--- title: Times Article on Casa Pasiva Showcases PACE-friendly ECMs description: "New York Times, “New York’s Real Climate Challenge: Fixing Its Aging Buildings” shows the Casa Pasiva development project in Brooklyn, NY." image: https://www.nycpace.info/hubfs/minisplits%20multihousing.jpg --- [![nyc-pace-info-logo-with-csre-and-capalino---round-corners](https://www.nycpace.info/hubfs/nyc-pace-info-logo-with-csre-and-capalino---round-corners.png)](https://www.nycpace.info) - [About NYCPACE.info](https://www.nycpace.info/about) - [For Builders](https://www.nycpace.info/nyc-pace-for-professionals) - [For Developers](https://www.nycpace.info/nyc-pace-for-developers) - [For Property Owners](https://www.nycpace.info/nyc-pace-for-property-owners) - [Industry News](https://www.nycpace.info/blog) - [Get Started](https://intake.counterpointesre.com/index.php?r=application/eligibilityCheck) - [Contact Us](https://www.nycpace.info/contact) # Times Article on Casa Pasiva Showcases PACE-friendly ECMs [Adam Moskowitz](https://www.nycpace.info/blog/author/adam-moskowitz) Jan 5, 2021 10:09:52 PM ![](https://www.nycpace.info/hubfs/minisplits%20multihousing.jpg) Patrick Sission’s piece, [“New York’s Real Climate Challenge: Fixing Its Aging Buildings”](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/29/business/new-york-passive-house-retrofit.html?smtyp=cur&smid=tw-nytmetro) in the New York Times points to the Casa Pasiva development by RiseBoro Community Partnership in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn as the embodiment of the opportunity to be embraced when it comes to the retrofit of New York City’s building stock. “When it comes to solving the climate crisis in New York, the real challenge lies in the city’s decades-old structures,” he writes. The Casa Pasiva approach featured in the article significantly changes the building envelope of older buildings by wrapping them similar to the technique of Dutch innovator [Energiesprong](https://energiesprong.org/). While literally thickening exterior walls, designers use that opportunity to run new HVAC on the outside of the building to achieve electrification.  In the case of Casa Pasiva, this means routing lines air sourced heat pumps on what was the exterior of the building, then covering them for a minimally intrusive retrofit - the buildings are occupied.  Sission points out that such energy retrofits “have become the focus of many climate plans, but funding for such projects has not always followed.”   While the Casa Pasiva project did receive $1.8 million in financing from  RetrofitNY, an NYSERDA program, other similar projects could tap the emerging PACE program as a source of private investment capital for such energy-saving measures.   The four-story 46-unit building is 90 years old and is projected to reduce energy use by 60-80 percent through the improvements, per RetrofitNY’s [article on the property](https://www.nyserda.ny.gov/All-Programs/Programs/RetrofitNY/All-RetrofitNY-Articles/Improve-Your-Bottom-Line). [RetrofitNY](https://www.nycpace.info/blog/tag/retrofitny) [Casa Pasiva](https://www.nycpace.info/blog/tag/casa-pasiva) [NYSERDA](https://www.nycpace.info/blog/tag/nyserda) ## Related Posts ### [Jan 5, 2021 2:55:26 PM PACE Lessons Learned From Other Cities](https://www.nycpace.info/blog/pace-lessons-from-other-cities) ### [Oct 14, 2022 4:48:03 PM Commercial Observer: "Welcome to NYC, C-PACE"](https://www.nycpace.info/blog/commercial-observer-welcome-to-nyc-c-pace) ### [Jun 17, 2021 12:18:58 PM First NYC PACE Deal Funds at $89 Million for 111 Wall Street](https://www.nycpace.info/blog/first-nyc-pace-deal-funds-at-89-million-for-111-wall-st) ![nyc-pace_logo-w](https://www.nycpace.info/hubfs/nyc-pace_logo-w.png) NycPACE.info provides information about the NYC PACE program. 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