GREEN IDEAS

As is expected when a year draws to a close, we look ahead to what's in store. The New York Times' Ronda Kaysen looked ahead to see what co-ops and condos could expect in the New Year — which will be here in just a few more hours. Energy is going to be the "hot-button topic" of 2015. Residential buildings account for 37 percent of the city's greenhouse gas emissions, Kaysen explains. Therefore, large residential buildings are going to have to brace themselves for "Local Law 87, which requires them to audit energy usage and keep systems running at peak efficiency." Energy efficiency pays off in the long run, she adds, but the challenge is the initial investment. You know what they say. Life in the big city ain't cheap, and it ain't gonna get cheaper any time soon. Silver lining, though. There are some incentives that might alleviate some of that sticker shock. Luckily for you we've got you covered. 

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The New Year is about new beginnings and making way for all the wonderful presents you got over the holiday. With the New Year, however, come new rules. So before you clean house and finally chuck away that huge dinosaur of a television set that hasn't worked for six months or that fax that's been collecting dust for five years, check out the new recycling rules for 2015.

Co-op and condo boards will have to break the news to all building residents. As of January 2015, it will be considered illegal to throw away the following items in the trash: televisions, monitors, computers, laptops, small servers, printers, scanners, fax machines, mobile phones, tablets, e-readers, MP3 players, VCRs/DVRs/DVD players, cable or satellite boxes, mice, keyboards, and video game consoles.

Here are some recycling options to share with building residents to ensure everyone is in compliance with the law.

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Co-op City marked a first at the end of October. The mammoth housing development in The Bronx inaugurated the Rivers Run Community Garden, its first riverfront green space. The Bronx Times reports that the garden's co-founder and vice president, Leslie Peterson, wanted to transform the unused space into something that would raise Co-op City's profile and benefit the community by giving people a place to plant flowers and grow vegetables and herbs. Helping in the endeavor are the Facilitators Building 13 Association; Riverbay Community Relations; and Rivers Run Community Garden's Steering Community, which in turn, includes Co-op City residents, NYC Parks' GreenThumb and the New York Botanical Garden, among other collaborative partners. You might think their timing is odd, since winter is fast approaching — but there is plenty of work to do ahead of the garden's anticipated spring 2015 completion, including landscaping, constructing walkways and laying mulch in certain spots.

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A READER ASKS: A member of our board has been doing some research into unusual green initiatives for our building — something beyond changing lightbulbs or converting our boiler. He read something about a "regenerative elevator drive," but we're not sure how it works or whether or not it's worth it. Could you explain a little bit about it?

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You can't fight City Hall, but you can laugh at its jokes. "We're telling landlords who are playing games, 'Hey the heat is on,'" says Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, referring to Heat Seek NYC — a pilot program that installs a digital thermometer in apartments and sends temperature readings to a central computer. Tenants and public advocates then can access that data to see if landlords aren't providing the legally required minimum of heat. The data can also let landlords knows if they're overheating apartments, wasting money and energy. Right now the program is confined to Brooklyn, with participants including the Carroll Gardens Association and Bedford-Stuyvesant's Bridge Street Development, reports Crain's New York Business.

Cooperatives fall under rental regulations regarding heat, so the device would be of benefit both in terms of shareholder comfort and board energy-management. It similarly would be of benefit to condominiums — although in one of those quirks of law, condo boards actually are not required to provide adequate heat. (See the second item here.)

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Well, well, well ... which is exactly what we're talking about. Geothermal wells, that is, which Habitat has written about since 2008. Why? Because depending on its viability for your particular co-op or condo's location, a geothermal energy project could save you enough bucks you'll want to yell, "Drill, baby, drill!" Although, as BrickUnderground.com's handy primer on geothermal explains, these aren't necessarily wells in the traditional Lassie-has-to-rescue-Timmy-fro sense, but rather a series of underground pipes and pumps that circulate groundwater from the 55-degree good Earth in a way that helps regulate the temperature in your building. It's actually pretty fascinating. Plus, there are government incentive programs to help defray the cost of installation. Saving money through science ... we can dig it.

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No matter how amazing your financing is, the last and — in the long run — the greatest of the financial attractions of a solar-power project doesn't appear in any computation of expenses; instead, it's the power the project will generate. Georgetown Mews, a sprawling, 930-unit co-op in Kew Gardens, Queens, is finally attempting to take control of that power. Its massive project will eventually provide 35 percent of the complex's energy needs and by even the most conservative projections will pay off its full cost in under two years.

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With an abundance of low-lying, southern-facing roof space, the 930-unit Georgetown Mews co-op complex in Kew Gardens, Queens, has embarked on a massive solar-energy project that eventually will provide 35 percent of its energy needs. And by even the most conservative projections, it will pay off its full cost in under two years.

How did it get the funding to do this? And can you?

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A READER ASKS: I've noticed lately that many of my fellow shareholders throw out their plastic laundry-detergent containers instead of recycling them. There aren't any obvious signs that we have a recycling area, but it is there! How can I help increase awareness and help other residents understand how important recycling is?

HABITAT ANSWERS: Your first stop should be the Apartment Building Recycling Initiative, a two-hour program offered monthly by the city's Department of Sanitation (DSNY). There you can learn about all the quick and often free fixes that can be made to increase the amount of recycling in your building and ensure the proper things are going into recycling bins.

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Illegal hoteling is any building's bête noire. But, reports Ronda Kaysen in her her New York Times "Ask Real Estate" column, one Williamsburg, Brooklyn, condo board is doing what other beleaguered boards should and just slapping a fine on miscreant — who, if they want to play the "it's not an illegal rental, it's my friend / cousin" game can then damn well try to pull that crap with a judge in court. Perjury, anyone? Just make sure your bylaws allow you to levy that fine. And besides, when an apartment-owner rents to a short-term tenant in violation of New York State laws and most co-op / condo bylaws, that tenant can be hard for the owner to evict. The same column answers a Carroll Gardens condo-board question about short-term rentals. Who knew Brooklyn was such an epicenter of this?

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