A new package of legislation will promote Greener, Greater Buildings in New York City. Once implemented, the legislation will reduce citywide greenhouse gas emissions by 4.75 percent.

In order to meet the PlaNYC goal of reducing New York City's overall greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2030, it will be necessary to dramatically increase energy efficiency in existing buildings. Approximately 80 percent of New York City’s carbon footprint comes from buildings’ energy use, and 85 percent of the buildings that exist today will be in use in 2030. The four bills passed include:

• Int. No. 564-A: Legislation that creates a New York City Energy Code that existing buildings will have to meet whenever they make renovations;
• Int. No. 476-A: Legislation that requires large buildings owners to make an annual benchmark analysis of energy consumption so that owners, tenants, and potential tenants can compare buildings’ energy consumption;
• Int. No. 973-A: Legislation that requires large commercial buildings (over 50,000 square feet) to upgrade their lighting and sub-meter tenant spaces over 10,000 square feet; and
• Int. No. 967-A: Legislation that requires large private buildings to conduct energy audits once every decade and implement energy efficient maintenance practices. Also, all city-owned buildings over 10,000 sq ft will be required to conduct audits and complete energy retrofits that pay for themselves within 7-years.

In addition to the legislation, the Greener, Greater Buildings Plan includes a workforce development group of real estate, labor, and others that will identify the skills needed and ensure that sufficient training opportunities exist to fill the estimated 17,880 construction and building-related jobs the legislation will create. 

Carl Pope, President of the Sierra Club praised the legislation saying: “Coming during the first days of the Copenhagen climate summit, this package will send out a ray of hope to a world increasingly worried that the challenges of climate change are simply too great for our leaders to meet. The bills passed in New York today are the most comprehensive and aggressive local legislation undertaken by a major city in America to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”  www.nyc.gov

For commentary on the Greener, Greater Buildings legislation, see Nancy Anderson's column at www.sallan.org

Over 100 energy efficiency retrofit projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and energy costs are already in progress in New York City owned buildings under the City's Long-Term Plan to Reduce Energy Consumption and Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Municipal Buildings and Operations. 

Implementation of the long-term plan will require an estimated $2.3 billion investment over nine years, of which over $900 million has already been committed by the City.

Last month, the City received an additional $87 million of Federal stimulus money through funding opportunities including the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) and State Energy Program (SEP). The Federal block grant funds will support the City’s initiatives to conduct building energy audits, retrofit and retro-commission buildings with new technologies, and implement an operations and maintenance strategy. In addition, Federal funding will support other efforts such as:

• Clean Distributed Generation: feasibility assessments and engineering studies to assess the potential for combined heat and power technologies that could be sited in and around the most heavily energy-consuming City facilities;
• Boiler Fuel Catalysts: Installation of fuel catalysts and economizers at 200 schools with residual oil burning boilers to reduce fuel use;
• Revolving Loan Fund: A pilot revolving loan program, which is part of the City’s Greener, Greater Buildings Plan, to help capital-constrained building owners access funds to invest in commercially reasonable energy efficiency retrofits.

The long-term plan is being implemented by the new DCAS Division of Energy Management, which will also work with other City agencies on additional greenhouse gas emission reductions opportunities, including improvements to fleet operations, wastewater treatment plants, new construction, and street lighting. www.nyc.gov