It generates substantial media attention across the states and within the building and design industries, as well as on social media.

The LEED rating system has evolved significantly since the first project certified in 2000, nearly 20 years ago. It is updated through a continuous improvement process, which includes a regular development cycle for revisions to the rating system and a Pilot Credit Library, where proposed credits are tested and evaluated before they can be considered for incorporation into LEED. With each new version of the rating system, USGBC is challenging the built environment to be more resource efficient and sustainable.

LEED v4, the newest and most progressive version of the rating system, is also the most innovative in terms of advancing optimal standards in human health and environmental sustainability. It has ushered in substantial changes to make LEED more accessible to a wider range of building and space types so they can achieve higher levels of environmental sustainability, while also making it more accessible and valuable for projects outside of the U.S.

USGBC believes in continuous improvement and that is what drives LEED to evolve along with emerging technologies and the needs of the marketplace. For example, over the last few years we have been expanding our vision to go beyond buildings to communities and even entire cities, and introduced two new certification programs: LEED for Communities and LEED for Cities. We will continue to invest in the rating system’s future and follow this approach of continuous improvement with a goal of expanding LEED to all markets and ensuring a sustainable future for all.

Moreover, in just two decades, LEED has become a powerful economic development tool for revitalizing and scaling sustainable buildings across the globe. LEED works by enhancing a company’s triple bottom line of people, planet, and profit, helping manage business operations and creating a more sustainable built environment. LEED certified buildings save money, consume less energy, use less water and fewer resources, provide better indoor air quality, and improve occupant comfort and satisfaction. Pursuing LEED certification also facilitates better product and material choices in buildings, while driving innovation.

This is why so many companies—from Fortune 500s to major property developers to small businesses and some of the most iconic buildings in the world—are using LEED to validate investments and outcomes in their real estate. In fact, a survey for Fortune 200 companies conducted by USGBC in 2015 found that the world’s top-performing companies are prioritizing sustainability as part of their corporate social responsibility efforts, and a majority of them are using LEED to achieve their goals.

And the growth rate of LEED and green buildings as a whole is also only expected to grow. According to USGBC’s 2015 Green Building Economic Impact Study, which analyzed the economic impact of green construction on the U.S. economy, LEED certified buildings accounted for 40 percent of green construction’s contribution to the U.S. GDP in 2015. The report predicted that by the end of this year, LEED will directly contribute nearly $30 billion to the U.S. GDP.

LEED-ing the Way

Data-driven performance tracking and management is now a driving force in sustainability. Today, more than ever before, the green building movement is undergoing its own digital revolution to ensure the future of green buildings and the entire sustainability marketplace will value transparent performance.

This is why last year USGBC announced a new state-of-the-art digital performance platform called Arc to help users collect, manage, and benchmark data to improve their sustainability performance. Arc allows any project—whether a single building, a community, or even an entire city—to track and measure their performance, make improvements, and benchmark against itself and other projects around them.

We all know that the real estate and building industry thrives on the spirit of compare and compete. LEED certified buildings can use Arc to track their performance and confirm they are performing at or above their certified levels. Iconic LEED certified projects in New York City can compete against one another to claim to be the city’s greenest building.

But even buildings not yet ready for certification can use Arc. Existing buildings in New York City can track their progress in Arc, and make continuous improvements to become more sustainable and eventually achieve LEED certification. The platform has total flexibility to start small—with the data you already have—and make incremental progress toward achieving your sustainability goals.

Looking to the future, one way that New York City can demonstrate exemplary leadership and help the state improve its ranking is by becoming a LEED certified city. LEED for Cities provides cities and communities with a framework for measuring, managing, and improving the performance of their economies, environment, and people. The program is where a city’s chief technology officer meets their chief sustainability officer to accelerate progress on both scores. It is helping cities develop responsible, sustainable, and specific plans for green energy, water, waste, transportation, and many other factors that contribute to the human experience. LEED for Cities metrics encompass sustainability and much more: quality of life, health, prosperity, equity, education, resilience, infrastructure, and energy. They are designed to support continuous progress toward developing better communities and cities, and ensuring a higher quality of life for all citizens.

These programs allow communities and cities to track their building portfolio performance, carbon emissions, policies, and incentives. Cities can leverage this information to develop and refine policies, generate broad private investments, increase citizen engagement, and even influence large-scale behavioral change in society. Finally, by entering performance data, city and community leaders are able to benchmark themselves against their local, regional, and global peers.

New York City has set very ambitious greenhouse gas reduction targets. Other cities around the world are already using LEED for Cities certification to achieve their sustainability goals and meet their climate targets. In September 2017, the District of Columbia started a trend by becoming the first city in the world to receive LEED for Cities certification at the Platinum level. Phoenix and Arlington County also recently became LEED Platinum certified cities, and we’re seeing steady adoption of the new certification with cities all over the world striving to become LEED certified.

For more information on USGBC and LEED certification, please visit new.usgbc.org.

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