{"id":833,"date":"2024-11-22T22:02:13","date_gmt":"2024-11-23T02:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thecotocongroup.com\/?p=833"},"modified":"2026-02-03T09:06:35","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T09:06:35","slug":"new-york-city-buildings-entering-a-new-era-of-decarbonization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thecotocongroup.com\/blog\/new-york-city-buildings-entering-a-new-era-of-decarbonization\/","title":{"rendered":"New York City Buildings \u2013 A New Era of Decarbonization"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Building owners are facing Multimillion-dollar fines. How will New York city achieve the GHG EUI Emission targets?<\/em><\/p>\n

We recently crossed the one-year anniversary of the passage of perhaps the most ambitious law ever adopted by New York City to reduce carbon emissions from buildings.<\/p>\n

Local Law 97<\/a>, one of 10 bills in the Climate Mobilization Act, requires New York City\u2019s 50,000 largest buildings to reduce their carbon emissions by 40 percent by 2030 and by 80 percent by 2050. Non-Compliant buildings will face multimillion-dollar fines starting from 2024.<\/p>\n

With New York City staying indoors due to COVID-19, electricity demand in New York City has declined by as much as 18 percent compared to typical levels. When life returns to normal and electricity demand comes back to the normal level, the first emissions compliance deadline will still loom at large for New York City\u2019s building owners.<\/p>\n

How can one comply with these laws and what are the implications of these laws? Read on to know more as New York City enters A New Era of Decarbonization<\/p>\n

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<\/span>The Need for Decarbonization<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n

New York City will need to be in a state of urgency for its decarbonization due to alarming climate data. This data informs us of rising sea levels and reduced air quality that will harm city infrastructure and public health. Buildings consume the lion’s share of New York’s energy for heating, cooling and lighting, which necessitates changing the building sector to cope with the city\u2019s climate goals.<\/span><\/p>\n

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<\/span>Building Energy Audit<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

What is an Energy Audit?<\/p>\n

An Energy Audit is the process of identification, survey and the analysis of Energy usage in a building. Its purpose is to optimize the energy usage of the system i.e. Keeping the outputs the same while reducing the energy consumption. A successful energy audit results in energy and cost saving while also reducing the overall carbon footprint.<\/p>\n

During an energy audit, health and safety are the primary concerns, while reducing energy consumption and maintaining human comfort. An energy audit seeks to prioritize the energy uses according to the most cost-effective technique while keeping in mind the comfort levels.<\/p>\n

Under Local Law 97, buildings larger than 25,000 square feet are required to meet emissions caps beginning in 2024. The 50,000 covered buildings \u2014 out of 1 million total buildings in New York City \u2014 account for about 60 percent of both the city\u2019s floor area and building emissions.<\/p>\n

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<\/span>The Shift to All-Electric Structures<\/b><\/span><\/h4>\n

Decarbonization aims to incentivize all-electric buildings in the city of New York as part of its strategy. The city’s Gas Free NYC plan envisions shutting down fossil fuel connections for all new buildings. In their place, buildings would use electric-only systems powered by renewable energy coming from something such as the sun or wind. This would eliminate greenhouse gases, and at the same time, it would improve indoor air quality because it will be no longer polluted by the products that come from burning natural gas.<\/span><\/p>\n

Incorporating electric heat pumps at the core of this strategy, such systems have an increased heating and cooling effectiveness, with significant research also being conducted to make them environmentally friendly alternatives to HVAC systems. As technology advances and costs decrease, more buildings will be making this transition.<\/span><\/p>\n

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<\/span>Multimillion-dollar penalties<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

Local Law 97 has to be universally accepted by the building owners. In case of non-compliance, Building owners face fines of $268 per ton of emissions above their designated cap beginning in 2024. Fines could reach as high as $5 million annually for individual buildings.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

<\/span>Retro-Commissioning \u2013 Cost Effective Way to Save Energy<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

Retro-Commissioning (RCx)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Retro-Commissioning<\/a> is an existing building system process for investigating, analysing, and optimizing building systems performance. The Retro-Commissioning process ensures building systems perform interactively to meet the Current Facility Requirements<\/a> (CFR) and provides the tools to support the continuous improvement of system performance over time through the implementation of low\/no cost and capital intensive Facility Improvement Measures<\/a> (FIMs).<\/p>\n

The\u00a0 majority of existing buildings have not undergone any type of commissioning or quality assurance process. Additionally, over time the facility requirements change and the operational efficiencies of buildings tend to degrade. Because of these factors, many buildings are performing well below their potential, use more energy than necessary, and cost more to operate than they should.<\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text]Benefits of Retro-Commissioning<\/strong><\/p>\n