(Sort of) Off-the-Grid Living in Brooklyn [View all]

[maddezmom]

Last edited Mon May 28, 2012, 07:56 AM - Edit history (1)

TEST BUILDING The Delta in Carroll Gardens, which has been built to run entirely on solar energy, is a showroom for a “net-zero” rental planned for Park Slope. added: Above right, Ronald F. Faia of Voltaic Solaire, the developer.

AS the standards for environmentally friendly construction rise, a Brooklyn developer has a new goal: renovate an apartment building so it generates as much energy as it uses.

When the developer, Voltaic Solaire, finishes a $1 million rehabilitation of a 19th-century brownstone at 367 Fifth Avenue in Park Slope next year, the facade will be covered with a solar skin and a solar awning will sit on the roof. The panels will generate 18,000 watts of energy a year, enough to power all six units in the 7,000-square-foot building. Voltaic Solaire is so confident in its ability to create a “net-zero” building that utilities will be bundled into the rent.

As a demonstration, Voltaic has nearly completed a five-story showroom in Carroll Gardens — a triangular building called the Delta, on the corner of Hamilton Avenue and Ninth Street. Even without a southern exposure, the solar system generates enough energy to power the 2,700-square-foot property.

“If we can obtain sustainability at this location, it can be obtained anywhere,” Ronald F. Faia, the chief financial officer of Voltaic Solaire, said of the Delta’s poor light and odd configuration.

more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/27/realestate/brooklyn-apartments-to-generate-their-own-power.html?hpw