Today’s NY Post Real Estate section features a really nice article — Fresh Start: It’s Easy Being Green — about green building and energy conservation. It’s a great read filled with stats, tips, and real-world examples of New Yorkers going green in their homes or helping develop the green building industry in our city.

As can be expected, Brooklyn is heavily represented. We start with Sarah Beatty, founder and CEO of Brooklyn based Green Depot:

“The last five years have seen exponential growth in the number of high-quality [green] products that have come to market.”

Then me:

One good starting point, says Ethan Oringel, publisher of the greenbrooklyn.com blog, is giving your apartment an energy audit. Take out your heating and electric bills, make a checklist of all the ways you use energy and look to see if any can be made less wasteful.

It sounds mundane, but given that 80 percent of New York City’s greenhouse emissions come from its buildings, making sure your home uses energy efficiently is one of the greenest things you can do.

Then Eitan Baron, the brains behind Brooklyn Greenstone (and the guy in the photo above):

“To me, [proper sealing] is worth as much as any solar panel on the market,” says developer Eitan Baron, who recently did a green renovation on the Park Slope brownstone that houses his 1,700-square-foot duplex. “It’s the parts you don’t see that are the most important.”

[...]

This work hasn’t just helped save the environment — it’s saved Baron money, as well. He estimates his heating bills this winter were about 60 percent less than they would have been in a typical brownstone.

Also mentioned was one of GBK’s favorite companies from last year’s Green Buildings NY convention and expo — green roof and green wall start-up, NYC-based Greensulate.

Check out the full article at NYPost.com.

And many thanks to the author of the article, Adam Bonislawski, for both including myself and the Green Brooklyn website in the article and helping raise awareness about the importance of energy efficiency and green building in NYC.

Owner Sean Meenan’s green labor of love — Habana Outpost — will be kicking off its 2009 season with an Earth Day Expo taking place this weekend, April 18 and 19.  The eco-eatery boasts a Human Powered Bike Blender, picnic tables made from recycled soda bottles, rainwater harvesting that flushes the toilets and irrigates the plants, and a company car that runs on vegetable oil. 

Keeping with the tradition of all things green, Earth Day weekend seemed like the perfect time for the Outpost to reopen its doors to the public.  Some highlights of the 2-day event include: Council Woman Letitia James speaking in the kick-off ceremony, an eco-fashion show, local area vendors giving out free info and samples, and an exclusive screening of enviro-documentary FLOW: For Love of Water. 

Habana Outpost
757 Fulton Street (Corner of South Portland)
C train to Lafayette / G to Fulton / N,R,4,5 to Atlantic–Pacific
E-mail: info@ecoeatery.com
Phone: 718 858 9500

Full schedule of events as follows:

Saturday, April 18, 2009

12 noon
Owner Sean Meenan and Council Woman Letitia James Opening Ceremony

12-3 pm
Kids Corner crafts and games with Habana Works and The Leadership Learning Lab

1-1:30 pm
Kids Eco Fashion Show with the Scrapkins

3-4 pm
Recycled Craft Jam with the Scrapkins

Going on all day 12-6 pm
Live DJ
Face Painting
Free information and samples from local green vendors and companies

Sunday, April 19, 2009

12-3 pm
Kids Corner Crafts and games with Habana Works and The Leadership Learning Lab

2 pm
Exclusive screening of enviro-documentary FLOW, presented by Engineers Without Borders

2-3 pm
Recycled Craft Jam with the Scrapkins

3-4 pm
Kids Bingo with the Scrapkins

Going on all day 12-6 pm
Live DJ
Face Painting
Free information and samples from local green vendors and companies

Local participants include: Alive Structures, Brooklyn Green Drinks, Brooklyn Public Library, Christie Caiola face painting, Engineers Without Borders, FLOW the movie, Funky Lobes, Green Edge NYC, Green Spaces NY, Greene Grape Provisions, Greene Harvest CSA, Imperial Bag and Paper, Leadership Learning Lab, Letitia James, Masani Designs, Rolling Press, Root for Trees, Scrapkins, Solar Energy Systems, Still Hip Brooklyn, Tri State Bio Diesel, Tribal Alphabet, Via Nativa

More here: ecoeatery.com

From our friends at iStoreGreen:

It’s been a busy few weeks at iStoreGreen, the green self-storage space across from the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

Last week, CBS New York news featured a story about iStoreGreen. The story was inspired by the company, and it also included other green NYC businesses. Watch the video report here.

In other news, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency invited iStoreGreen to be part of its Green Power Partnership due iStoreGreen’s use of 100% renewable energy for its electricity. For more about this program, go here.

Check em out at istoregreen.com.

Hall Street Self Storage, which in May 2008 opened as the first green self-storage space in the country, is taking another bold step into greening an unlikely industry.  Hall Street Self Storage has become iStoreGreen, a brand that solidifies the commitment to green self-storage.  The iStoreGreen brand allows for a nationwide network of green self-storage spaces.  Right now, under the brand, new green efforts are furthering the Brooklyn facility’s already “true green” status.  And a site for the next iStoreGreen facility, which will add a Manhattan branch to the current Brooklyn one, is being located.  Visions for iStoreGreen franchises, where green self-storage spaces can be created under the name across the country, are steadily being drawn into reality.     

     After seeing New Yorkers’ positive response to the option of green self-storage, owner Jeffrey E. Sitt started a mission to make it national:  “There’s green dry cleaning, and even green wines available today—self-storage needs to be greened, too, especially since it’s an industry that can use a lot of energy and materials, and is one which people use every day, not a few times a week.  It needs to be accessible.”

     When Hall Street Self Storage pioneered the idea of green self-storage and opened across from Steiner Studios about a mile from DUMBO, it drew headlines and customers with its green efforts.  For its purchase of 100% renewable energy certified by Green-E* for its electricity, ‘Corporate Social Responsibility News’ said:  “Hall Street Storage’s purchase of electricity generated from nearly emissions-free renewable sources avoids CO2 emissions…By investing in clean, renewable energy, Hall Street Storage has given their customers the opportunity to support a company that raises awareness and inspires action…and we applaud their outstanding commitment.” 

     Hall Street also became a model for showing that living green doesn’t have to cost more, and can in fact save green, with rates that are at least 50% percent lower than Manhattan self-storage spaces, and less than its Brooklyn neighbors.  Beyond clean energy, it became known for creative green actions like offering biodegradable packing peanuts, clean reused packing boxes, smart green alternatives to bubble wrap like shredded paper from the office’s paper shredder, and a room for those who store to place discarded items that are given to local charity, rather than thrown into dumpsters and then landfills as with other storage spaces.  There are many other green actions.

     Now, under the iStoreGreen brand, still more green actions have been added, including desks for the company’s offices and shelving for the storage spaces made from the wood reclaimed from the remodel of the Brooklyn building; solar hot water heating; and the creation of a booklet (printed on recycled paper with soy ink) given to customers and members of the local community with ideas for taking green home with them.  Future plans include innovative ideas like a fleet of Pedi vans, which will use cycling power to transfer local residents’ possessions to their storage spaces for a zero-emissions move. 

     Beginning with the Brooklyn facility, the iStoreGreen brand shows how the integrity and friendliness associated with green products and services extends into other areas of the customer experience.  For instance, quality is a priority:  This is the first self-storage company to use a double-lock system whereby the company and also the person locks the storage space.  And a sense of comfort and ease is another:  The company has a concierge-like service in which customers are escorted to and from their storage spaces, and the storage spaces themselves are a clear departure from those of leading self-storage companies–colorful, cheery, and bright, with elements like (quality) overhead music playing to make the experience civilized.   

For more info, go to: iStoreGreen.com.

*  Since 1997, the Green-e logo has served as a nationally recognized symbol to help consumers identify environmentally superior renewable energy products.  Green-e certifies that the renewable energy that iStoreGreen purchases meets strict environmental and consumer protection standards. Green-e is the nation’s leading renewable energy certification program, and was established by the non-profit Center for Resource Solutions.

Treehouse is a creative, sustainable, and energetic hive for design professionals. Located at 33 Flatbush Ave, in downtown Brooklyn, the space aims for dynamic interconnections between product, graphic, industrial, and web designers. Treehouse provides coworking tables, office space, a wood shop, a proto-lab (coming up in spring), and sustainable community events with other organizations in the building. Our goal is to provide affordable work space for design students, freelance designers, and small design businesses. Become a member of Treehouse and explore your creativity in an engaging community. $250+ for office space, $300+ for wood shop renting.

For details, visit www.treehouse-nyc.com or contact info@treehouse-nyc.com call 718-383-6404.