To reach its aggressive sustainability goals, New York City needs to do more than improve new construction and renovations.  It has to proactively address energy waste in existing multi-family and commercial buildings.  It turns out that the city’s square footage is highly concentrated in less than two percent of its properties; two percent translates into roughly 15,000 properties over 50,000 square feet, which account for almost half of New York City’s square footage and 74% of New York City’s total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. 

To address these issues, New York City enacted a comprehensive effort, called the Greener, Greater, Buildings Plan (GGBP), which targets energy efficiency in these large existing buildings.  The City’s signature effort in energy efficiency is an internationally recognized policy.  GGBP is designed to ensure that information about energy is provided to decision-makers and that the most cost-effective energy efficiency measures are pursued. 

GGBP consist of (4) regulatory compliance codes.  They include;

     1) Local Law 84:  Benchmarking.  Local Law 84 requires an annual benchmark of energy and water consumption.

     2) Local Law 85: NYC Energy Conservation Code (NYCECC).  New York City’s local energy code.

     3) Local Law 87: Energy Audits & Retro-commissioning:  Buildings over 50,000 square feet are mandated to conduct an energy audit and retro-commissioning analysis and submit an energy efficiency report to the Department of Buildings every 10 years.

     4) Local Law 88: Lighting & Sub-metering.  By 2025, the lighting in the non-residential space must be upgraded to meet code and large commercial tenants must be provided with sub-meters.   

According to the city, the enactment of these local laws will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by almost five percent, have a net savings of $7 billion dollars, and create roughly 18,000 construction related jobs over ten years.