Roosevelt Island's LEED Certified Octagon - Is It Truly A Green, Energy Efficient Building?

Image From Octagon NYC

The NY Times reports on some residential buildings that have received LEED Certification - Leadership In Energy and Environmental Design - yet fail to be as energy efficient as they should be - citing the standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star Program model of a years worth of utility bills. The article refers to Roosevelt Island's own Octagon luxury rental building as an example of a a Leed certified building that does not do enough to save energy:

... At the Octagon, a LEED-certified residential rental building on Roosevelt Island in New York City, residents like Alan Siegal say that obvious energy savers, like motion sensors in the hallway, are hard to miss.

But Mr. Siegal, 59, a customs service broker, said his three-bedroom apartment has floor-to-ceiling glass windows that offer great views but also strong drafts.

“If there’s a lot of glass, is that going to be efficient?” he asked...

Bruce Becker, whose company Becker and Becker Associates developed and owns the Octagon, said that the windows offer day lighting but conceded that there were plenty of opportunities to become more energy efficient. He said the Octagon would soon switch to a fuel cell system for heat and electricity, partly to cut energy costs at a time of a depressed rental market....

A recent post described a petition effort by Octagon residents to obtain screens for their apartment windows so that they may be opened allowing fresh air in without being inundated with bugs and insects thereby saving on air conditioning energy usage costs. The petition reads:

We the residents of The Octagon at 888 Main Street, New York, NY 10044 demand that the owners of the building install window screens on ALL residents' apartment windows. The fact that there are no screens on the windows of this building is unacceptable to the residents of the building and we demand that the building owners and management take immediate action to remedy the situation.

As a so-called "green" building, this property is no such thing. Residents are forced to use air conditioning units instead of opening their windows because without window screens, within moments of opening the windows, the apartments fill with an extraordinary number of insects and bugs. Using the air conditioning units when the most appropriate alternative would be to open a window wastes energy and increases the monthly expenses of the tenants.

Residents should not be expected to deal with or accept the insect and bug problem caused by the lack of window screens. Insects and bugs are more than just a nuisance, they are a health hazard to both humans and pets. In addition to potentially dangerous allergic reactions caused by insect bites, insects and bugs carry diseases that can be transmitted to both humans and pets.

We feel that the present state of screenless windows at The Octagon voids the building's other energy efficient features and therefore the continued promotion of The Octagon as a "green" building to be deceptive in nature.

We, the residents of The Octagon demand and expect the property owners and building management to address and correct this situation by installing window screens on all residents' apartment windows within a reasonable timetable.

Don't know yet what, if anything, resulted from the petition.

The Octagon charges premium rents and promotes itself as a "Green Building":

... A model for sustainable design, The Octagon was conceived as an eco-friendly "green building." We used locally-produced materials to minimize energy expended in transport, then recycled most of the construction waste. The building is free of materials containing formaldehyde or other volatile compounds. And its indoor air will be tested regularly to ensure strict quality standards.

The Octagon consumes far less energy than a comparable, traditional building. High-efficiency boilers, rooftop solar panels and Energy Star appliances — living here means cutting your monthly energy bills in half. With rental rates already 20% below similar residences in Midtown, Chelsea, and the Upper West Side, more green stays in your pocket. Easy on the environment, easy on your budget....

It appears that the Octagon may not be as "Green" or "energy efficient" as it should be.