Solar One inspires green living in Gramercy Park

As an EcoBroker, Susan Singer always looks for greener pastures when buying or selling real estate for her clients. So when she first listed the property at 4 Lexington Ave she turned to her friends at Solar One since their offices are nearby.

Max Joel at Solar One was one of the speakers at the Earth Day event she co-sponsored with Baruch College whose campus is also in the Grammercy neighborhood.

Solar One is a green energy, arts, and education center whose mission is to inspire people of all ages with the vision, knowledge and resources to attain a more environmentally sound and sustainable future. They pursue this mission through unique initiatives in environmental education, sustainable arts performances and solar advocacy using their own solar-powered building as a prototype. Since they function as an arm of NYSERDA all of the program information for Energy savings and state subsidies is available right there.

Solar One hosts a variety of environmental programs, including:

• The Green Renter lecture series, which occurs evenings from October to May. This lecture series brings in experts to present and discuss topics related to the NYC urban environment and other relevant subjects. Past topics have included “Water Under Attack: Marcellus Shale, Natural Gas and the Future of New York Citys Drinking Water” and “On the Horizon: Vertical Axis Wind Turbine Potential in New York City.”
• Green from the Ground Up is a lecture series for building owners and managers explaining the available options for increasing the energy efficiency and sustainability of buildings. The series of three lectures focuses on different aspects of greening your building: Recycling & Waste, Sustainable Roof Options and Energy Efficiency.
• I Heart PV is a student- and volunteer-led advocacy campaign to increase awareness of NYCs solar potential and to express public support of strong solar policies for NYC. I Heart PV is part of ESSI, the Empire State Solar Initiative, which seeks to create tangible statewide policies and goals for solar capacity.

So if you’re in Gramercy, head over to Solar One and see what they’re up to. They’re located at the north end of Stuyvesant Cove Park, which is located along the East River between 18th and 23rd Streets.