How green is N.Y.C? To be #1, New Yorkers will need to step up to the plate

New Yorkers are competitive - when it comes to business, sports and politics at least. But do they have what it takes to be the "greenest city" in the U.S.? Research conducted this year by the N.Y. office of international architecture firm RMJM Hillier to identify "America's Best Cities for Design," a ranking of the best largest cities in the U.S. for architecture, sustainability and transit, revealed a lot about how well American cities are addressing sustainability. Top performers, according to the research, are cities like Chicago, where sustainability is at the top of the city's agenda (there's a green roof on city hall and a wind turbine at the city's civic center) and San Francisco, with an aggressive plan to cut greenhouses gases to 20% below the 1990 level by 2012. N.Y. fared well - but not as well as one might expect. N.Y. is doing better than the majority of large cities in the U.S. According to a 2008 Brookings Institute report, the N.Y. metro area (N.Y., Long Island, northern New Jersey) has one of the smallest carbon footprints per capita in the U.S., second only to Honolulu. The average resident in the N.Y. metro area emitted only 1.388 metric tons of CO2 from transport and residential use per year. 54% of N.Y. City's 3.5 million workers take public transportation to work each day, according to 2005 U.S. Census Data - more than any other U.S. city. And according to PlaNYC, "the average N.Y.er consumes less than half the electricity of someone living in San Francisco and nearly one-quarter of the electricity consumed by someone who lives in Dallas." On the building side, Local Law 86, the 2005 law requiring city-funded projects (either $10 million or more than 50% of the cost of construction/reconstruction) to meet energy and environmental standards put forth by the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program, could account for why N.Y. has more LEED registered buildings than any other U.S. city - 224 in total. Since buildings account for 39% of U.S. carbon emissions nationally - and a full 80% in N.Y. - that's definitely a step in the right direction. PlaNYC, introduced in April 2007 by mayor Bloomberg, is a quantum leap forward in N.Y. City's efforts to create a greener, sustainable urban environment. If fully implemented, it would have far reaching consequences and will affect almost every aspect of how N.Y. City residents live and work. The plan's goals are organized into six categories - land, water, transportation, energy, air and climate - and one of the major objectives is to reduce greenhouse gases to 30% below 2005 levels by 2030. So why shouldn't N.Y. come out on top in the "Green Olympics?" One critical factor appears to be public support and engagement. According to Zogby poll findings in "America's Best Cities for Design," 60% of N.Y. City residents were unaware of sustainable or green design initiatives. By contrast, more than half of Chicago residents and close to two-thirds of Portland and Seattle residents were aware of broader green initiatives in their home cities. Evidence suggests public awareness and engagement in green initiatives is a key to success. It's critical to getting controversial initiatives passed into law (think "congestion pricing") and it alters the kind of products available in the marketplace. When prospective tenants are demanding eco-friendly living or work space, for example, the incentive for developers to build green is obviously greater. Portlanders, Seattlites, Chicagoans share a sense of "Green Pride" - a sentiment that appears to be lacking in the five boroughs. But New Yorkers are indeed competitive - so perhaps the best hope for PlaNYC and the sustainable future of the city lies in cultivating a bit of a rivalry with our more environmentally progressive neighbors to the west. If N.Y. wants to be #1 in this category, then New Yorkers themselves are going to need to step up to the plate. John Locke is a senior associate with RMJM Hillier, New York, N.Y.