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The High Performance Building Revolution: Making It Happen

Event on November 30, 2010

Join us for the second of a four part series on high performance building in New York City. We will zero in on public policy developments, private sector innovation and how they have intersected over the last half-decade.

Sponsors: Pratt Institute, the Sallan Foundation, and Terrapin Bright Green

Join visionary leaders who are making high performance building New York's new normal.

  • Wendy Fleischer, Director, Sustainability Services — Pratt Center for Community Development
  • Scott Frank, Partner — Jaros Baum & Bolles
  • Ariella Maron, Deputy Commissioner for Energy Management, NYC DCAS
  • Sadie McKeown, Senior Vice-President — Community Preservation Corporation

Moderated by Eva Hanhardt, Adjunct Assistant Professor — Pratt Institute, Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment

Event Details

Tuesday, November 30, 2010 - 6:00pm to 8:00pm
Pratt Institute Manhattan Campus

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Pratt Center Honors Brooklyn Church as Beacon of Sustainability

News last updated October 6, 2010

 Last week the Pratt Center honored Bedford-Stuyvesant’s Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church, led by Rev. Johnny Ray Youngblood, as a “Beacon of Sustainability” for its leadership in promoting energy efficiency. Over the past year, Mt. Pisgah has turned itself into a shining example for the entire community. Working with Pratt Center lead architect Michael Bogdanffy-Kriegh under our Sustainable Houses of Worship program, Mt. Pisgah underwent an energy audit of its 39,000-square-foot facility and proceeded to implement every measure recommended by the auditor, including lighting upgrades,the creation of separate heating zones for each building in the complex, and insulation of water pipes.

The church will see a net financial gain because the improvements are projected to lower its energy consumption costs by $13,000 a year. It also saw some immediate cost savings through Con Edison incentives, and resourceful problem-solving by the boiler mechanic referred by the Pratt Center lowered the projected cost of a boiler upgrade to $1,600 from $8,000.

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Sustainability Seeds are planted in Brooklyn

News last updated August 9, 2011

On August 10, The Brooklyn Community Foundation (BCF) officially launched “Brooklyn Greens,” a three-year $750,000 commitment to help three low-income communities in Brooklyn to become models for environmentally responsible, sustainable living.

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Success in Staten Island, Block by Block

News last updated December 12, 2011

On December 8, 2011 Council Member Debi Rose, local community organizations and representatives from the Pratt Center for Community Development gathered at a special forum spotlighting the strides that Staten Island is making toward energy efficiency through the Retrofit NYC Block by Block program. The forum featured a special presentation by students from Wagner College on their research into ways to support communities getting involved in retrofitting at a mass scale.

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The Art, Culture and Sustainability Project

News last updated January 26, 2012

In the spring of 2011, Pratt Center for Community Development launched a two-year program designed to connect the arts and artists with our multi-layered work, helping New York City communities to become more environmentally sustainable. Supported by a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation’s Cultural Innovation Fund, the Center has partnered with academic and community organizations to produce innovative culture, arts, media and organizing strategies that seek to engage neighborhood residents and artists to promote sustainable, environmental action. This project is a part of Pratt Center’s broader goal to develop replicable models that will aid urban communities’ efforts to become environmentally sustainable -- intensive work we are doing in partnership with nine different community organizations in all five boroughs of NYC.

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One City/One Future

Past Project last updated April 6, 2009

Making Growth Work for All New Yorkers

One City/One Future is the product of four years of collaboration by civic leaders, neighborhood advocates, community development organizations, labor unions, affordable housing groups, environmentalists, immigrant advocates, and other stakeholders to make economic development work for all New Yorkers.

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Sustainable Houses of Worship

Project last updated November 18, 2010

For more on Sustainable Houses of Worship, see the Pratt Center's in-depth report on the project's implementation and results.

 

The Pratt Center is collaborating with New York City religious institutions to help them reduce their buildings’ energy consumption, set maintenance priorities, develop space utilization strategies, and turn the institutions into centers of education and advocacy for sustainability in their communities.

The Sustainable Houses of Worship program's pilot phase in in Bedford-Stuyvesant, home to more than 100 houses of worship, is now complete. Read the stories of three churches that received free energy audits and are already realizing savings on their fuel and electricity bills as a result of recommended improvements:

Friendship Baptist Church

Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church

Siloam Presbyterian Church

 

Since then, another six congregations have received assessments of their lighting from Con Edison and two others have had their energy use audited by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority or other auditor.

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Green Manufacturing

Page last updated January 6, 2011

The New York Industrial Retention Network is committed to green manufacturing: industrial production that minimizes environmental impacts, including greenhouse gas emissions. Urban manufacturing is in itself green becuase it generates goods for local and regional consumption, reducing carbon emissions related to shipping, and is accessible to workers by mass transit, bicycle or foot. Sustainable manufacturing processes also help manufacturers succeed in the urban environment, where they must coexist in close quarters with other businesses and often residential communities.

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Planning for the Future

Project last updated June 14, 2011

Upgrading New York City’s development rules for the 21st century 

Planning for the Future is the Pratt Center’s project to realign the city planning process in New York to be more inclusive and accountable – and therefore more effective at building a livable and sustainable city.

New York City’s development battles over the last decade – from Willets Point to the Kingsbridge Armory to the Far West Side and the Williamsburg waterfront – have exposed limitations of the current process for managing the city’s growth, and highlighted opportunities to engage New Yorkers as participants in planning. As the City Planning Commission moves to update the city’s zoning resolution, it’s time for the public to have a say in how a fresh vision for the city emerges and to have assurances that their voice will guide decisions about local and citywide plans.

The Pratt Center will be publishing special reports on problems and solutions in New York’s city planning process. They’re informed by a simple premise: that New York has much to gain by opening up long-term planning as a participatory venture. Planning for the Future builds on the work of the Campaign for Community-Based Planning, which produced the white paper "Planning for All New Yorkers" to inform future efforts at reforming New York's land use process.

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Sustainable Houses of Worship: Converting Religious Institutions Into Beacons of Sustainability

Report last updated February 4, 2011

A Report on the Pilot Initiative

Michael Kriegh, RA LEED

In 2010, the Pratt Center for Community Development helped three Bedford-Stuyvesant churches conduct energy audits and retrofits, assess their potential to renovate underutilized space for income and community benefit, and assess the repair needs of their buildings’ shells. This pilot project demonstrates that assisting congregations to upgrade their buildings for energy efficiency will not only reduce the operating costs of the religious institution, thereby freeing up income for services to their communities, it can convert religious institutions into beacons of environmental sustainability, providing leadership to their congregations and surrounding community to engage in energy efficiency and environmental action.

The Pratt Center gives thanks and appreciation to Senator Velmanette Montgomery, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), ConEdison, and New York State Council on the Arts for making this pilot possible, to Friendship Baptist Church, Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church and Siloam Presbyterian Church for the privilege of working with you, and to Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation and the NYC Justice Corps for your contributions.

SHOW_PrattCenter.pdf

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