Because of New York City's density, 75% of carbon emissions come from buildings, according to Wegowise. For this reason, the city, along with a handful of others (Austin, Washington D.C., San Francisco, Seattle) is emerging as a leader in documenting its buildings’ energy use through Local Law 84 of its Greener, Greater Buildings plan, initiated in December of 2009. The law states that buildings over 50,000 square feet are required to submit an annual energy benchmark using the EPA’s Portfolio Manager tool. In 2011, there was a 75% compliance rate. The New York City Local Law 84 Benchmarking Report of August 2012 provided many insights based on collecting this data, including that New York City has an average rating of 64 (performing better than 64% of buildings nationally), that multifamily and office buildings dominate the energy usage profile, at 50% and 33.3% respectively, and that a 9% and 15% reduction in energy use and GHG emissions respectively could be achieved by bringing the largest buildings to a 75 score, “very cost-effectively through improved operations and maintenance”.

Local Law 84 has several purposes: to help building owners measure progress, to collect data for better understanding of energy efficiency, and to act as a tool for investors who are interested in retrofits.

AGRION will convene an expert panel to discuss in detail the goals of Local Law 84, the difficulties encountered in acquiring the data, the expected and unexpected consequences of the disclosure of the results, and other related subjects.

Speakers:

Marc Zuluaga, Steven Winter Associates, VP and Director of Multifamily Services

Fiona Cousins, Arup, Principal

Hilary Beber, NYC Mayor's Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability, Policy Advisor

Michael Bobker, CUNY Institute for Urban Systems, Senior Fellow (Moderator)

Pace Ralli, SCIenergy, Principal, Energy Efficiency Catalyst Fund

Event Announcement