Green Codes Task Force

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: Image by Will Montague via Flickr

It’s great to see the work being accomplished by NYC’s Green Codes Task Force!

New rules for insulating all-glass high rises and getting stores to shut off their lights after hours were among 111 proposals unveiled last week by a panel of environmental experts charged with devising a blueprint to green the city’s building stock. The recommendations of the Task Force affect the city’s building codes as well as rules impacting zoning, health, consumer affairs, and environmental protection.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who convened the panel in 2008, will review its report. Some of the recommendations are likely ready for immediate implementation, while others will need further review.

The panel comprised 200 green-building experts and was funded by the Mertz Gilmore Foundation and the New York Community Trust.

The recommendations in the report largely impact new construction and renovations, with many of them removing existing impediments to green practices. Fortunately, most of the proposals are low-cost ones that will make buildings greener and improve public health.

One proposal would set a minimum insulation standard for exterior building walls and provide a zoning bonus for buildings that exceed that standard. Another would place limits on after-hours lighting in retail establishments. In the category of “there oughta be a law” a third could put an end to that classic rite of New York City winters – apartments with windows wide open when it’s freezing outside – by adding temperature controls to individual units.