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October 12, 2008 4:35:37 PM CDT

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It's Not Easy Building Green

Posted Apr 6, 07 12:43 PM CDT in US,  Business,  Technology 

(Newser) – Despite the hype, the cool technologies and the new cachet, building green on a big scale is a very frustrating business, developers in New York tell the Observer. Exciting projects are hobbled by slow-moving regulators and greedy utility companies, they say. Their $100K natural gas "microturbines" are idle because regulators say they violate building codes.

Clean-energy "cogeneration" plants are docked for months by ConEd hurdles. The city and the utilities claim technical difficulties, like antiquated building codes and power grids. But developer Douglas Durst isn't buying: “They get paid by people using their transmission lines—so when you build on-site generation, they're losing income."

Source New York Observer

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climate change  • New York City  • environment  • energy  • green building


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