As part of our annual Earth Day celebrations, we’re highlighting Beach Green Dunes II, one of the most energy-efficient and resilient projects in our portfolio.

Beach Green officially opened in early 2020 and received its Passive House certification (PHUS) in mid-2020. It is one of the largest passive house projects in the U.S and a model for sustainable, affordable multifamily housing developments.

The 127-unit, fully affordable building in Far Rockway has been operational for more than a year and made some significant energy savings. Beach Green Dunes II was designed and built using Passive House principles, which reduces energy consumption from the outset and requires very little energy use for heating or cooling. The building is also equipped with photovoltaic cells and a geothermal heating and cooling system. This multifaceted approach has created an extremely energy-efficient building and reduced energy costs for residents.

To date, the solar panels alone have saved more than 190,00 lbs. of CO2 emissions, which is the equivalent of planting about 1,444 trees. Thanks to Passive House, the overall electrical consumption has been reduced, and residents pay about $10 per month during the summer for cooling costs. And overall, the tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, or tCO2e, is approximately 264 per year. This puts us on track to meet the City’s ten-year plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from buildings by 30 percent below 2005 levels by 2025.

Read this story from Curbed to learn more about how L+M utilizes Passive House principles on our projects, including Beach Green and Sendero Verde, another of our multifamily projects.