Green

Flickr via basykes:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/basykes/

A few days ago, New York City announced its “Cool Roofs” initiative, an effort to save energy by combining volunteerism and green design. According to the Mayor’s press release:

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and former Vice President and founder of the Alliance for Climate Protection Al Gore today launched an NYC Service initiative, “NYC Cool Roofs,” to mobilize volunteers to coat the rooftops of participating buildings with reflective, white coating to reduce cooling costs, energy usage and greenhouse emissions… A cool roof absorbs 80 percent less heat than traditional dark colored roofs and can lower roof temperatures by up to 60 degrees and indoor temperatures by 10 to 20 degrees on hot days. The decrease in temperature reduces the need for air conditioning, lowering electric bills and reducing energy consumption.  Coating all eligible dark rooftops in New York City could result in up to a 1 degree reduction of New York City’s ambient air temperature – a significant and lasting change towards cooling the City.

While the city’s building code requires that new buildings include these types of roofs, the city has thousands of old structures that are not subject to these rules but could still be painted and help save energy. This is the low-hanging fruit of energy efficiency. The Mayor and his team should also be congratulated for integrating this program into the national effort to encourage greater volunteerism and public service.

However, in addition to the modest effort announced here, given the level of unemployment in the city and around the country, I wonder why we don’t take some of those billions of stimulus dollars still unspent and put a bunch of people to work painting roofs throughout America. We could start with public buildings, including the nation’s schools. Most people know how to paint or can be quickly trained, and it seems to me to be the kind of “shovel-ready” project that could do a lot of good in a hurry.

• Brooklyn Museum adds specialized gallery tours for visitors with smart phones (New York Post)

• The tiniest green roofs in NYC (City Room)

• Highlights from Transportation Alternatives' District 25 Council candidates debate (Streetsblog)

• Funding the M.T.A. (2nd Ave. Sagas)

• Check out the Web/futurist film We Live in Public this weekend at I.F.C. (A VC)

Flickr via edans

Andrew Rasiej.

In our new series, we send our questionnaire about the future of New York City to notable New Yorkers and post their responses. To start off, we spoke to Andrew Rasiej, the founder of Personal Democracy Forum and our partner in the New York Future Initiative.

What are some of the biggest challenges facing New York City right now?

To compete and remain relevant in the 21st century with other major cities around the world is its biggest challenge. Updating its antiquated infrastructure, continuing to attract talented citizens, connecting them to each other and the world, investing in new industries, becoming green, and creating a new generation of enlightened political leadership. These are just a few examples where we are woefully behind other cities.

Can you suggest a few innovative, outside-of-the-box ideas for improving daily life in this city?

Here are a few:

Flickr via Ed Yourdon

• Public co-working is on the move in New York.

• The Daily News took an in-depth look at the cycling/pedestrian/driver debate.

• Baratunde Thurston talked about the future of...

• Ground broke on the East River Waterfront Esplanade.

• Urban backyard farming is taking hold in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn.

• Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey talks New York City.

• The future of the hyperlocal

• There's a new Web site that tracks city candidates' positions on transit issues.

• We caught up with Janette Sadik-Khan at a bike-sharing demo in Union Square.

• Steve Cohen says it's time to find funds for city infrastructure.

• A report from Transportation Alternatives' 39th District council candidates debate (Streetsblog)

• Urban farming: A profile of BK Farmyards (The Brooklyn Paper)

• Full Gov 2.0 Summit schedule is now online (gov2summit.com)

• Green fitness in Bushwick (gbNYC)

• Sustainable designs at the New York Gift Fair (PSFK)

• Architectural critic James Russell weighs in on how the Mass Transit Tunnel will connect to existing and proposed transit infrastructure (Bloomberg News via PlanNYC)

• Hungry? "There is a solar-powered biodiesel food truck serving all-local black bean veggie burger samples" (@civileater)

via Empire State Future

Yet another conference about the future of New York: Empire State Future and the New York Department of State are hosting a summit on Oct. 7. called "Revitalizing NY: Building a New Economy Through Sustainable Development."

There will be panels on all the usual suspects—transportation, housing, green jobs, climate change, food systems, etc.

From Empire State Future:

There's no doubt that the economic crisis upon us is severe, the worst in many decades. Couple this with the ominous ecological and social challenges of our time, and the future of New York State may look bleak. But if we consider the remarkable human and natural resources, ingenuity, and history of innovation and determination of the people and communities of our state, we can be encouraged.

There is opportunity--and necessity--to apply this innovation and determination to an imperative: development of economies and communities that recognize and embrace the reality of scarcity, but through superior design of places and products, improve quality of life for all while using substantially less natural and financial resources.

Please join Empire State Future and The New York Department of State in Schenectady on October 7 for a Summit on revitalizing New York State through sustainable development. This Summit is designed for all participants to both learn about and contribute innovations and ideas for actualizing sustainable development in New York State, and to strengthen the connections among those working on this common quest.

No word on speakers yet, but you can view the schedule here.

via frumination

If New York City didn't have a subway system, on an average day, it would be necessary to move an additional 324,000 vehicles into its central business district (i.e. Manhattan below 60th Street).

Translation:

At best, it would take 167 inbound lanes, or 84 copies of the Queens Midtown Tunnel, to carry what the NYC Subway carries over 22 inbound tracks through 12 tunnels and 2 (partial) bridges. At worst, 200 new copies of 5th Avenue. Somewhere in the middle would be 67 West Side Highways or 76 Brooklyn Bridges. And this neglects the Long Island Railroad, Metro North, NJ Transit, and PATH systems entirely.

Of course, at 325 square feet per parking space, all these cars would need over 3.8 square miles of space to park, about 3 times the size of Central Park. At that point, who would want to go to Manhattan anyway?

That's from an analysis recently published on the blog frumination, which, upon looking at an advance copy of New York's official 2008 subway passenger counts, wondered, "what would it take in terms of auto facilities to replace the morning rush hour carrying capacity of the NYC subway?" (Visual representation is above.)

You might say it puts issues like the congestion pricing debate and fare hikes in perspective.

[via Green Sheet]

• There's great potential for New York's national parkland (Gotham Gazette)

• U.S. schools are moving into a digital future (New York Times)

• Times' is taking questions about sanitation and waste disposal in N.Y.C. (City Room)

• Summer Streets and the potential for a bike "revolution" (Huffington Post)

• And here's some scenes from this weekend's Summer Streets event (NY1)

• Here's a Google map of New York City street food (Grub Street)

Getty Images

The Daily News has a report from Mayor Bloomberg's visit to the Bronx yesterday to kick off the New York City Housing Authority's new series of greening projects.

The first of these is the Castle Hill Houses, which, according to the News and a press release, now have energy-efficient light fixtures in common areas, new high-efficiency boilers and hot water heaters, and repaired underground steam mains. Next up is replacing apartment radiator valves and traps and installing new indoor temperature sensors and light fixtures in the apartments' kitchens, bathrooms and bedrooms.

From the News:

The $25 million project is the first time the city has undertaken the greening of a public housing development, officials said.

The Castle Hill Houses is a 14-building development with 2,025 apartments that was completed in 1960.

It has incurred excessive energy and water costs - $51 more per household per month than most other Housing Authority developments.

Utility costs at Castle Hill have grown from $4.4 million in 2004 to $7 million in 2008.

By 2011, officials said, the project will lower energy usage by 2.25 million kilowatt-hours of electricity a year, reduce carbon emissions by more than 4,900 tons annually and save $1.2 million a year.

The next NYCHA greening projects will be roof replacement at the Mott Haven Houses in the Bronx, a new green roofing system at Manhattan's Corsi Houses Community Center, and roof replacement at Brooklyn's Wyckoff Gardens.

Read the press release here.