INTERVIEW: Inhabitat Talks to CodeGreen Solutions’ Stephen Rizzo About Greening Existing Buildings

CodeGreen’s own LEED Platinum office space in NYC

Stephen: CodeGreen finds solutions for bringing sustainability and efficiency to existing buildings. We essentially review a building’s goals and figure out the best way to implement them. For some owners its lighting upgrades, others its photovoltaic, i.e. solar panels. Whatever the goal is, CodeGreen’s experience is in allowing an existing building to achieve that goal. There is a misconception that only new designed buildings can be efficient.

Stephen: New buildings get the headlines. But, the numbers speak for themselves. Buildings dominate NYC’s carbon footprint. Approximately 75% of NYC’s carbon emissions stem from energy used in buildings and today’s existing buildings will make up 85% of all real estate in 2030. You’re talking of tens of thousands of buildings that have never had basic energy audits or “tune ups”. The payback on improving these buildings is typically 2 to 3 years. Besides that, I think everyone at CodeGreen is a bit contrarian! You tell us there’s no solution to something or it’s too tough to modify an existing building, and we’ll work and work to prove the naysayers wrong.

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