Green Buildings New York Convention Wrap-up: Developers, Homeowners, Contractors… This One’s For You
June 23rd, 2008 by Ethan
GBNY 2008: A Treasure-trove of Green Tech Companies
Anyone attending last week’s Green Buildings New York green building conference and convention at the Jacob Javits Convention Center, would be hard-pressed to call green building in New York City a fringe movement.
While the “regular” building convention was probably twice the size of GBNY the buzz was certainly on in the green section of the event.
From solar and renewable energy companies to green roof and green wall companies to sustainable lighting and cleaning products, the event was basically a top-to-bottom exercise in greening buildings of all sizes and varieties.
Without further ado, here are some of my favorite showings:
A NJ-based company that develops and manufactures 14 different thin-film amorphous silicon photovoltaic panels — the most advanced solar panels on the market today. Photovoltaic (PV) panels are organized into three types:
Building-Integrated Photovoltaics — PV panels that can be used as a building materials to infuse the structure with the ability to generate electricity — Rooftop Photovoltaics — modular PV panels that can be easily applied to existing structures — or Freestanding Photovoltaics — systems that can be placed on unused land to create power plants or for locations where the electrical grid cannot be accessed inexpensively or easily.
I had a nice discussion with Yousri Abdou, the EPV National Sales Manager, about photovoltaics in NYC and the budding Solar1/GBK I Heart PV initiative. He mentioned a client in Brooklyn that operates a solar system, and GBK will be following up on how his EPV system has contributed to his net energy production and overall energy use.
More info: www.epvsolar.com
G-sky’s green walls have been featured in CNN Money and around the world with installations from Japan to Georgia, and from the Whole Foods flagship building to planned development of green Starbucks drive-thrus.
While green roofs have grown in popularity, green walls have similar properties in that they: act as an extra layer of the building’s insulation, contribute oxygen to the air while removing carbon dioxide and pollutants, minimize the heat island effect, and add the aesthetic value of having a green wall replace the muted grays of a concrete facade. All of these features contribute to the greening of the urban environment, and do so without placing extra weight load on rooftops.
The ingenious system was a unique combination of: structure — a steel frame bolts to any wall surface — design — square “planters” are individually replaceable and filled with a coconut husk growing medium — and function — with internal temperature and moisture sensors and controls to ensure steady growth of the “living wall”.
The company — based out of British Columbia, Canada — seems to have not only the system design down pat, but the green buzz behind it. And besides, how cool would it be to reach over to the wall on your patio and pluck some fresh basil growing on the same wall that keeps you cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. Brilliant.
More info: www.g-sky.com
NYC-based Greensulate is a green building company that specializes in green roofs and green walls. Not only do they offer design, build, and maintenance services for green clients in NYC and beyond, but they individually cater to each client, working with them to do as much green-thumbing — or as little — as the client desires. Because sometimes maintaining a green roof is half the fun of having one!
Among their developed — and developing — clients includes a new condo in Park Slope that has a green roof and sub-roof green areas that together add up to about 5,000 square feet of greenery above the Brooklyn city streets.
President of the company, Amy Norquist, handed me a great article that she wrote which outlines some of the many benefits of green roofs, especially in an urban environment like NYC: reducing stormwater overload in the city’s antiquated Combined Sewer Overflow system, minimizing the city’s heat-island effect, improving air quality, dampening noise, and more.
We’ll be sure to follow up on these greenies.
More info: www.greensulate.com
Good Energy President Maximilian Hoover had a great set-up at GBNY showcasing the strengths of LED lights for use in sustainable lighting systems — strengths in more ways than one. Not only do the old fluorescents suck up more energy, contain mercury and other toxins, and necessitate more materials in their construction; but the awesome new flat-panel 2-foot by 2-foot LED light withstood two full days of Mr. Hoover banging on it with his fist. And that’s no joke. He was literally banging on it — a demonstration of the light’s impressive durability. Even cooler — again, literally — the light had been on all day and was giving off almost zero heat. Very impressive.
The Good Energy display at GBNY clearly showed the benefits of new LED sustainable lighting over old fluorescent fixtures. A double fluorescent fixture — such as those found in many school and commercial interiors — used 56 watts to the new American-made LED system that used only 45 watts while giving off more light. Two LED fixtures can light the same area as three fluorescent fixtures, saving a considerable amount of money and energy. Not to mention the fact that the LEDs have zero toxic substances unlike the old fluorescents that contain mercury.
More info: www.goodenergy.com
Shop here: www.goodmart.com
Bettencourt Green Building Supplies
Bart Bettencourt has been around the green Brooklyn scene for years. He has not only been a steady contributor to the scene — appearing at green conferences such as CUE’s Green Brooklyn conference among others — but his eco-friendly wood products are some of the best on the market… And not just the NYC market, but the entire green building commercial and residential interior design market.
Bettencourt Green Building Supplies specializes in plywoods, counter-top materials, paints, and coatings.
We’ve always liked Bart and his Brooklyn-based company, and we hope to bring you more about his products, news, and events.
More info: www.bettencourtwood.com
Antique Woods NYC
Piggy-backing on Bettencourt’s convention space was NYC entrepreneur and history buff Alan Solomon. Mr. Solomon’s company finds and reclaims antique woods from old NYC buildings. The rescued woods typically come from buildings from the 19th and early 20th centuries — wood beams being the primary wood source.
The refinished wood looks spectacular and — as the final products clearly show — they tell the stories of the past 100 years or more of NYC life. Wood is available for flooring, paneling, and other uses.
Read more here: Solomon Wood Trading Company
Capstone Microturbine
Capstone is the world’s leading producer of low-emission microturbine systems, and was first to market with commercially viable microturbine energy products. Microturbines are not futuristic fantasies any more. Microturbines are used today in a variety of ways to produce clean, renewable energy. Capstone’s 65 kw microturbine is the ideal size for renewable energy solutions in an environment like NYC.
Check out Capstone’s products and solutions pages.
More info: www.capstoneturbine.com
There were a bunch more pretty impressive companies showing a wide variety of green products and services. All-in-all, it was a very well-run convention and given the excitement in the air, my guess is that GBNY will be making a splash in the NYC building market for years to come.
You can see larger versions of each of these photos — and a couple more — at the GreenBK flickr GBNY photoset.
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June 25th, 2008 at 9:36 am
[...] [Photo from Grene Brooklyn] [...]
August 13th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
[...] the technology side, the Green Brooklyn blog says that “green walls” were one of the next big things at the recent green building [...]