A Day in the Life of USGBCNY’s Russell Unger

By Diane Greer

Russell Unger, executive director of the New York Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council, wants to make green building the norm in New York City.

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To date, most green buildings in New York are high-end, private-sector projects built as prototypes. “This is great as an initial driver for green building, but we have not impacted general building in the city,” Unger says.

Unger and his organization are embarking on initiatives designed to tell New Yorkers why and how to build green.

The job isn’t easy. “When you are trying to change something and make a difference, there is no end to what you can do, but there are limits to your resources,” Unger says.

His challenge is juggling the myriad of projects under way without dropping any of the balls. He credits his staff for keeping him on track.

Before becoming executive director in 2007, Unger worked in the New York City Mayor’s Office of Contract Services as the assistant director and special counsel for environmental procurement. He was responsible for implementing the city’s environmentally preferred purchasing program.

Russell Unger, Executive Director of the New York Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBCNY), conferring with Yetsuh Frank, Director of Programs.

The preferred purchasing legislation was written by Unger when he served as special adviser on sustainable development to then-City Council Speaker Gifford Miller and as legislative counsel for three City Council committees.

“I don’t know if getting hired to implement the law was meant as a complement or a punishment,” he jokes. “It was a wonderful experience to see something taken from conception as an idea, to a bill, to a law and then seeing what it actually takes to implement the legislation.”

During his four years with the City Council, Unger drafted and led negotiations on numerous environmental laws, including the city’s green building law, which was passed in January 2007 as Local Law 86.

On the Job

The particular Wednesday I tagged along with Unger was typical of most of his days, filled with a mix of green-building events, in-person meetings, conference calls and mountains of e-mails.

The day starts at 8:30 in the training room at Bovis Lend Lease’s Park Avenue office where Unger moderates an educational session, “Weathering the Storm,” intended to help design firms survive and thrive during the recession. This is one of 80-plus educational programs USGBCNY is running this year.

Robert Fox, partner at Cook + Fox, New York, kicks off the session by discussing lessons he learned during the last four recessions. A brainstorming session follows, with Unger eliciting ideas from the attendees on sharing information, pooling resources and cutting costs.

Next stop is the New York State Association for Affordable Housing Conference at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square, where Unger is a panelist at a workshop on utilizing green materials in affordable housing.

Unger tells the audience that it’s possible to build green and stay within budget, but there have to be some tradeoffs. “Green building faces two challenges, costs and expertise,” he says.

Unger adds that green products will cost more as long as green building remains a niche practice with only a subset of the construction industry using the products. He says mandates requiring green building are needed because they will increase the demand for green products and drive down their costs.

Returning to his office, Unger shifts his attention to the task list on his BlackBerry. “I have a running to-do list with enough to keep three people busy for a week,” he says.

Today’s priorities include calling prominent industry people to pitch speaking engagements for USGBCNY’s Urban Green Expo in the fall. “We are really excited about the expo,” Unger says. “It gives us the opportunity to put together a first-class educational program on a theme that we think is essential, retrofitting existing urban buildings.”

A second item reminds him to review suggested modifications to proposed standards for volatile organic compounds in building materials. Lawyers are making changes to building code proposals based on the work of the Green Codes Task Force, and “I am reviewing these changes to make sure they are technical refinements and not substantive changes,” he says.

Unger’s days are filled with a mixture of green building events, in-person meetings, phone calls and mountains of emails.

Wrapping up the work of the GCTF is Unger’s top priority. Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn asked USGBCNY to convene the task force in July 2008 to help green the laws and regulations governing city construction. Eight technical committees made up of over 170 green building experts are going through the code, identifying barriers to implementing green building and enhancements needed in the building code. Recommendations are due this summer.

“It is a massive effort,” Unger says. “It reflects our strength as an organization and technical expertise of our membership that we were able to call upon national leaders in green building issues to develop the task force.”

Next up on Unger’s schedule is a call to a contact in Vancouver to discuss dual-flush toilets. Vancouver now mandates the toilets in new construction.

“One of the technical committees is considering requiring dual-flush toilets, but we are getting push-back from industry,” he says. “I would like to hear what they [Vancouver] has to say.”

In between phone calls Unger dashes off to a meeting at the mayor’s office with representatives from the city’s Department of Environmental Protetion to hear their perspective on GCTF proposals affecting stormwater mitigation and water efficiency.

Later in the afternoon he meets with the executive committee of his board. A top agenda item is the Green Construction Trades training courses. Committees of union representatives, contractors, architects, engineers and curriculum experts have spent a year and a half developing the courses, which are intended to teach green building skills to the building trades and contractors.

Focus is now shifting to distributing the course materials. Initial indications are that demand for the materials will be strong, which is good, but Unger is concerned about handling all the requests to use the materials.

The executive committee also discusses the New York organization’s rebranding as the Urban Green Council. “When people hear the USGBC name, it gives us immediate credibility, but it makes it hard for us to take credit as a separate organization for the work we are doing, like developing the training course,” Unger says. The separate identity is required if the organization is to build the kind of support and financial base required to continue the work, he adds.

Unger envisions disseminating the resources and solutions developed in New York to other USGBC chapters. “We see ourselves as an urban laboratory, with everything from skyscrapers to single-family homes,” he says. “The re-branding will provide an identity that reflects that urban focus.”

Unger ends the day at an event hosted by City Bakery called “Hungry New York: Synergies between Sustainable Food and Buildings.” The event is just one of the things in the week that stretches Unger’s workday until 9 or 10 p.m.

Unger clearly loves his job and the people he is working with. “There are so many great people involved with the industry,” he says. “They are smart, creative, committed and funny. It is really intellectually stimulating and incredibly fulfilling.