Making the city greener through retrofitting, not new construction

From the March issue: While New York City is getting the first office tower in America to compost food waste, compared to other cities, New York lacks green high-rises. There are only 17 green buildings in Gotham — as measured by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification from the U.S. Green Building Council — compared to 36 in Chicago and 34 in Portland. Portland, a city about one-sixth the size of New York, has already built about 5.05 million square feet of LEED-certified buildings, with millions more square feet in the pipeline. In New York City, the most high-profile example of green building is the 2.1 million square feet of commercial space coming online at One Bryant Park, a 54-story tower where food waste will be recycled.