Voltaic Solaire retrofits old New York City building to city’s first net-zero structure
After a retrofit, a dilapidated 3,000 sf building in New York become the city’s first net-zero energy structure. Green developer Voltaic Solaire outfitted the building's facade with thin-film PVs and solar thermal tubes for hot water, and installed a roof awning with solar panels. The solar thermal tubes preheat water before it flows with gravity to point-of-use heaters that take it the next few degrees. That eliminates the need for a large boiler in the basement and extensive pumps to get water from the ground level to the fifth floor.