The New York City Council held a public hearing on the proposed “Greener, Greater Buildings Plan” announced by the Mayor and Speaker on Earth Day. The plan is designed to require ongoing efficiency improvements in existing large buildings, which consume nearly half of the city’s energy.

PlaNYC sets a goal of achieving a 30 percent reduction in New York City’s annual greenhouse gas emissions below 2005 levels by 2030. Since 80 percent of the city's emissions result from energy use in buildings, the plan is designed to improve the energy efficiency of New York City’s buildings. Since in 2030, 85 percent of the city's energy use is projected to come from buildings that already exist today, we cannot simply rely on new buildings to be more efficient. (www.nyc.gov - April 22 press release)

To ensure that existing buildings become more efficient over time, the proposed plan has six components: http://www.nyc.gov/html/planyc2030/html/plan/buildings_plan.shtml

a New York City Energy Code that existing buildings will have to meet whenever they make renovations; lighting legislation that requires commercial buildings of 50,000 square feet or more to upgrade their lighting to more energy-efficient systems that pay for themselves through energy savings; 'benchmarking' legislation that requires buildings of 50,000 square feet or more to make an annual analysis of energy consumption so building owners can better understand what steps they can take to increase efficiency; energy audit requirements which buildings of 50,000 square feet or more must conduct once every ten years and make any improvements that pay for themselves within five years; green workforce development training', a jobs program that will work with the real estate and construction industries to train the workforce that will fill the estimated 19,000 construction jobs the legislation will create; and a green building financing program that will use Federal stimulus money to provide loans for property owners to pay the upfront costs for the efficiency upgrades that eventually pay for themselves. See Nancy Anderson's commentary on the bills at www.sallan.org/newviews/archives/2009/04/002730.php
www.sallan.org/newviews/archives/2009/07/002971.php