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Sustainability

Energy Efficiency
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We take proactive measures to reduce energy usage through efficient design and retrofit standards and the production of renewable energy.
Resource Conservation
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By implementing systems designed to capture and reuse resources such as rainwater, our developments help preserve the natural world and set higher sustainability standards.
Climate Change
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With an eye toward the future, we are evaluating how to make our developments more resilient in the face of climate change and reduce emissions portfolio-wide.
Innovative Execution
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We design, engineer and invest in inclusive, tech-forward and sustainable communities, infrastructure and initiatives. These solutions serve as economic and creative engines that will positively impact society for generations.

TI - Sustainability - HY Sustainability

At Hudson Yards

Sustainability on a big scale

From the infrastructure to the buildings themselves, Hudson Yards is building a model for more sustainable neighborhood development.

Hudson Yards boasts a first-of-its-kind microgrid, which features two eco-friendly cogeneration plants. Four large engines in those plants generate electricity, but the excess heat they give off is recaptured and used to both heat and cool the neighborhood's buildings. This state-of-the-art process reduces greenhouse-gas emissions by an estimated 25,000 metric tons of CO2 each year, the equivalent of taking more than 5,000 cars off the road. Learn more about Hudson Yards co-gen plant from the people who work with it every day!

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Environmental Efforts

Water use and waste reduction

We minimize water use, water cost and environmental risk across our portfolio and are a leader in the development of water capture and reuse systems in our market rate multifamily and commercial office portfolios. We were early adopters of adding collection chutes for recycling and organics to our multifamily assets, have trialed organic dehydration systems in our food & beverage establishments and are retrofitting our company offices and larger commercial facilities for organic waste diversion to reduce the carbon cost of waste hauling and disposal.

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Environmental Efforts

Building a net zero carbon community

Brent Cross Town in London is addressing urgent challenges presented by the global climate crisis with low carbon construction, renewable power integration, circular economy principles and carbon offsetting, empowering everyone who lives and works within the community to make low carbon lifestyle choices. Brent Cross Town’s goal is to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2030 at the latest.

Learn more
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Storm Water Collection

Hudson Yards was designed with a campus-wide stormwater harvesting system estimated to reuse close to 10 million gallons per year.

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Water Reclamation

We have built 2.3 million GSF of market rate residential water reclamation systems.

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Black Water System

Tribeca Green has one of the first in-building “blackwater” reuse systems for residential high-rise in the US, part of a network that serves eight buildings and over 2,000 residents. We are achieving both a 55% reduction in municipal water use and a 65% sewer discharge reduction.

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Waste Reduction

The mixed-use Time Warner Center received the BOMA TOBY (The Office Building of the Year) AWARD and is included as a case study for the New York City AIA’s Zero Waste Design Guidelines.

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Environmental Efforts

Climate change

We are committed to anticipate and adapt to climate change and its effects, ensuring that our buildings portfolio-wide have smaller carbon footprints and are engineered to withstand the environmental impact of climate change.

Our commitments to reducing our impact include: 

  • 34 million GSF of multifamily, commercial and retail sub-sectors have begun to evaluate greenhouse gas emissions to reduce building emissions portfolio wide.
  • Over 16 million GSF of pipeline developments are analyzing projected greenhouse gas emissions in an attempt to reduce, offset or eliminate them during operations.
  • Almost 10 million GSF of pipeline developments are integrating embodied carbon analysis into supply chain considerations through material life-cycle analysis of structural and major materials.
  • All new developments located in areas of flood risk are designed and constructed to a Resilience Specification, which considers flood risk mitigation and backup power.
Environmental Efforts
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Environmental Efforts
Energy Use, Reduction & Efficiency

We take actions to reduce energy use through efficient design and retrofit standards and renewable energy production; controls price volatility through energy management and distributed generation; and minimizes regulatory risk through portfolio level analysis and improvement.

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Cogen at Hudson Yards

At Hudson Yards, Related has completed a 13.3MW cogeneration facility that will provide over 50% of the electrical and thermal demand of the Eastern Yards, avoiding 24,000MT of greenhouse gas emissions (equal to the annual emissions of 5,000 cars) annually.

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5MW Lithium-Ion Battery Project

In the summer of 2019 Related partnered with global energy firm EnelX on a 5MW lithium-ion battery project at our Gateway Center retail complex in Brooklyn to efficiently store energy behind the meter at scale and export the power to support the grid.

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Environmental Efforts

Innovative execution

Our deep commitment to sustainable design, extensive experience in green building and reputation for innovation has made us one of the leaders in environmentally conscious real estate. Some of our commitments to green building are:

  • We developed one of the nation’s first LEED GOLD green residential high-rises in 2004.
  • We completed another 36 LEED Silver, Gold and Platinum certified properties.
  • We accredited 3 of the first 10 ENERGY STAR labeled residential buildings in the U.S. and currently own 69 ENERGY STAR qualified buildings.
  • We built the tallest and largest Passive House certified building in the U.S. in 2018.
  • We developed the world’s largest Platinum-certified LEED-CS v2009 development at 10 Hudson Yards.
  • We completed 10% of all the BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ projects in the United Kingdom.
  • We currently have over 25 additional projects working toward certification, including three neighborhood developments.
Environmental Milestones
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Hudson Yards is Manhattan's first Leed Gold Neighborhood Development and 10 Hudson Yards is its first LEED Platinum certified office building
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Vintage Crossings is the first LEED Platinum affordable community in Anaheim, CA
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Hudson Yards collects 10 million gallons of stormwater to reuse per year
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Cornell Tech is the tallest passive house certified building in the world
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Six of our market rate rental assets use stormwater harvesting systems to collect stormwater for reuse in each building—each site avoids over 1 million gallons of sewer outflow and potable water usage every year
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Time Warner Center's reduction of waste and recycling contamination led to a BOMA TOBY (The Office Building of the Year) AWARD
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Cornell Tech on Roosevelt Island

Related developed the tallest passive house certified building in the world for Cornell Tech. The 352-unit, 26-floor student and faculty housing building is designed to reduce energy use by 70% relative to code by adhering to the framework of the most stringent energy certification program in the world—Passive House.

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10 Hudson Yards

10 Hudson Yards is New York’s first LEED Platinum-certified commercial office building and was the first commercial office building in New York to receive such a rating after the LEED v2009 rating system went into effect. The 895-foot-tall tower features a 1.2 MW cogeneration plant that generates power, hot water and chilled water with twice the efficiency of standard systems and remains operational even in the event of a power outage.

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Hudson Yards

Hudson Yards’ Eastern Yard is designated Manhattan’s first LEED-ND Gold-certified neighborhood. Highlights include its innovative microgrid with two cogeneration plants that save 25,000 MT of CO2e emissions each year, a rainwater reclamation system saving 10 million gallons of drinking water annually, as well as public transportation linkages and pedestrian-friendly community design.