Mirel: 2023 Earth Day theme is “Invest in Our Planet” and we take our responsibility seriously

ALBANY – The Rosenblum Development Corporation, one of the largest owner-operators of commercial real estate in the Capital Region, today marked “Earth Day” by announcing it will double its onsite generation of solar energy, a significant step towards lowering the company’s carbon footprint.

Jeff Mirel, Principal of Rosenblum Development, said that with residential and commercial buildings accounting for 35% of carbon dioxide emissions in the United States, large property owners play an outsized role in reducing fossil fuel consumption by electrifying buildings and utilizing renewables.

“Climate change may be a global issue but it can only be addressed if each of us, through our businesses and as individuals, take steps locally to reduce our carbon footprint,” Mirel said.

Over the next 10 months, Rosenblum will install new rooftop solar arrays on seven additional buildings it owns in the Capital Region, bringing the total amount of solar power the company generates to more than 2.5 megawatts. Work has already begun to install solar panels on the rooftop 30A Post Road, a 60,000 square foot warehouse in Colonie.

Aries Power, an Albany-area distributed generation development company has worked with Rosenblum on all its solar installations to date and is providing turnkey development services including engineering, municipal, incentive, and utility approvals as well as construction, commissioning and warranty services.

“Rosenblum is out front prioritizing sustainability in the commercial space,” said Jason Allen, Director of Aries Power. “We are grateful to be a key member of the team helping them to decarbonize their portfolio.”

Rosenblum has established a 10-year goal to make all of its new development projects net-zero carbon. The company is currently constructing the first zero-emission midrise apartment building in downtown Albany at 745 Broadway, called Industrie.

A forthcoming multifamily project at 1818 5^th Avenue in Troy that will also use rooftop solar as well as an air-tight building envelope, fully electrified systems and smart building controls to achieve Passive House Institute U.S. (Phius) CORE certification, was selected as a winner in the third round of the New York State Energy Development Authority (NYSERDA) Buildings of Excellence competition. Buildings of Excellence recognizes and rewards the design, construction, and operation of clean, resilient, and carbon neutral-ready multifamily buildings. 1818 Fifth Avenue is Rosenblum’s second Buildings of Excellence project.

Since 1970, Earth Day has been celebrated each year on April 22 and is marked by more than a billion people as a day of action to change human behavior and create global, national and local policy changes.

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