First Carbon-Neutral Building Slated for New York

The facility is meant to showcase Mayor Bloomberg’s goals for reduced carbon dioxide emissions.

Mairi Beautyman -- Interior Design, 5/22/2007

In 2008, Groundbreaking will begin on New York’s East River for the city’s first carbon-neutral building. The 8,000-square foot emissions-free Solar Two Arts and Education Center, priced at 12.5 million, will replace the smaller, three-year old Solar 1, currently on the site, which is located at 23rd Street at Stuyvesant Cove Park.

Solar Two is designed to be primarily solar powered—thanks to photovoltaic roof panels generating 85 kilowatts of electricity from the sun—and net zero (generating more clean energy than it will consume). Heating and cooling will be supplied by ground-source geothermal wells and rainwater will be recycled. The facility is meant to showcase Mayor Bloomberg’s goals for reduced carbon dioxide emissions in the city—which call for at least 30 percent reduction over the next 30 years.

The space will be used for classes, lectures, exhibitions, and other public events, focusing on solar power and other alternative energy technologies.

“The fact that New York City is backing Solar 2 is particularly pleasing since it is a signpost that New York City is open to new initiatives to replace fossil fuels, reduce the costs of energy, improve the air we breathe and help mitigate global warming,” says Richard M. Cherry, founder and president of Community Environmental Center (CEC), the non-profit eco-business and energy-efficiency contractor which sponsors Solar 1 and Solar 2.