Since 2000 the Battery Park City Authority has instituted mandatory green guidelines for all new residential buildings. These mandatory guidelines "establish a process for the creation of environmentally responsible residential buildings that are appreciably ahead of current standards and practices for development."
Accordingly and several of its recent buildings have qualified for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) ratings from the U.S. Green Building Council.
One River Terrace is Battery Park's latest residential addition. At 320 ft (96m) and 31 storeys high, with 264 units, it is expected to win a platinum LEED rating.
Colt shading systems have made a contribution to this achievement. Around the top level plant room Colt has provided a series of architectural louvers to generate electrical power. These comprise Shadometal perforated metal architectural louvers to the north elevation, and movable and sun-tracking vertical Shadovoltaic pv solar panels to the south, east and west elevations.
These pv solar panels provide just over half of the building's 70 kWp electricity that is generated from photovoltaic cells. Furthermore, the movable louvers are controlled by a passive Girasol sun tracking system that is entirely autonomous.
