Page 1 - New England Condominium September 2021

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