Almost every environmentally conscious person has run into the old adage of Reduce, Re-use, Recycle. While this call to action is self-explanatory, what may be lesser known about these stages is that they are listed from greatest to least effective. By focusing on Reduce, the first and most effective stage, individuals can make significant energy saving contributions in even the smallest of spaces – a New York City apartment.

There are 4 categories that energy consumption in an apartment can fall under – space heating, space cooling, lighting, and plug loads. Whether you’re moving in for the first time or you’re looking to upgrade an old system, each category has many “smart” new ways to reduce energy consumption:

1: Space Heating: Old steam radiator systems are the bane of most apartment owners and renters because they have poor (or no) temperature control, which results in excessive over-heating and frequent under-heating. New products in development, like the Cozy from Radiator Labs, allow occupants to control when the radiator provides heat. The radiator is insulated and will only provide heat when the temperature of the room drops below setpoint and the fan turns on.

2: Space Cooling: Window air conditioners are great for cooling apartments without central air but lack any complex controls. If left on all day they drain energy from the city grid and can cost the user hundreds of dollars per month. However, Con Edison now offers programs for better control over window air conditioners for free. The coolNYC program lets Con Edison customers request a “smart thermostat” which runs individual air conditioning units on a predetermined schedule and provides control over the system through a smartphone app. Greater controls reduce the need to keep your unit running all day and gives users the freedom to consume energy only when necessary.

3: Lighting: Perhaps the easiest way to cut down on lighting load is to use more efficient bulbs. In the past the best option was compact fluorescent bulbs (CFL), but recently the market has seen an increase in LED sales. LEDs are typically more expensive than CFLs, but they can last more than twice the life of a CFL bulb, more than 20 times the length of a normal incandescent and still provide 85% energy savings over traditional bulbs.

4: Plug Loads: Even after electronic devices have been turned off, they continue to draw power from the grid if left plugged in. This type of energy is referred to as vampire loads or phantom loads and can add up to be a serious waste of energy. To combat this, appliances must be unplugged or the power strip it is connected to must be turned off. This inconvenience can be avoided by installing a smart powerstrip, which completely shuts off power to all appliances when it senses a main appliance is not in use. For example, if you were to turn off your television, a smart powerstrip would sense this and completely shut down your cable box, stereo and DVD player to avoid the vampire load. While these individual savings are not significant, the savings across the entire electrical grid can make a notable difference.

At the beginning of each year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) publishes an annual report that summarizes the state of the earth’s climate vs the previous year. In their most recent analysis, NOAA reports that 2014 was the warmest year on record by 0.07°F. To most New Yorkers who survived the Polar Vortexes of last year, an increase of 0.07°F doesn’t even begin to make a dent in what we would consider to be “warming” and yet scientists are warning us that this warming trend will have serious social, political, and economic consequences.

The average annual global temperature is a combination of land and ocean surface temperatures that are recorded by weather stations around the world. Land temperatures for 2014 were actually only the 4^th highest value ever recorded. However, 2014 was a record breaking year for oceanic temperatures, including three months of new monthly high sea surface temperature records being set in June, August and September.

It’s not surprising that as humans continue to ramp up the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, new global temperature highs are being recorded. However, what is surprising is that 2014 was the first time in the last 25 years that the global temperature record was broken without El Niño conditions being present. This then begs the question, as the concentration of GHGs remains above 400 ppm, what’s going to happen when El Niño conditions return? Many scientists believe that the next El Niño year will bring even higher record breaking temperatures.

Once we begin to understand what’s happening to our planet, the question then becomes why do we care? In New York City, it’s sometimes easy to remove ourselves from becoming part of the solution to climate change because the consequences are not always causing noticeable stress in our region. However, while we are fortunate to live in an area that has remained relatively sheltered from climate change compared to other places around the world, we are still not immune.

For example, as the earth’s temperature continues to rise, farmers are experiencing droughts, flooding and temperature variations that kill crops and decrease food production. The decreased supply of crops is driving up the price of food, which is then passed along to the consumer through higher food prices at the supermarket. This issue is also accelerated by increased energy prices and exponential population growth, which is driving up the demand for crops and increasing food prices even further.

As issues like higher food prices slowly begin to infiltrate places like New York City, we can also expect to see more devastating consequences of climate change that are more difficult to absorb. In October of 2012, Hurricane Sandy ravaged the east coast, killing 149 people and costing the area billions of dollars in property damage and lost business. A storm of this magnitude statistically only comes around once every 100 years. However, in 2005 the south was hit by Hurricane Katrina and in 2011 the northern coast was hit by Hurricane Irene, two other 100 year storms. The probability of three 100 year storms randomly occurring over the course of eight years seems much less likely than the alternative conclusion that human behavior is increasing storm frequency and intensity.

As we look back at the temperature records over the past 135 years and reflect on the correlation between global warming and the social and economic impacts of a warmer planet, it is clear that we must act now by living more sustainably. Scientists have warned us about the consequences of global warming, and it is now up to us to find and implement a solution.

The term BIM (Building Information Modeling) can be used to describe many different aspects of a design and construction project. Fundamentally, the BIM process involves the development of an advanced 3D model for the proposed project and includes all structural, architectural and MEP components. The ability to view these components in three dimensions allows project leaders to better coordinate during the design stages by creating a visual model of how all these systems interact with one another. Detailed BIM models also accelerate installation of the building’s systems during the construction phases due to fewer ‘hits’ needing to be worked out in the field.

Although BIM is a relatively new design tool, the concept has been around for several decades. The BIM process has started to be widely used over the past 10 years due to significant advancements in software and hardware technologies. I first became involved in the BIM process with the design of Yankee Stadium using Autodesk’s Building Systems software, and following through during the construction process with 3D contractor coordination using NavisWorks. Many of my projects now require in-depth knowledge of the Autodesk REVIT software.

Looking ahead to the next 10 years, we can expect to see further advancements as more project teams incorporate BIM into their design process. As more project teams explore their options using a BIM system, it will trigger high level discussions about project delivery, ownership of documents and team assembly. These types of conversations are an important part of the process and have the potential to change the design and construction industry.

The current trend in the BIM process is a push towards design teams advancing their design models to a higher level of detail than previously accepted. Design teams are also expected to model all components of the MEP systems, no matter the size, which has traditionally been left to the respective trade contractors to complete during the shop drawing coordination process. This trend will lead to discussions that distinguish the design team and contractor’s responsibilities and how to effectively migrate the model from a design model to a construction model.

Beyond design and construction, the BIM process is also available to the end user to create efficiencies in building operation and maintenance. For example, BIM has the ability to not only show the physical location of a light fixture, but it can also tag the light fixture with information that will be pertinent to building operation and maintenance staff (such as the manufacturer and model number of the fixture, type and quantity of lamps and the date when they were last replaced).

Even as these developments unfold, we must remember that at the core of the BIM process is the information; the process is only as good as the information presented in the model.

Humans are constantly on the move. On a daily basis we are walking, jogging, biking, swimming, hiking, or doing some type of activity powered by our bodies without giving it any thought. Because of this, human power is commonly thought of as a “free” energy source. However, this line of thinking is not accurate because human power requires an energy input (i.e. food), and the efficiency with which humans can digest food to produce power is extremely low. On average, producing the fuel source human power consumes eight times as much energy as it produces.

The daily energy output of the average person is 600 watt-hours. At its most efficient, the calories of food energy required to produce this can be provided by eating 4.6 lbs of corn which requires 2,300 Watt-hours of energy to produce or 1.5 lbs of beef which requires 43,000 watt-hours of energy to produce.  The conversion of food calories to energy by a human is between 1.4 and 26% efficient and by no means impressive.

The largest muscles in the human body are in the legs. Therefore, the most effective means of generating human power is to power a bicycle or similar device.  A well-conditioned professional cyclist can generate 400 watts of energy for each hour of cycling. However, the average person can produce less than about 125 watts for each hour. In comparison, operating a hand crank generator for one hour produces about 33 watts of energy.

To put things in perspective, one barrel of oil contains about 1,700,000 Watt-hours, which is equivalent to 22,000 hours (ten years) of human work. The average human consumes 50 barrels of oil per year, so the deficit is substantial.

Human power is very useful if it can be delivered without the need to consume additional food calories.  Something as simple as taking the stairs instead of an elevator or walking instead of driving are easy ways to save energy and can have a significant impact on reducing non-renewable energy consumption when millions of people participate.