With issues concerning the environment becoming a prominent topic of discussion even on coffee tables, it’s hard to believe how oblivious we are to the energy that shopping malls need. The malls that we hop around for shopping and rejuvenation are actually energy eating devils. It’s hard to even think of a shopping complex which would be environmentally responsible. But when it comes to real estate giant Robert Congel, anything is possible. By early next decade a landmark in the history of New York real estate is expected with the development of a mammoth 800 acre shopping mall complete with restaurants, hotels and any recreation that one could ask for under the sun. And, hold your breath; this all will be made possible without any dependence on fossil fuels! A 100% Green Mega Mall that would make even Mall of America appear smaller. Congel, a member of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Green Power Partnership, a director of Market Transformation to Sustainability, and a member of the US Green Building Council plans a massive 4.5 million-square-foot construction on a land(south shore of Onondaga Lake, the most polluted lake in America), once rejected as a real estate property. Approprately named Destiny USA, it is an addition to the Carousel Center shopping mall, the expansion would expand across Hiawatha Boulevard and reach all the way to the Syracuse Inner Harbor, a former Barge Canal terminal between the Carousel Center and Franklin Square. As the biodiesel powered bull dozers pave way for over 13,000 hotel rooms, an indoor aquarium, a water park, an indoor recreation of the Erie Canal, a stadium and performing arts centre, three golf courses, a 100 acre (400,000 m�) glass-enclosed indoor park, and a 20 acre (80,000 m�) artificial lake, all powered partly with electricity generated by its solar panel facade( the mall looks like green blades of grass soaring in the sky with green facades) and by hydro-electric turbines utilizing rainwater collected on the mega mall’s roof and fuell cells. The construction planned in three phases is due to be completed in 2012. The green side of the 1.3 million square feet Phase I is that Tangarie Energy will install sixteen, 5 kW drill-bit shaped wind turbines to produce about 64,000 – 84,000 kW hours of clean energy. Placed in the parking lot, the turbines are designed to work well in lower wind speeds and should provide about 30% of their energy needs. Developer Pyramid companies have far greener plans and want to achieve Leeds platinum certification, the highest certification for building sustainability. A unique green design though and seems like a path breaker in the real estate industry, but how successful the whole green project gets on, hopefully in 2012, Central New York will have a major tourist destination on a land that was once detested. Via: Jetsongreen
