About:

The immediate impact and aftermath of Hurricane Sandy has raised questions about how we can reduce our vulnerability to future storms as well as enhance our adaptation to climate change. The immediate discussion of rebuilding makes clear that there are issues of scientific uncertainty, engineering, planning and policy, economics, and equity to be resolved. In order to help address these questions the panel and subsequent discussion will focus on:

1.     What did Hurricane Sandy tell us about extreme storm events and future climate in our region?  What is still not known?

2.     What did Hurricane Sandy tell us about our vulnerabilities to future extreme events?

3.     What are the key opportunities and challenges of potential adaptation strategies?

 
Images from the event (Scroll down for video and audio of the event.)

Event Program

Introduction: Hurricane Sandy and Challenges to the New York Metropolitan Region

William Solecki, Hunter College – CUNY

Cynthia Rosenzweig, NASA – GISS, Columbia University

Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation

Lessons from the Dutch

Jeroen Aerts, VU University Amsterdam

The Engineering Approach

Klaus Jacob, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University

The Role of Ecosystems and Green Infrastructure

Franco Montalto, Drexel University

Planning and Policy

Rae Zimmerman, New York University

Discussion

Place: Roosevelt House, Hunter College

47-49 East 65th Street (just west of Park Avenue)

Date: Monday December 3, 2012

Time: 2pm – 5pm (registration to start at 2pm; presentations to start at 2:30pm) reception from 5-6pm to follow

Sponsored by

The Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College and

Institute for Sustainable Cities at Hunter College (ISC)

Hosted by

Urban Climate Change Research Network, Consortium for Climate Change in the Urban Northeast, Institute for Sustainable Cities at Hunter College.

SATURDAY DECEMBER 1, 2012 AT CUNY HUNTER COLLEGE

About the Event:

The Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) and its NYC Chapter, GreenHomeNYC, have assembled a slate of local experts and owners to help those involved with multifamily buildings in New York City get a leg up the new requirements and learn the best, most profitable path forward for their buildings.

Andy Padian, a board member of both NESEA and GreenHomeNYC and chair of the conference said, “Understanding the new benchmarking and energy auditing requirements in NYC is a first step to reducing your energy and water bills. After you navigate that, you need to hear from some of the best practitioners in the field about running your building efficiently, safely, and considering our recent brush with Hurricane Sandy, emphasizing resilience.”

Filling a very critical information gap, this one day conference combines the best technical information with first-hand experience on exactly how to save money in multifamily buildings through reduced energy and water usage. “We’ve got the people you really need to hear from — the owners who have gone through the process already, of course,” Padian explains.

NYC has enacted one of the boldest initiatives for sustainability in large buildings in the country. Known as the Greener Greater Buildings Plan, it focuses on buildings over 50,000 square feet. In New York City, many more multifamily buildings than office buildings fall into this category, so the new laws become particularly important to these multifamily owners. But this is the first conference to attempt to get owners and managers in the room together to learn exactly how to proceed. “I have invited the building experts who helped develop the framework for the new laws, LL87 and 84, to explain and demystify the process. One goal of this conference,” says Padian, “is that no one will leave with questions unanswered.”

The more typical multifamily building in the city, with 20 to 50 apartments and smaller, has its own complicated path to follow. Owners and building managers need to hear from each other about financing and real costs, and they need to share tricks they have learned that have helped them save money after finally getting an energy audit. “You have to get the owners and managers together to show the mistakes to avoid and to share the best practices to use. The value of this can’t be overstated,” says Padian.

Many organizations are collaborating with NESEA and GreenHomeNYC to get their members to this unique event. These include the Institute for Sustainable Cities at Hunter College, The Community Preservation Corporation, Enterprise Community Partners, The Supportive Housing Network of NY, the NYS Association for Affordable Housing, Local Initiatives Support Corporation, Con Edison, and NYSERDA.

The conference will be held at Hunter College on 68th Street and Lexington Avenue, from 9-4. Continental breakfast and a bag lunch are included. A reception following the event provides the opportunity to meet and network with the speakers and the other attendees. The conference fee is $150 and a reduced rate is available for CUNY students.

For more information and to register, go to http://www.nesea.org/buildingenergy/benyc/

Download a flyer for the event (PDF): BENYC POSTER FINAL

Dr. William Solecki of ISC will be part of a pannel speaking at the Museum of the City of New York about the affect climate change will have on the landfill of New York City next Wednesday, October 7th.

Landfill was used by the Dutch and by later generations to transform the landmass of the island; today, climate change and rising sea levels threaten to again alter our city and reclaim some of the historic landfill. Join Dr. Ann L. Buttenwieser, adjunct assistant professor at Columbia University’s School of Architecture, Urban Planning, and Historic Preservation and author of Manhattan Water-Bound: Manhattan’s Waterfront from the Seventeenth Century to the Present (Syracuse UP, 1999); Dr. Ed Cook, Doherty Senior Scholar at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory; Dr. Eric Sanderson, Director of the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Mannahatta Project and guest curator of the Museum’s exhibition Mannahatta/Manhattan; and Dr. William Solecki, geography professor at Hunter College and Director of the Institute for Sustainable Cities at Hunter College, as they discuss the forces that have altered our shoreline.

Wednesday • October 7 • 6:30 PM

RESERVATIONS REQUIRED

$6 Museum members; $8 students and seniors; $12 non-members

For tickets, call 212.534.1672, ext. 3395, or order online at www.mcny.org/public-programs/

Visit the critically-acclaimed exhibition Mannahatta/Manhattan: A Natural History of New York City through Columbus Day, Monday, October 12.

Museum of the City of New York

1220 Fifth Avenue at 104th Street

New York, NY 10029

212.534.1672

www.mcny.org