New York City’s Energy Efficiency Legislation Mandates Benchmarking, Energy Audits, and Retro-commissioning
In December 2009 Mayor Bloomberg signed into law major legislation passed by the City Council designed to improve the energy efficiency of New York City’s existing buildings. Known as the Greener, Greater Buildings Plan, the new legislation applies to buildings larger than 50,000 gross square feet, two or more buildings on the same tax lot totaling more than 100,000 gross square feet, or two or more buildings held in condominium ownership and governed by the same Board of Directors totaling more than 100,000 gross square feet. The plan consists of four local laws:
- Local Law 84/09 – Building Performance Benchmarking
- Local Law 85/09 – New Energy Conservation Code
- Local Law 87/09 – Energy Audit and Retro-commissioning
- Local Law 88/09 – Lighting Retrofits and Submetering
New York City’s energy efficiency legislation applies to buildings 50,000 square feet and larger.
Local Law 84/09 – Building Performance Benchmarking
Residential and commercial building owners are required to conduct an annual analysis of their water and energy use (which includes electricity, natural gas, fuel oil, and steam). The required information must be entered into a free online Portfolio Manager tool provided by the Environmental Protection Agency by May 1 of every year.
The Mayor’s Office of Long Term Planning and Sustainability publishes the data online so buildings can compare their energy use with themselves over time and with other buildings of similar size and type. Residential tenants will not be required to disclose information to a landlord.
Local Law 85/09 – Energy Conservation Code for New York City
Under New York State’s Energy Code, alterations or renovations made to less than 50% of an existing building’s system or subsystem do not need to comply with the Energy Code. For example, if the lighting were being replaced on nine floors of a 20-story building, it would not be subject to the State’s Energy Code’s lighting provisions. As a result of this loophole, many New York City property owners making small or moderate alterations to their buildings previously did not have to implement energy-efficient measures.
The 22,000 buildings in New York City with more than 50,000 gross square feet account for 45% of the city’s total floor space and energy consumption.
New York City’s Energy Conservation Code overrides the state code’s “50% Rule.” With the passage of Local Law 85/09, plans for building renovations and upgrades, including ones constituting less than 50% of a system or subsystem, now must include an energy analysis demonstrating how the project complies with New York City’s Energy Conservation Code. Requiring all renovation work to conform to the City’s more stringent Energy Code, regardless of the size of the project, will promote greater energy efficiency in New York City properties.
Local Law 87/09 – Energy Audit and Retro-commissioning
This local law requires property owners to: 1) have an energy audit conducted on their base-building systems; 2) undertake energy-efficient maintenance practices as part of retro-commissioning; 3) file an Energy Efficiency Report with the New York City Buildings Department every 10 years.
Energy Audit:
The audit must comply with a Level 2 American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) 90.1, 2004 Standards energy audit. The audit is used to identify and develop measures to improve the energy efficiency of those systems. The base-building systems include:
- Building envelope (facades and roofs)
- Heating, ventilating, and air conditioning
- Conveying (elevators and escalators)
- Domestic hot water
- Electrical and lighting
Retro-commissioning:
Following the energy audit, the owner is required to correct any deficiencies in the base-building system through a process called retro-commissioning.
Energy audits identify measures to improve the energy efficiency of building systems.
Retro-commissioning includes basic maintenance and repair measures such as cleaning HVAC ducts and vents; adjusting and calibrating equipment sensors and controls; tuning boilers; making sure that motors, fans, and pumps are in good operating condition; and keeping permits, maintenance records, and other documentation updated and organized. The retro-commissioning process, which typically pays for itself within a year, does not include major capital improvement projects.
Energy-Efficiency Report:
After completing the retro-commissioning, the building owner must file an energy-efficiency report with the city. The report includes the findings of the energy audit and documentation that the corrective retro-commissioning measures identified in the audit have been taken. The filing deadline for the energy efficiency report corresponds to the last digit of the building’s block number.
| Last digit of tax block | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Year first EER is due | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
Buildings with block numbers ending in 3 were the first group required to file their energy efficiency reports under the new legislation—their filing deadline was December 31, 2013. Buildings with block numbers ending in 4 will file by December 31, 2014; buildings with block numbers ending in 5 will file by December 31, 2015, and so on.
The energy audit can be completed up to four years before the energy efficiency report is filed to give building owners enough lead time to correct any deficiencies in the base-building systems as specified in the retro-commissioning requirement. In addition, implementing basic maintenance and repair measures will enable owners to start reaping the benefits and cost savings of a more energy efficient property.
Local Law 88/09 – Lighting Retrofits and Submetering
Commercial buildings—but not residential ones—will be required to upgrade their lighting systems to comply with the new standards in New York City’s Energy Conservation Code by 2025. Lighting system elements include lighting controls (interior lighting controls, light reduction controls, and automatic lighting shutoff), tandem wiring, exit signs, interior lighting power requirements, and exterior lighting.
Commercial buildings must also install submeters in tenant spaces larger than 10,000 square feet by 2025. A submeter, which measures the electrical usage in a defined space in the building (as opposed to a master meter, which measures electrical use of the whole building), enables owners to apportion electrical costs based on how much electricity individual tenants use. Tenants will receive a monthly statement showing how much electricity they used and how much they were charged for it.
For More Information
If you have questions on how the Greener, Greater Buildings Plan affects your property, please contact RAND at 212-675-8844; info@randpc.com. We will determine when your building’s energy efficiency report is due and provide you with a complementary proposal for an energy audit for your building.
For more information on the Greener, Greater Buildings Plan, visit www.nyc.gov/ggbp.