Greener Offices in New York

Last week, we brought you a primer on making office interiors a greener place; now the NY Times has a good profile of two new office buildings (and a third going up) that are helping make office exteriors greener. Seven World Trade Center, a 52-story, $7 million replacement for the building that fell at that address on 9/11, was LEED-certified last month, and the 46-story Hearst Tower, on 57th Street near Eighth Avenue, is expected to follow suit after completion next month. The third building, the Bank of America Tower at One Bryant Place, has been touted as the "greenest skyscraper ever," though we can't be sure until it's completed. Some interesting tidbits include the assertion that the cost of sustainable design have decreased to the point of being just two to five percent higher than designs that don't incorporate sustainability. The same sustainable buildings also use 30 to 70 percent less energy, so they cost less both in operating costs and in employee costs; better health leads to fewer sick days and increased productivity on the job. Let's see: save money, save resources, save energy, increase production, reduce sickness; is there anything green building can't do? via ::NY Times