Page 1 - CooperatorNews New York September 2021
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September 2021 
                      COOPERATORNEWS.COM 
Frank van Mierlo, CEO of 1366 Technologies Inc., a company based  
in Bedford, Massachusetts, that is at the forefront of solar technology  
development 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 certain  
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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 architectural  
fi rm based in New York. “For communities  
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 re- 
quires 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 technology  
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 reduc- 
tion in the cost of manufacturing and installing photovoltaic modules. One of these experts is  
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 in- 
terested party. They are appointed for  
various reasons, but usually it’s when the  
New Green Tech for the  
Multifamily Sector 
Shiny, Tiny…& Brainy 
BY DARCEY GERSTEIN 
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 
continued on page 14  
continued on page 12  
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