Developer
takes the LEED in saving energy
By
ALEX PHILIPPIDIS :: January 3, 2007
(From left: ) William
G. Balter, a principal with Wilder Balter Partners L.L.C.
of Elmsford; Alexander H. Roberts, executive director
of Community Housing Innovations Inc. (CHI) of White Plains;
Josephine Newkirk, a resident of CHI-owned 91 North Kensico
Ave. in White Plains and her daughter. Wilder Balter donated
1,000 energy-saving, compact fluorescent bulbs installed
recently at CHI’s 91 North Kensico Ave.
William G. Balter sees the
green in building to the highest environmental standards.
There are the environmental benefits: More fuel efficiency,
greater energy savings, reduced pollution generated by
burning less fossil fuel.
Then there’s the bottom-line green. A compact fluorescent
(CFL) bulb costs $2, three times the cost of its incandescent
counterpart. Yet CFL prices have dropped from $6 about
a decade ago. CFLs last 10,000 hours, or 10 times the
life of an incandescent. During that time users can expect
to cut their electric bills by $47,000.
“There’s really no sacrifice. It’s all
good,” said Balter, a principal with Elmsford residential
developer Wilder Balter Partners L.L.P.
Hence Balter’s new commitment to building green.
The firm says it is Westchester’s first builder
to be certified by the U.S. Green Building Council’s
LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Model
Home program of eco-friendly building practices.
Now, Wilder Balter is studying how to bring more energy
savings to as many of the 3,000 units it owns and manages
as possible. Those units include the 103 within the Jacobs
Hill Village rental apartment complex for adults age 55
and older in Cortlandt.
“We’re looking at renewable energy and generation
– in other words, going to wind and hydropower –
in some of the projects that we own,” Balter said.
Balter kicked off his firm’s green building commitment
a week before Christmas, when it celebrated its donation
of 1,000 CFL lightbulbs to 91 North Kensico Ave. in White
Plains. The 74-unit housing development is owned by Community
Housing Innovations Inc. (CHI), also of White Plains.
CHI’s executive director Alexander H. Roberts got
involved after he was asked by Balter, a tennis partner,
why many other builders weren’t embracing CFL bulbs.
Energy saving has been a longtime passion for Roberts,
who holds a state certification in energy management practices.
Roberts agreed with Balter that going green would help
his firm compete with other developers: “With the
price of energy growing, people are now putting a higher
value on efficiency in the choice of their homes.”
Wilder Balter says it will build to LEED standards two
new projects for which it will break ground this spring:
Quarry Pond, a Philipstown development with 68 semi-attached
homes for buyers 55-plus, plus 10 affordable units; and
Chestnut Ridge, a Brewster project of 168 condos for buyers
55-plus.
A third project under construction in Yorktown, Glassbury
Court at Hunterbrook, is being built to the standards
of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s EnergyStar
program. The project’s 64 semi-attached houses for
older adults age 55 and up will sell from the mid-$500,000s.
“We’re doing designs that encourage less energy
use. It’s not just more insulation on the walls.
It’s higher efficiency equipment, much less water
use by limiting the amount of lawns that have to get watered,
native plantings,” Balter said.
Those designs will add between $5,000 and $12,000 to the
cost of units in future projects – an expense Wilder
Balter expects to recoup.
“It’s better to spend more up front and save
money in the long run. It becomes obvious the more energy
prices have gone up,” Balter said. “We think
we’re the first company in the Hudson Valley to
make the commitment to go green on all new residential
communities. We’re confident that we won’t
be the last.”
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