NEW YORK: The Sallan Foundation and the New York City Accelerator for a Clean and Renewable Economy (NYC ACRE) have published a report that draws upon the insights shared from their popular Market Makers series, which was held at Climate Week NYC 2011.
During Climate Week NYC, the Sallan Foundation and Micah Kotch, Director, NYC ACRE, collaborated to put on the Market Makers series, a popular two-part event which connected US experts on energy efficiency technology and innnovation.
The first event in the series was entitled Developing and Deploying Energy Efficiency Technology in NYC and was hosted by the New York Academy of Sciences.
Panelists, David Biello, Associate Editor for Environment and Energy, Scientific American, Mei Shibata, ThinkEco, Colin Smart, Section Manager-Demand Response, Con Edison and Allen Freifield, Senior Vice President, Viridity Energy, discussed the emergence and growth of NYC’s clean tech industry and presented interrelated case studies to showcase the impact of clean energy technology innovation being utilized in New York City and Philadelphia.
In her opening remarks for the evening event, Nancy Anderson, Executive Director, Sallan Foundation, said she was very encouraged by the international stage that Climate Week NYC had offered to “connect the movers and shakers in climate change”, in advancing shared knowledge for greener cities.
She continued to explain the importance of the Market Makers series, saying “by adopting green science and energy-saving technology innovations, big economic assets like urban energy-efficient buildings and electric power systems will gain value, operational resilience, and market share. […]. I see our market makers finding the formula for an ecological multiplier effect on the urban economy that green-lights growth.” She then described the panelists’ case studies as “proof-positive of how to do it right.”
The second event in the series, was entitled The New Energy-Efficient Building Toolkit, and was hosted by the New York Institute of Technology. It examined management, financial and legal innovations that can enable energy efficiency as a market-making startegy for big-city real estate.
Panelists for this inspiring discussionincluded Will Goodman, Acquisitions Project Manager, Jonathon Rose Companies, Eric Friedman, Director of Facilities Development, WilmerHale, Greg Hale, Senior Financial Policy Specialist, NRDC, which was moderated by Jonathan Bowles, Executive Director, Center for an Urban Future.
Nancy Anderson again opened the event, framing the panelists as those innovators who are “making green history by doing it”, and highlighted high-performance buildings’ key role in enhancing real estate value, demanding a greater market share, and generating jobs.
Overall the two events in the Market Makers series illuminated the emergence of a historic market shift, although challenges do remain and were outlined. Results from the series were collated in the online report, which as well as providing the panelists’ varying viewpoints and market opportunities, also conveys the huge sense of momentum we are now seeing as the Clean Revolution accelerates in the US.