It turns out that recycling a mayor doesn't lead to an increase of recycled waste. According to DNAinfo, the percentage of the city's waste that has been recycled has fallen from 19% in 2002 to 15% in 2011. Naturally, those Chaco-wearing patchouli-huffers out west are eating our lunches (then recycling the waste). Seattle and Portland have rates over 50%, while San Francisco's rate soared to 77% in 2009, no doubt on the success of converting plastic bottles and highlighters into bongs. more ›

A local Gowanus blog has been wondering where some fluorescent green footprints have been coming from. Unfortunately, it wasn't the marking of a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle—which was a definite possibility considering the state of the Gowanus Canal right now. But no, the footprints probably don't contain a strain of gonohorrea, they come from a project called Footprinting NYC. You can check out the process below... disappointing as it may be that the discovery was simply an artist walking to yoga class, and not some sort of Toxic Avenger. more ›

You know it, the mice eating your Saltines know it, your real estate broker HAD to know it (damn you, Mickey): your apartment is a sieve. And now it's confirmed: The gaps around your A.C. unit are costing the city an extra "$130 million to $180 million a year" in fuel consumption. That's around a billion delicious, heat-thwarting Freeze-Pops, people! more ›

Last fall, the city began accepting online suggestions on how NYC can save some desperately needed money; now, four months later, they have revealed highlights of those money-saving, pleb-originated ideas on their website. Let's take a look at the top three most suggested things: more ›

According to a new study from Sustainable Yards, New York isn't as much of a natural dead zone as you may have thought. About 27% of the city is covered by front and backyards—twice as much acreage as the city's public parks have! Researcher Evan Morris used Google Earth to measure the city's yardage, and said in an interview, "the more information we have about the environmental benefits of these spaces, the more we see that cumulatively, tremendous benefits can be realized." Like the benefit of having something to tell the young whippersnappers to get off of! [Via Observer] more ›

The winners have been announced for the 16th annual Greenest Block contest run by the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Drum roll please: the Greenest Blocks in Brooklyn this year are in Flatbush and Boerum Hill! The residential first-place winner went to Vanderveer Place between Flatbush Avenue and East 23rd Street in Flatbush; the 2010 commercial first-place winner was declared Hoyt Street between State Street and Atlantic Avenue in Boerum Hill. The winners were announced at a press conference this morning held at Vanderveer Place, where those who received top place in the other categories were also on hand. more ›

Today, Lincoln Center opened up its Illumination Lawn, as part of its renovations by Diller Scofidio + Renfro. The lawn, which is near West 65th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam, replaces a footbridge that used to connect Lincoln Center with Juilliard and the Walter Reade Theatre and underneath the lawn will be the future site of a restaurant. The NY Times' architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff calls the lawn "the project’s most dazzling space, [it] warps up on two sides, so that climbing it can make you feel as if you were about to float off into the air on a carpet of green." more ›

The New York Restoration Project is holding its NYC Grows event at Union Square tomorrow. NYC Grows will give people the opportunity to learn more about gardening, urban farming, organic cooking and more through demonstrations and activities. And Woolly Pockets—which makes recycled gardening containers for indoor and outdoor use—has put up a “Living Green Wall” of edible plants and lush Native New York plant species on the Southern plaza of Union Square. And if you sign up to be a member of NYRP tomorrow, you get a free plant, too! more ›

Hey everyone: Happy Earth Day! We know how you celebrated the other green day this week, but how will you go about giving back to Mother Nature (who seems pretty pissed off right about now)? Jauntsetter has some tips on how to green your travels, with a list of carless escapes from NYC. They note, "Not only are all our destinations green friendly, but they're easy to get to (either by train or bus), to get around (public transport or cabs abound), and on the wallet (eliminating automobiles means mitigating emissions and dollars spent on gasoline)." On their top five: Montreal, Fire Island (no cars allowed!), Philly, Montauk, and Hudson (we suggest trying to catch one of Pete Seeger's sidewalk shows in Beacon—which used to happen every 2nd Saturday around 5 p.m.). Where else? more ›

Mayor Bloomberg will be in Times Square today, to celebrate Earth Day (which is 40 years old) with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, City Council Quinn, and others, including a virtual Vice President Al Gore. Which makes it perfect timing to look back at Earth Day 2007, when the mayor announced PlaNYC 2030, his list of 127 initiatives for the city to achieve sustainability by the year 2030. (Hey, the Mayor's Office Tweeted this morning, "Welcome to NYC, where every day is Earth Day.") And, for what it's worth, that 2007 speech is also the one where he broached the topic of...congestion pricing. more ›

As part of a $100MM makeover currently underway at City Hall, the circa 1812 landmark building may be getting solar panels! The plan still has to be approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission, but if it moves forward it's estimated the panels would "generate 27,708 kilowatt hours of electricity a year, or enough to power about half the lights in the seat of government." more ›

And so it begins. The Solarium in Long Island City has been "green certified" by the National Association of Home Builders Research Center, becoming the first building to get that certification in Queens. Not only will the apartments be stocked with Energy Star appliances, low flow toilets and bamboo floors, but the building will be topped with a 6-foot-wide wind turbine, used to power the elevators and common areas. Leasing consultant VP Rick Rosa told the Daily News, "We needed to be different. Right now, being green is a fad. In five years, that fad is going to be a reality." more ›

A new moving company in the Bronx is green to the max, offering “biodegradable packing materials, reusable plastic boxes and hybrid vehicles,” and donating a portion of its profits to tree-planting efforts in the Brazilian rainforest. “I am not a tree hugger at all,” its owner Jeffrey Sitt told the Times. “The goal of iMoveGreen is to encourage a simple premise: Be respectful of the environment when moving to a new home.” On top of being the first moving company to gain EPA-certification, he boasts of prices comparable to other city movers, and offers a companion product: iStoreGreen, a Brooklyn business specializing in eco-friendly storage units. more ›

This morning the New York Public Library cut the ribbon on their brand new Battery Park City Library, which also happens to be the first green library in Manhattan. Their 88th branch, located at 175 North End Avenue, is about 10,000-square-feet and has a pricetag of $6.7 million. The branch is expected to receive LEED Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, and inside you'll find: more ›

The managers of the Empire State Building announced today that they have hired California green company to retrofit the windows of the NYC landmark. Johnson Controls Inc., who are overseeing the greening of the ESB, have hired Serious Materials to retrofit and super-insulate 6,514 double-hung windows on the building. This is expected to save $400,000 a year in energy costs, and according to Crain's, it is one of four energy-saving measures that will eventually reduce the landmark's "energy use by 38 percent, saving $4.4 million per year in energy costs and reduce 105,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions over the next 15 years." This marks another victory in the ESB's quest to get totes hippie'd-out. more ›

Yesterday a group comprised of community leaders and elected officials got together to discuss small business owners going green. NY1 reports that the meeting took place in front of Camilo Grocery store in Washington Heights—one of the many businesses that could benefit in the long run from becoming more energy efficient. Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer said, "We need to make sure that people who fed our city for generations get to have the economic benefit of turning green." Congressman Steve Isreal has introduced legislation that would provide funding to help businesses like bodegas reach a greener goal—this would help with their own skyrocketing electricity costs, as well as be beneficial to the environment. Now, how about getting rid of those plastic bags? more ›

The Brooklyn Navy Yard is getting a green makeover, to the tune of $15 million in state funds; no word on the supermarket, but part of the plan is to install what will be the state's largest solar panel there. more ›

It's been a couple months since we last checked in on the Waterpod, "a sustainable, sculptural art and technology habitat, with 4 artists living on and off it, generating food, water, and power in a contained and self-sufficient environment." The floating experiment is currently in Brooklyn Heights, so if you're nearby check it out on Pier 5 (where it will be docked through August 17th). Visitors are welcome Fridays from 3 to 7 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. While on the shore, you can track the Pod here. more ›

The Brooklyn Botanic Garden announced the Greenest Block in Brooklyn today! The contest has inspired locals since 1995 to get creative with their greens and clean up their blocks. Marty Markowitz was on hand at the ceremony this morning, declaring, "Brooklyn’s gardens—and stoops, planters, window boxes, and tree beds—are the greenest!" (And those stoops sure are nice to drink a nice glass of wine on.) more ›

To commemorate Earth Day and the 2nd anniversary of PlaNYC's launch, Mayor Bloomberg donned a green tie and went up to the gorgeous 620 Loft & Garden roof at Rockefeller Center, where he announced a package of legislation intended to improve New York’s energy efficiency. Joined by City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn, union leaders, the Sierra Club's Carl Pope, and other officials, Bloomberg promised that the "far-reaching package of new local laws will... reduce energy costs by some three-quarters of a billion dollars a year." more ›

The Empire State Building has been a lot of colors throughout the years, but it may become permanently green. NY1 reports that "Officials today unveiled a groundbreaking project to significantly reduce the building's energy consumption." This would include replacing 6,500 windows with new ones that would reduce the heat in the summer and reduce heat loss in the winter, and a new system would allow tenants to control their own temperatures. The project will cost about $20 million, but it will "cut energy use by 38 percent, which will save $4.4 million a year in energy costs"—Bloomberg hopes that other buildings will follow suit. The NY Times notes that the job will be underway come this summer. more ›

Last night, a number of buildings, including the Empire State Building, plus numerous billboards in Times Square, went dark between 8:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. for Earth Hour, "to make a statement on the need for effective action on climate change." While some structures did go dim their lights, much of the city was still glowing. Well, it's a step—last year, New York City didn't even participate! more ›

In a continuing effort to get the Taxi and Limousine Commission to turn green a little faster, the Bloomberg administration announced a new set of incentives for fleet owners with hybrid or other low-emission vehicles, the NY Times reports. Starting May 1st, taxi fleet owners can charge drivers $3 more per 12-hour shift for hybrid or clean diesel cabs. They will also be able to "penalize fleet owners by lowering the amount they can charge to lease cabs that use more fuel and pollute more, like the Ford Crown Victoria, the most common type of taxi." The new rule will decrease that charge by $4 per shift. While it would ultimately clean and green the streets of NYC, there are some opponents. A spokesman for the Metropolitan Taxicab Board of Trade called the plan "unconscionable," saying fleet owners bought their vehicles under the former lease cap. Currently of the 13,237 cabs in New York City, there are 2,019 hybrids and 12 clean diesel vehicles. more ›

Neat and green, Architect's News is reporting that the nation's largest green roof is taking shape atop a Bronx water plant that will double as a driving range and includes an "integrated security program for the facility below" (they say its Pebble Beach meets the Biosphere meets Rikers). The Mosholu Golf Course is run by the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation, and amidst the 9 holes there will soon be a $2.1 billion drinking water treatment facility. Construction isn't set to end until 2012, when landscape architect Ken Smith's vision of "one of the largest and most intensive green roofs to date" will open to the public as "a fully functioning driving range and an irrigation system for the golf course." In addition, the project architects at Grimshaw have also included a green roof in their design of a new clubhouse on the site. Recently Con Ed in LIC joined the small fleet of green rooftops popping up in the five boroughs. more ›

The MTA is considering letting passengers pay more to help contribute to making its operations more eco-friendly. This is how the NY Times puts it, "The authority said on Thursday that it was considering a 'green MetroCard' program that would let riders make donations to help pay for making its operations more environmentally sustainable. The program would also apply to commuter rail tickets and E-ZPasses." And here's the Post's take, "The MTA now wants to ask straphangers to fork over extra cash when they buy a MetroCard to help fund the agency's pet 'green' projects." more ›