Sustainable Sets a Buzzy Topic as More Studios and Productions Go Green

variety.com:

Gregg Goldstein With climate change and pollution making environmental concerns more urgent than ever, studios and productions are taking a lead role in incorporating sustainability into the workplace.

And in some cases, it’s a necessity. Indeed, the AFM has a green filmmaking panel set for Nov. 3. As New York City experiences a boom in studio construction, for example, recent legislation requires most buildings that exceed 25,000-gross-square-feet to meet new energy efficiency standards and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030 and 80% by 2050 through solar panels, green roofs and other methods. “Studios have a unique opportunity with green roofs, because we’re typically low buildings with flat roofs,” says Silvercup Studios director of studio construction and capital projects Josh Sager.

Sager, a New York City department of environmental protection vet, notes that Silvercup was one of the first adopters of green roof technology in 2005. “It helps clean the air, reduce storm-water runoff, lower energy consumption and reduce the ‘heat island effect’” found in urban areas, he says.

Robert Halmi’s Great Point Media is taking a novel approach to sustainability at its Lionsgate Studios Yonkers and Great Point Studios Buffalo in upstate New York, as well as its upcoming Atlanta and Newark, N.J., studios, by creating organic gardens on their green roofs for the food they serve.