News New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio is planning to ban glass and steel skyscrapers in the city.

Page 2 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
110,512
29,098
146
well, I don't think he was talking about banning existing buildings, right? It just seemed like a terribly-presented policy to enforce specific energy-saving design on new construction.

Still, there must be ways to retrofit buildings to some degree to make them more efficient? I imagine a lot of pushback on something like that, if it ever comes to pass. ...not that this is a bad idea. I think retrofitting structures due to a very real and very serious climate and resource crisis really is on the level of good city planning, like retrofitting pre-code structures in the Bay Area to make them earthquake resistant/proof.


....Granted, "retrofitting" something like Trump Tower by use of controlled charges would open up some decent space for good use.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sheik Yerbouti

hal2kilo

Lifer
Feb 24, 2009
23,331
10,236
136
well, I don't think he was talking about banning existing buildings, right? It just seemed like a terribly-presented policy to enforce specific energy-saving design on new construction.

Still, there must be ways to retrofit buildings to some degree to make them more efficient? I imagine a lot of pushback on something like that, if it ever comes to pass. ...not that this is a bad idea. I think retrofitting structures due to a very real and very serious climate and resource crisis really is on the level of good city planning, like retrofitting pre-code structures in the Bay Area to make them earthquake resistant/proof.


....Granted, "retrofitting" something like Trump Tower by use of controlled charges would open up some decent space for good use.
Not sure what you can do to retrofit a big glass building other than replace the glass, change lighting to LED, depending on how old maybe the HVAC system.
 

Jaskalas

Lifer
Jun 23, 2004
33,381
7,444
136
Not sure what you can do to retrofit a big glass building other than replace the glass, change lighting to LED, depending on how old maybe the HVAC system.

It's about insulating the interior space from outside temperatures.
I'm sure engineers can think of something. Who pays for it though, that'd be a fun little issue.
 

Greenman

Lifer
Oct 15, 1999
20,284
5,055
136
NYC is going to mandate energy retrofitting. Buildings over 25,000 sq ft will need to reduce emissions 40% by 2030.
That will end up in court. My guess is the retrofit will probably exceed the original construction cost of some of those buildings.
 

Bitek

Lifer
Aug 2, 2001
10,647
5,220
136
To me, an issue should be the pencil thin residential skyscrapers that are going up (around Central Park) based on loopholes in zoning laws.

They are using massive mechanical spaces to get around floor restrictions, as they don't count towards the limit.
Additionally, they are trophies mostly bought by out of town/foreign gazillionaires and sit unoccupied, thus no residents paying city income and sales taxes.

future-nyc-skyline.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: UglyCasanova

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
110,512
29,098
146
Not sure what you can do to retrofit a big glass building other than replace the glass, change lighting to LED, depending on how old maybe the HVAC system.

You can add very thin polarized films to the exterior/interior that work pretty well for reflecting (summer) and trapping (winter) heat.
 

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
110,512
29,098
146
That will end up in court. My guess is the retrofit will probably exceed the original construction cost of some of those buildings.

but the year-to-year cost to run those buildings would be vastly cheaper. Or is forward-thinking frowned upon when talking about cost?

This kind of thinking always reminds me of dinosaur lazy-ass US car companies that routinely sacrifice greater future profits for temporary, short term status quo management.
 

K1052

Elite Member
Aug 21, 2003
45,893
32,686
136
That will end up in court. My guess is the retrofit will probably exceed the original construction cost of some of those buildings.

Lol, what law are they going to sue under? The city can do this.

Adjusted for inflation and replacement cost I’d be pretty skeptical that’s the case.
 

fskimospy

Elite Member
Mar 10, 2006
83,717
47,406
136
To me, an issue should be the pencil thin residential skyscrapers that are going up (around Central Park) based on loopholes in zoning laws.

They are using massive mechanical spaces to get around floor restrictions, as they don't count towards the limit.
Additionally, they are trophies mostly bought by out of town/foreign gazillionaires and sit unoccupied, thus no residents paying city income and sales taxes.

future-nyc-skyline.jpg

While I’m all for a tax on unoccupied residences I don’t think this is really that big an issue. People are generally mad about these because housing in NYC is so expensive. The main reason it’s so expensive isn’t that they are building towers for billionaires near Central Park, it’s that they aren’t building enough towers in say, Park Slope.
 

Jhhnn

IN MEMORIAM
Nov 11, 1999
62,365
14,681
136
To me, an issue should be the pencil thin residential skyscrapers that are going up (around Central Park) based on loopholes in zoning laws.

They are using massive mechanical spaces to get around floor restrictions, as they don't count towards the limit.
Additionally, they are trophies mostly bought by out of town/foreign gazillionaires and sit unoccupied, thus no residents paying city income and sales taxes.

future-nyc-skyline.jpg

Tall skinny buildings are very energy inefficient simply because the surface area to volume is extremely large. BTU/ sq ft to heat them in the winter is huge.
 
Mar 11, 2004
23,031
5,495
146
I can't help but wonder if this might be aimed at a certain tower that's located there. The emissions from it are so bad that they've been stinking up Washington DC for a couple of years. Well when they aren't for some reason sitting on a golf course in Florida. I've heard stories about their origin source being McDonald's Big Macs, but they are into recycling...Russian hooker piss.
 
  • Like
Reactions: dank69

hifijohn

Junior Member
Dec 7, 2015
6
0
36
In a city that has more murders than some countries, I dont think this should be a high priority.
 

IronWing

No Lifer
Jul 20, 2001
68,852
26,643
136
This is so easy. All we need is plastic sheeting and a staple gun. Staple plastic sheeting over windows and stuff the voids with used plastic grocery bags. Thermal insulation goes up, noise goes down, bag problem goes away. Everybody wins.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Fenixgoon

JEDIYoda

Lifer
Jul 13, 2005
33,981
3,318
126
You aren’t able to form your own opinions?
I don1t need to....the forum rules state you have to post your oen commentary or opinion on any thread you start!
Forming an opinion is not the issue for me.....see below --- posts in P&N require personal commentary, not just links or just images or just anything.

https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/politics-and-news-posting-rules-guidelines.2227538/
n addition, since the written word is paramount, posts in P&N require personal commentary, not just links or just images or just anything.
 

Amol S.

Platinum Member
Mar 14, 2015
2,390
709
136
I don1t need to....the forum rules state you have to post your oen commentary or opinion on any thread you start!
Forming an opinion is not the issue for me.....see below --- posts in P&N require personal commentary, not just links or just images or just anything.

https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/politics-and-news-posting-rules-guidelines.2227538/
n addition, since the written word is paramount, posts in P&N require personal commentary, not just links or just images or just anything.

I stated my opinion in an edit.

Also, I originally posted this in Open Forum (where P&N rules apply extremely slightly), it was moved to P&N by a forum moderator. The moderator did not move the forum by a request. There is a reply on the first page of this thread, where the moderator states that they are moving this thread from Open Forum to P&N.
 

UglyCasanova

Lifer
Mar 25, 2001
19,275
1,361
126
I don1t need to....the forum rules state you have to post your oen commentary or opinion on any thread you start!
Forming an opinion is not the issue for me.....see below --- posts in P&N require personal commentary, not just links or just images or just anything.

https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/politics-and-news-posting-rules-guidelines.2227538/
n addition, since the written word is paramount, posts in P&N require personal commentary, not just links or just images or just anything.


I’m aware of the rule but it’s dumb to think there is nothing to discuss as you said. Give your opinion on it, the OP provided a topic.
 

Amol S.

Platinum Member
Mar 14, 2015
2,390
709
136
ignorance of the law is no excuse...…….
But I abide by the rules where I posted this thread, which was in Open Forum. I thought it was ok to put this in open forum. If I were to post this in P&N I would have abide by the rules in P&N. It was not me that moved it to P&N. Thus, I do not know who it is to blame, since if this thread was to still be in Open Forum, there wouldn't be any discussion over to what forum rules were broken.

Who ever moved the thread probably did not realize that there were things that were missing, from the original post (before I had to edit it after it moved to P&N), that were a requirement for all threads that were posted in P&N.
 

JEDIYoda

Lifer
Jul 13, 2005
33,981
3,318
126
But I abide by the rules where I posted this thread, which was in Open Forum. I thought it was ok to put this in open forum. If I were to post this in P&N I would have abide by the rules in P&N. It was not me that moved it to P&N. Thus, I do not know who it is to blame, since if this thread was to still be in Open Forum, there wouldn't be any discussion over to what forum rules were broken.

Who ever moved the thread probably did not realize that there were things that were missing, from the original post (before I had to edit it after it moved to P&N), that were a requirement for all threads that were posted in P&N.
The problem is you should have known where to post this in the first place!
Secondly everybody could circumvent the rule by posting in OT and then wating for the thread to bre moved....
You need to undersdtand this is a topic that has to do with politics or news thus it gets posted here!
OT is a place where all kinds of frivolous stooped and educational things get posted....
Usually News and anything to do with politics goes here!
Good Luck my young Jedi!!