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Types of Projects: A Rainbow of Green • 57

subject of a study by Mt. Sinai School of Medicine on the effects of living
in a green building on families who suffer from asthma.
The building will feature an array of sealed turbine components need-
ing no lubrication, each rated at one kilowatt and having a 40- to 50-year
life span. The turbines are mounted on its parapet walls, a system recently
approved by Con Edison (New York City’s power company). On the plus
side, small wind power projects can produce “clean” power with no harm-
ful emissions. If the building has a good wind source, the costs of the
mini-wind farm may well be offset by the savings in energy off the Con
Ed grid.
As we said before, this is breaking new ground. There hasn’t been much
time to evaluate the project, so no one knows how successful a mini-wind
farm will be, how many wind power devices will be needed, what is the
best way to site a device, how much weight is ultimately involved, or even
a good method to measure the wind on top of a building. There is no good
process developed, yet. Since the first tours of The Eltona took place in July
2009, it is too early to tell how successful generating needed power to the
building will be, although Blue Sea Development Company, responsible for
the building’s construction, says it has done enough research to conclude
that the effort is worth the investment. It is certainly something to watch.
A slightly different take on GBD is the Green Allowance (GA) Project,
founded and led by Paul Reale. It is a very clever project combining eco-
nomic incentive with limiting the use of scare resources. It is a human
“green” project. No, not the Hulk, but rather a project intended to produce
a change in behavior. The focus of the project is to encourage children to
“help” their parents conserve energy and make a deal to participate in
the energy savings. Children will be provided with very specific tips and
techniques to educate their parents. Those tips and techniques will not
be given rapid-fire to the children, but rather, presented in manageable
blocks. The first iteration will be on how to help conserve electricity. Later
iterations of the project will be focused on conserving water and other
limited resources. The reasoning behind giving children a few things at
a time is so they are not overwhelmed with the effort, something that all
project managers should take into consideration, whether children are
involved or not. Additionally, the GA Project will provide tracking meth-
ods on their Web site, http://www.greenallowance.org, so that children
can record and track their energy-saving efforts.
The payoff for the children will come in the deal that they make with
their parents. As an example, if the monthly electric bill shows a savings