Spitzer’s wife announces green building initiative

Dormitory authority involved

By FRITZ MAYER

ALBANY, NY — First Lady Silda Wall Spitzer wants to encourage green building in the state. With that in mind, she and David Brown, executive director of the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY), announced initiatives involving the construction of green homes and state-owned buildings.

The first lady announced that the Spitzer administration will propose legislation that offers a direct incentive to homeowners who build or renovate homes that meet green building criteria. The amount of the incentive will be based on the size of the home, with a cap of $10,000 per home. According to a release issued by the first lady’s office on August 30, the incentive will “help offset the typical five-percent increase in construction costs when ‘green’ or ‘sustainable’ features are incorporated.”

“Buildings are part of the problem of climate change, but they can also be part of the solution if they meet a higher standard for environmental sustainability,” the first lady said.

After reading the release, Dick Riseling, a local renewable energy advocate, said that it’s a welcome development and could help to “mainstream” the technologies involved in green building and sustainable building. However, he said he had some questions about the proposal details. For instance, the program is designed to give owners of larger homes more of a financial incentive than owners of smaller homes. Riseling suggested it might be a better program if it were the other way around.

Riseling also said he didn’t necessarily agree that the sustainable or green building features added five percent to the cost of construction.

In the second part of the announcement, Brown said that beginning in 2008, all new state construction projects and major renovations managed by DASNY will meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards established by the United States Green Building Council. DASNY, which provides financing and construction services to public and private universities, healthcare facilities and other institutions, oversees construction projects worth more than $2.8 billion.

The LEED standard addresses various aspects of building construction and operation, including energy efficiency, land use, water conservation and re-use, indoor air quality, renewable energy, non-toxic landscaping practices and recycling.

Riseling said the LEED standards are a good place to start, but he does not believe that the standards are the best that can be achieved in terms of constructing sustainable buildings. Some of the LEED standards need to be surpassed or changed, he said.

Overall, however, Riseling welcomed the initiatives and agreed with Pete Grannis, commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation, who said, “The science is clear?New York's climate is already being impacted by global warming. The choices individuals make today will determine the nature of the world that we leave for future generations.”