SL Green brings car charging stations to NY region buildings

Jay Black and an electric car charging station
Jay Black and an electric car charging station

SL Green is greening (how appropriate?) five of its suburban New York office buildings by installing electric car charging stations.

The real estate investment trust paid $10,000 for each of the five stations, which can charge electric-powered vehicles as well as plug-in hybrids. The stations are located in the parking lots of SL Green buildings at 360 Hamilton Avenue and 140-150 Grand Street in White Plains, as well as 100, 200 and 500 Summit Lake Drive in Valhalla, N.Y.

The cars’ owners will pay $1.50 per hour for the first five hours, then $3 per hour after that, the Wall Street Journal reported.

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Landlords in the New York region have jumped to the forefront of energy conservation efforts in recent years because about three-quarters of the city’s carbon emissions come from buildings. The move by SL Green, which has in the past taken smaller steps such as installing light sensors in buildings, marks one of the region’s largest pushes to make electric car charging more accessible.

There are benefits for SL Green as well, as tenant demand is stronger for environmentally-friendly buildings and energy efficiency measures can also be cost savers. In 2013, SL Green greened its way to a $6.4 million reduction in energy costs, Jay Black, the company’s director of sustainability, told Globe St. in previous reports. [WSJ] — Julie Strickland