Advice provided by: Maya Camou, LEED AP, Maya3Design

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Part of Plan NYC’s GGBP is a concentration on existing building’s energy and water efficiency. Why a concentration on existing buildings? Buildings make up about 75% of NYC’s carbon emissions and by 2030 existing buildings will make up of 85% of the city's real estate. There are 4 laws that building owners and managers need to be aware of and understand. The Laws are as Follows:

Local Law 85, NYC Energy Conservation Code: Compliance went into effect July 2010

LL 85 states that all additional, renovations and repairs need to comply with requirements of the International Energy Conservation Code. This affects all buildings types. Now, all renovations must meet the Energy Conservation Code regardless of the extent of total renovation. Renovations that include changes to a mechanical system requiring a permit, or that add conditioned space, must also comply.

Local Law 87, Energy Audits and Rerto-commissioning: compliance for some area’s starts in 2013

LL87 states that building owners must undergo both an energy use audit and a retro-commissioning of their central systems, including the building envelope, HVAC systems, conveying systems, domestic hot water systems, and electrical and lighting systems. Reports must be submitted to the city Department of Finance every 10 years, beginning in 2013. The calendar year in which a building owner must file with the city corresponds to the facility’s tax block number. If a building that needs to comply at a later year as per the tax block number but complies on 2013 they would only need to comply to the letter of the law in that year and will have 10 years to comply to the more stringent laws that will be coming out.

Local Law 88, Lighting Upgrades and Sub-metering: Compliance by 2025

LL88 states that buildings over 50,000 square feet be brought up to lighting standards in the New York City Energy Conservation Code by Jan. 1, 2025. The law also requires major tenant spaces – larger than 10,000 square feet – to be electrically submetered by Jan. 1, 2025. At that point, building owners must provide tenants with monthly electrical consumption data and charges.

Local Law 84, Benchmarking Energy and Water Usage: Compliance needs to be met by May 1st 2011

This Law was created to help owners manage their energy usage and make that information public. If an owner cannot manage what is not measured, benchmarking helps to manage energy use in the building. This initiative requires buildings in the GGBP to assess their energy and water use annually, using the free ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager tool link at www.nyc.gov/ggbp. The city has created is a new benchmarking hotline available as of April 1st 2011 to answer any questions and aid in the Portfolio Manager site. This can be reached by calling 311 and asking for building owners & managers benchmarking information. After the information is imputed the owners must then submit their benchmarking results to the city Department of Finance by May 1 each year, using an OLTPS form. Metrics include:

- An energy utilization index: This information can be acquired from the utility company for a small fee

- An example for information at con ed contact them at citybenchmarking@coned.com

- Water use per gross square foot

- A rating comparing energy and water use to similar buildings

- A comparison of reports for the building over multiple years.

The annual benchmarking information will then be published to be public on the following dates:

Sept 1st 2001 – City Building info
Sept 1st 2012 – Non-residential Building info
Sept 1st 2013 – Residential Buildings

The Mayor’s office, the building department and other organizations such as The Urban Green Council have free information workshops to help in the understanding of the requirements. For more information and free training sessions check out www.nyc.gov/ggbp or www.urbangreencouncil.org/resources/benchmarking/

NYSERDA

NYSERDA has programs that can help with funding the Benchmarking, Energy Audits, and much more; check out their website for more information at www.nyserda.org

Just remember this organization does not know the letter of these laws, so when looking for funding on parts of the requirements, like benchmarking, a business owner or manager will have to understand the whole energy picture of their building to get help from the right program offered.

Overall these laws were made for owners to be able to understand and manage their energy use, while improving our built environment. Also, these buildings will be graded and made public for all to see. This will also benefit the real estate market in the future as prospective buyers will know the efficiency of the building they are buying and the cost savings they will have with that efficiency.

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