Columbia Law School Center for Climate Change Law: New York City Announces Program to Test Green Products in City-Owned Buildings

   By J. Cullen Howe, Environmental Law Specialist, Arnold & Porter LLP

In May 2011, New York City announced that it is accepting applications for the Municipal Entrepreneurial Testing System (METS), a new program that will allow startup companies to test green products, such as smart meters and renewable energy technologies, in city-owned properties.  According to the city, METS will help clean-tech companies market their products more quickly, green the city, and create new jobs for New Yorkers who manufacture, sell and install these new technologies.

According to the city, applications should target products that have the potential to cost-effectively improve the environmental performance of city-owned buildings and/or sites.  Specifically, it is looking for products in 14 specific areas: lighting; HVAC and lighting controls and sensors; meters, sub-meters, and related measuring and monitoring software; HVAC and service hot water systems; building management systems; energy and plug load management systems; renewable energy (solar PV, solar heating, wind, geothermal); envelope technologies, including roof, wall, fenestration, foundation and assembly systems; clean distributed generation, including combined heat and power; lab and fume hood technologies; interior finishes and/or furnishings that reduce toxic indoor gases; water efficiency, including recycling systems and uses; storm water management in buildings and sites; and analytical tools and software.

A panel of specialists will review the proposals and select finalists based on feasibility, scalability, cost-effectiveness, compliance with current laws, and other criteria.  The city also intends to forward particularly promising applications to building owners and outside investment groups.

Interested companies must submit a 1-page letter of intent by May 27 and a full 5-page application by June 30, 2011.  Additional details are available here about the Municipal Entrepreneurial Testing System RFA.

Reprinted with permission from Green Building Law Update Service.

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J. Cullen Howe is an environmental law specialist at Arnold & Porter LLP. Much of Cullen's work focuses on climate change, where he attempts to educate lawyers and the public at large on the enormous cooperation necessary to adequately address this problem. In addition to his work on climate change, Cullen is the managing editor of Environmental Law in New York, edits the Environmental Law Practice Guide, Brownfields Law and Practice, the Environmental Impact Review in New York, and has drafted chapters in the Environmental Law Practice Guide on climate change and green building. Mr. Howe is a graduate of Vermont Law School, where he was the managing editor of the Vermont Law Review, and a graduate of DePauw University, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

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