Welcome to the party, New York! With the completion of the Delta building at 142 W. 9th Street in Brooklyn this month, the Big Apple has gained it’s first “self-powered” (i.e., net zero)
building. Powered by a combination of solar and wind, this mixed-used
building will function as a bed and breakfast, offering green
accommodations for schools, tour groups and other travelers interested
in what it takes to bring distributed renewable energy to one of the
world’s densest urban centers.
Buildings that generate all of their own energy on site (or an amount of energy equal to what they consume) are increasingly common. From green eco-epicenters like California and Oregon to Philly, Detroit and even Iowa, net zero buildings seem to be popping up all over the country. Why, then, has it taken until now for New York to complete its first such building? To answer that question (and a few others), we talked to David Scott, a spokesperson for Voltaic Solaire, the developer behind the project.
Buildings that generate all of their own energy on site (or an amount of energy equal to what they consume) are increasingly common. From green eco-epicenters like California and Oregon to Philly, Detroit and even Iowa, net zero buildings seem to be popping up all over the country. Why, then, has it taken until now for New York to complete its first such building? To answer that question (and a few others), we talked to David Scott, a spokesperson for Voltaic Solaire, the developer behind the project.
EarthTechling (ET): Give me some of the background on this building. What’s the vision behind this building? How did that vision develop?
image via Voltaic Solaire
David Scott (DS):
The vision is to create pockets of autonomous energy production,
especially in industrialized areas and dense city centers, that allow
buildings, campuses and communities to power themselves. This reduces
our reliance on a centralized power grid and saves money and resources
for residents. Black-outs, brown-outs, terrorist attacks, inclement
weather, all of these can be ameliorated by nimble on-site power
generation (think, for example, of how Fukushima would have benefited
from such an approach after their supply chain was so affected by the
nuclear disaster).
The Delta developed as an
effort for Voltaic Solaire (traditionally a solar-energy residential
installer) to partner with Dynamic Technical Concepts and Designs
(DTCD), the design-build firm behind this project and others. Voltaic
Solaire’s CTO, Ron Faia, is also a principal of DTCD.
ET: What’s unique about this building, in this place?
DS: What
is unique and special about the Delta building, as opposed to all these
green developments that are sprouting up all over the world…is that in a
really code-heavy city like New York…the Delta really serves as a model
for other green builders. To build a [structure] that powers itself on
an unusual, triangular lot that has no southern exposure, we had to use a
combination of approaches, with both solar and wind.
image via Voltaic Solaire
When
you build in a dense urban canyon, how do you have [enough] sunlight to
power your building? Luckily, where we’re at in Brooklyn…you have the
capacity with these two, three, four level mixed-use buildings to have
significant wind and also ambient light. If you tried to do the same
approach on a short structure in mid-town Manhattan, you may experience
darkness throughout the day a lack of wind…in those cases, you’d have to
modify.
http://theenergycollective.com/namarchetti/95491/nyc-s-delta-building-uses-smart-tech-provide-its-own-power
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