Last week it was announced that the New York City Council is providing a $1.25 Million Dollar grant to the Solar 2 Project. (1) The building will truly be a laboratory for learning, where the public is welcome to visit exhibits and attend seminars about sustainable and environmentally friendly topics. Using state-of-the art sustainability architecture and engineering, the building will be capable of putting energy back into the grid and operate at net zero in water consumption, the first such building in New York City.

Solar 2 is a great accomplishment – especially considering it is located in the heart of Manhattan. While sustainablebusiness.com reports that approximately 100,000 people will visit in a year, hopefully the impact will reach around the country and number in the tens of millions. If such a feat can be accomplished in a 13,000 square foot building in New York City, why can’t it be accomplished elsewhere?

Some may say that it doesn’t fit their business or personal use because of the ROI, or that they don’t believe in government $ (Read: taxpayer money) being appropriated for such projects. And, I admit, I may be one of the first people to ask those very same questions. But, if you dig a little deeper, the impact of this project and projects like it has a few very salient results.

First, they reduce our reliance on other countries for energy, reduce the pollution associated with producing energy sources, and reduce the costs associated with doing business. So, we have a security issue answered, an environmental issue answered, and an economic issue answered.

Second, by creating a laboratory for technologies and spreading the word, it increases interests while also offering the potential to reduce the costs of these technologies – remember Moore’s Law, where technology doubles about every two years making it less expensive and more assessable? So, these early sustainable movers, which hopefully get tons of exposure, help to make these technologies more assessable to the masses.

And lastly, on an aesthetic level, the building design I’ve seen is really an innovative and progressive architectural gem. I love touring LEED buildings, and marvel at how they can reduce energy consumption while using creative and interesting design. Just think, how much better is a building that integrates cutting edge technologies into its design while at the same time reducing energy consumption levels to ZERO literally right before your eyes?! And what better place for a trend to start than the center of the Universe: New York City.

I applaud the NYC City Council and everyone else who have contributed to this project. While $10 million for a building seems like an awfully lot on the surface, if we look beyond the initial expenditure and examine the long-lasting effects, it looks to be a great investment and a great accomplishment for America and New York City on multiple levels.

Christopher A. Craig, MBA, MA

(1) Information retrieved from sustainablebusiness.com, August 15th article “NYC to Get Net-Zero Energy, Net-Zero Water Building”