New York, NY

It's up to you. Three days of inspiration, education and skills development for sustainability leaders
The 2012 Sustainable Operations Summit will take place at the Hilton New York. The Hilton New York offers modern hotel accommodations just steps from top NYC attractions. Step outside this exquisite Midtown hotel and find yourself within blocks of Central Park, Times Square, the Theatre district, public transportation and so much more.
The Hilton New York is at the forefront of sustainability. To learn about their initiatives visit: www.newyorkhiltonhotel.com/sustainability/
We have negotiated a special rate with the Hilton New York for attendees of SOS12. To resreve your stay at the summit rate, click here.
Take in the NYC skyline from the water aboard the Hornblower Hybrid, the greenest vessel to sail New York harbor, at the official networking party of SOS 2012! This state of the art ship runs on renewable power generated by hydrogen fuel cells, solar panels and wind turbines. These sustainable features and more make it a fitting venue for a night of networking and letting loose with your newfound peers. To learn more about the Hornblower please visit bit.ly/hornblowerhybrid
*The Hornblower Networking Cruise requires separate registration at a cost of $99. You must be a registered attendee of the summit in order to attend this cruise. Click here to secure your ticket. Space is limited!
What better way to kick off the summit than by spending 3 hours taking in NYC from the 61st floor of the Empire State Building with other green minded business professionals! To complement the amazing views, there will be a pop-up installation of the Lexicon of Sustainability photo project as well as small bites and an open bar to help with the icebreaking process.
We have arranged a number of guided tours for attendees of the Sustainable Operations Summit that will showcase Sustainability in Action in NYC. Locations include: The World Trade Center Site, Empire State Building, Bank of America Tower at One Bryant Park, The High Line and a Bike Tour to Brooklyn Bridge Park. These tours will bookend the summit on the afternoons of Tuesday, April 17th and Thursday, April 19th. Tour registrations are limited and on a first come-first served basis. Once you register for the summit we will provide access to reserve your space at these tours.
New York City is easily accessible from 3 area airports:
Public Transportation Options:
JFK and Newark are both serviced by the AirTrain. Operating 24 hours a day, AirTrain provides easy, fast and economical connections to New York City and it's world renowned public transportation system.
Public transportation between Laguardia Airport and Manhattan is available via the M60 Bus. Connections can be made with all North-South subway lines.
For detailed public transportation information click here.
Official Travel Partners:
If the subway can't get you there, Hertz can. Rent spontaneously and sustainably with Hertz On Demand®. Green vehicles available 24/7, by the hour or by the day.
When in town visit one of NYC's greenest destinations: The High Line. The High Line was built in the 1930s, as part of a massive public-private infrastructure project called the West Side Improvement. It lifted freight traffic 30 feet in the air, removing dangerous trains from the streets of Manhattan's largest industrial district. No trains have run on the High Line since 1980. Friends of the High Line, a community-based non-profit group, formed in 1999 when the historic structure was under threat of demolition. Friends of the High Line works in partnership with the City of New York to preserve and maintain the structure as an elevated public park. The project gained the City's support in 2002. The High Line south of 30th Street was donated to the City by CSX Transportation Inc. in 2005. The design team of landscape architects James Corner Field Operations, with architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro, created the High Line's public landscape with guidance from a diverse community of High Line supporters. Construction on the park began in 2006. The first section, from Gansevoort Street to West 20th Street, opened June 9, 2009. The second section, from West 20th Street to West 30th Street, is projected to open in spring, 2011.
To learn more visit: www.thehighline.org
The Empire State Building symbolizes America's limitless potential. Today the building is undergoing a major sustainability retrofit to become a leading example of economic and environmental revitalization. Consulting, design, and construction partners Clinton Climate Initiative, Johnson Controls Inc., Jones Lang LaSalle, NYSERDA, and Rocky Mountain Institute recently completed an eight-month modeling and analysis project which will save 38 percent of the building's energy and $4.4 million annually. Creating a leading example for the design of commercial retrofits was at heart a learning experience for the team. In the process of developing specific project recommendations, the team uncovered several key lessons for the retrofit of large multi-tenant commercial office buildings.
Visit www.esbtour.com to learn more about the retrofit of the Empire State Building!
In case you haven't heard, since 2007 NYC has added over 260 miles of bicycle lanes to streets in all five boroughs. Therefore doubling the citywide on-street bike network while reshaping the city's streets to make them safer for everyone who uses them.
View the Official NYC Bike Map by clicking here
Brooklyn Bowl is the world's first LEED certified bowling alley and live music venue which redefines the entertainment experience for the 21st century. Centered around a 16-lane bowling alley, 600-capacity performance venue with live music 7 nights a week, and food by Blue Ribbon, Brooklyn Bowl stakes out expansive new territory, literally and conceptually, in the 23,000-square foot former Hecla Iron Works (1882), one block from the burgeoning Williamsburg waterfront.
Green Credentials: * 100% Wind-powered electricity * Forest Stewardship Counsel (FSC) Chain of Custody controlled wood * Pin-spotters use 75% less energy than a typical pin-spotter * No bottles, no cans. All our soft drinks and beers are on tap. * Our 10 draught beers are all brewed locally in Brooklyn, New York. * LED stage lights use 90% less energy than the typical draw * Energy Star Certification wherever possible * HVAC Johnson Controls are the most efficient units available * HVAC also features CO2 sensors, variable frequency drive motors, air-side economizers. * Four “Big Ass Fans” brand ten-foot fans to augment HVAC system * 100% reclaimed cork floors in Bowler’s Lounge * Stage floor is 100% recycled truck tires * 30+ capacity bike racks * 16 trees planted in and around property
Visit their website for more information: www.brooklynbowl.com/info/green-commitment/
Bell Book & Candle is New York City's first rooftop to table restaurant. The food program at BBC revolves around local, organic, sustainable and overall responsible procurement. The menu cycles are seasonal and heavily influenced on production from the aeroponic roof-top tower garden.
Visit their website for more info: www.bbandcnyc.com
The beginnings of Brooklyn Bridge Park have already become a treasured urban oasis. Offering spectacular views of downtown Manhattan and the New York Harbor, Pier 1, Pier 6, the Main Street Lot, and the Empire-Fulton Ferry section of the park have attracted thousands of visitors. These park sections are the setting for our activities and events but also offer green space for picnics, playground fun, an afternoon siesta, and sports of all kinds.
A major sustainability objective of Brooklyn Bridge Park is to re-use as much of the site structures as possible, to preserve the cultural legacy of the site and reduce the resources expended in its transformation. The programming layout for the park is based on the structural capacity of marine infrastructure, dictating that heavier, infrastructure-dependent program elements be located on land, while programming for the pile-supported piers is guided by what the existing structures were capable of supporting. New park-related uses are introduced without overwhelming the structural capacity of the individual piers.
To learn more and download a self guided tour of the sustainable elements of the park visit: www.brooklynbridgeparknyc.org/sustainability
A flea market by day and rollicking outdoor boîte by night, the seasonal Habana Outpost is a business with a conscience. From your seat at one of the picnic benches—made from recycled lumber—under multicolored umbrellas, you can see the solar panels, which help keep the lights on, and the bike-powered blender, which helps produce the slushy cocktails.
757 Fulton Street, Brooklyn (The corner of Fulton & South Portland)
www.cafehabana.com/doing-good/green-facts
Dine at a Smörgås Chef Restaurant
From the WSJ:
Sourcing food locally can be a challenge for New York restaurants offering exotic cuisines. The lure of a lingonberry, say, is weighed against the social and environmental costs of importing cases across international lines. So, the owners of Smörgås Chef, a Scandinavian restaurant group in the city, came up with an unusual solution last December: create their own farm at the base of the Catskill Mountains to grow ingredients commonly used in Nordic cooking.
Nearly a year and $1.5 million later—spent to purchase and renovate a historic 150-acre property in Scoharie County—Blenheim Hill Farm is operational, supplying up to 400 pounds of produce a month to its four Manhattan restaurants, including dill, cucumbers and at least nine varieties of lettuce. Hundreds of maple trees have produced more than 1,000 gallons of sap to be distilled into maple syrup, and farmers have already harvested 10 Finnish lambs.
Read the full article here: