Stamford Forum on High Performance Buildings

Saving money and improving energy and environmental performance

On Friday, October 14, more than 90 people attended a forum to educate businesses, developers, city officials and property owners, co-organized by the Business Council of Fairfield County, the City of Stamford, and Clean Air-Cool Planet. The event, sponsored by UBS in downtown Stamford, aimed to facilitate discussion on potential local policies.

Highlights of the event included the announcement by Stamford Mayor Dannel C. Malloy of a proposed new Energy Improvement District; Bob Fox from Cook + Fox Architect’s stunning presentation on the Bank of America’s LEED design and construction project in Manhattan, and a powerful panel of experts on residential and commercial develop-ment and incentives for high performance.

Mayor Malloy kicked off the event with the announcement of a pioneering concept in local energy management, the Energy Improvement District (EID). The proposed EID concept was developed by the US Conference of Mayors and Pareto Energy in conjunction with a select number of communities nationwide. The need for EID is founded in the air quality issues and the non-attainment status of Fairfield County, the resultant threat to public health, increased utility rates, and issues of energy reliability .

Malloy also called for LEED standards in state and local building codes to encourage more high performance buildings and appropriate economic development for Stamford. "The City of Stamford wants to be seen as leading in addressing energy and the environment," said Malloy, who encourages businesses be innovative and partner with the City to increase the reliability, affordability, and safety of the energy infrastructure.

Following the Mayor’s remarks, Bob Fox presented on his design of the greenest skyscraper in the country, for the Bank of America at One Bryant Park in Manhattan. His visually stunning presentation on the building, which will have an estimated annual energy savings of $3 million in operating costs, was a highlight of the event. Fox is also designing a development in downtown Stamford.

Left to right : Architect Bob Fox shares his experience working on the energy-saving new Bank of America building; an expert panel (Dale Hedman, Jonathon Rose, Joe McGee, Steven Winter and Dave McIntosh) provides resources to forum-goers.

The forum concluded with a panel of experts including Jonathan Rose of Rose Companies, Steven Winter of Steven Winter Associates, Dale Hedman from the CT Clean Energy Fund and Dave McIntosh of Northeast Utilities. Led by Joe McGee from the Business Council of Fairfield County, the panel discussed further opportunities in residential and commercial green building in the state of Connecticut.