OA Alumni Reflections: OA to 854 Myrtle - Student to Leader
By Luke Falk
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| 854 Myrtle Ave.- The world’s second ENERGY STAR labeled Multifamily highrise. |
On October 9th of this year, I stood in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn and watched the Borough President, the Commissioner of New York State’s affordable housing agency, and others celebrate the ribbon cutting of an affordable housing development - 854 Myrtle Ave. This section of Brooklyn used to be one of the most impoverished and segregated communities in the country, but now, as are many other neighborhoods in my town, Bed-Stuy is caught in a whirlwind of development and gentrification, and many long-time residents can no longer afford to live there. But, for me, what was more exciting than the 33 affordable units coming on-line that day was the fact that all of them will use significantly less energy than most other apartments in the country. That’s because 854 Myrtle Ave. is an ENERGY STARÒ labeled high-rise multifamily building – only the second of its kind in the world.
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| Via Verde, one of the Projects in Luke’s Green Affordable Housing program, will feature roof-top gardens in the South Bronx. |
Most people in America are familiar with the ENERGY STARÒ label. They understand that if an appliance or product carries the label it’ll use less energy than a similar product that does not. The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) led a national pilot program in conjunction with the Federal Environmental Protection Agency to develop a process whereby Multifamily buildings could improve their design and product specifications so that they too could use less energy and be labeled ENERGY STARÒ. Although the ENERGY STARÒ pilot program was well underway by the time I began working for NYSERDA, it’s an especially illustrative example of the work the organization does.
Tomorrow I’ll be speaking at a conference in Albany. I’m supposed to discuss the new green building program I developed, which provides grants to affordable housing developments pursuing both LEEDÔ Certification and the ENERGY STARÒ label. There will be forty people at my session, and it is a safe bet that sustainable development and the global climate crisis are not their foremost concerns, even though those issues are, ultimately, at the heart of what my program seeks to address. These problems are the reasons I work to save energy, transform the way buildings are built in this country, and help correct the failure of our economic markets in apportioning value to environmental health and societal sustainability.
I often forget the misty memories I have of walking through the North Carolina rhododendrons from Copperhead Field to Indian Village and the distinct way it smelled. And sometimes it is difficult to recall the times I paddled the area’s whitewater in one of those old canoes, or filled the Cabin 10 stove with wood that my classmates and I chopped; or when we used to lay awake under the stars in sleeping bags all night long, the stars moving across the sky quickly, the bags collecting dew slowly.
But the impact of my time spent in the woods at the Outdoor Academy, reading the works of naturalist writers, studying natural history and environmental science while learning to live something more akin to a pre-industrial lifestyle, has been long lasting. And for me, that is what it is all about. As time flies by, I care less and less about hanging on to specific memories. Although they are precious, that impulse has often been replaced by a feeling of satisfaction in recognizing the impact those times have had on me. Without Eagle’s Nest, would I feel that working toward environmental sustainability was a moral imperative? Would I feel like there was much out there worth sustaining? Maybe. But I will never really know, because it was. And thank goodness.
