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September 2021                  NEWENGLANDCONDO.COM  205 Lexington Avenue, NY, NY 10016 • CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED  THE CONDO, HOA & CO-OP RESOURCE  CONDOMINIUM  NEW ENGLAND  In the beginning … there was light. And all this time later, we are fi nally harnessing   light’s energy to power our cities, our buildings, and our everyday devices—mostly because   all of the energy sources we’ve used until now emit incalculable amounts of carbon and   other dangerous particles into the atmosphere, causing what is now widely understood to   be a global climate catastrophe.   While the light was good, it was also expensive. Capturing energy from the sun requires   acres and acres of enormous photovoltaic panels. Storage and distribution of that energy   requires yet another set of costly infrastructure. And scaling and applying this technology   to an off -the-grid cabin in the woods is much diff erent from getting it to power an 80-story   high-rise in a large city.   But over the last few decades—and particularly over the last few years, as we’ve reached   our climate reckoning in the wake of disasters of near-biblical proportions—the technol-  ogy and components for making and providing non-fossil-burning power are becoming   cheaper, smarter, and more widely available.    The Solar Scale  Experts in the fi eld of clean energy contend that the last 20 years have seen a huge   reduction in the cost of manufacturing and installing photovoltaic modules. One of these   experts is Frank van Mierlo, CEO of 1366 Technologies Inc., a company based in Bedford,   NEW ENGLAND’S BIGGEST & BEST   CONDO, HOA & APT EXPO!  THE NEW ENGLAND  CONDOMINIUM  EXPO  2021  WHERE BUILDINGS MEET SERVICES  BOSTON CONVENTION CENTER — TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 10-3:30  FREE REGISTRATION: NE-EXPO.COM  LIVE AND IN PERSON  Climate Change   & Residential   Communities  A New Reality Raises   New Challenges  BY A. J. SIDRANSKY  Receiverships &   Conservatorships 101   Understanding a Powerful   Legal Tool  BY A. J. SIDRANSKY  Th  e reality of climate change is upon us.   Weather patterns have changed, and sea-  sons have been altered. We experience more   intense heat, more frequent, destructive   storms, wide-ranging wildfi res, and more   destructive cold. Tornadoes—the spawn of   confl icting hot and cold air masses—touch   down in places they were once almost un-  heard of. What was scientifi c prognostica-  tion only a few years ago has become reality.   It’s also a reality that most of the structures   that house our homes—particularly high-  rise multifamily buildings—were not de-  signed for these types of changing climate   events. While that’s a chilling thought, to-  day’s communities have no choice but to   deal with that reality, as well as plan for   what may be ahead.   The New Reality  Perhaps the two most pressing and dra-  matic ramifi cations of climate change fac-  ing our communities today are the rise in   sea level, and the increasing intensity and   frequency of severe storms. More concern-  ingly, these two events overlap, causing even   greater peril, which is particularly severe for   communities built along our coasts.  “Th  e biggest issue is along our water-  fronts,”  says  Kevin  Keating,  an  architect   with Selldorf Architects, a global architec-  Between the tragedy of the Surfside   condominium collapse in Florida and   the subsequent placement of the associa-  tion in receivership, as well as the flurry   of recent press around popstar Britney   Spears’s yearslong struggle against her   own financial and legal conservatorship   situation, many may be confused—or   just curious—about what exactly those   terms mean, and how both an entity like   a condo association and a private indi-  vidual can be in the same legal ballpark.   While it’s rare for an entire multifamily   community to be placed in receivership,   conservatorships for individual residents   are much more common—so it’s helpful   for both boards and residents to have a   basic understanding of both processes,   how they come about, and how they may   change with a given set of circumstances.   Fundamentally, when a property or   individual finds itself or themselves in   a situation that threatens the continued   economic viability of the asset or estate,   our laws provide a level of supervised   assistance from qualified  third  parties   to help restore and preserve that viabil-  ity. In the case of real property, that as-  sistance is known as receivership. In the   case of an individual, it is known as con-  servatorship  or  guardianship. In  both   cases, the goal is to stabilize and preserve   the value of the real property and/or the   personal estate.  Receivership  William D. McCracken, a partner with   Manhattan-based law firm Ganfer Shore   Leeds & Zauderer, defines receivership   as  follows:  “A  receiver,  most  broadly, is   an officer of the court appointed to step   into the shoes of an owner or other inter-  ested party. They are appointed for vari-  New Green Tech for the   Multifamily Sector  Shiny, Tiny…& Brainy  BY DARCEY GERSTEIN  continued on page 12   continued on page 10   Massachusetts, that is at the forefront of solar technology develop-  ment and production. In a recent podcast called “Th  e Science of   Solar,” Mierlo states that the fi rst solar technology was developed   in 1954 by Bell Labs. At that time, a solar panel’s cost per kilowatt-  hour was about $10. Today, he says, it’s about 4¢ to 5¢.   According to Mierlo, the material of a solar panel acts as a semi-  conductor, which processes electricity in a way that wastes a cer-  continued on page 8


































































































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