What is Local Law 87?

Local Law 87 is part of a package of four laws known as the “Greener, Greater Buildings Plan,” which were enacted in December 2009 to improve the energy and water efficiency of New York City’s largest buildings. Local Law 87 requires property owners to audit energy use and retro-commission their buildings every 10 years, as well as submit an “Energy Efficiency Report” to the NYC Department of Buildings (DOB) documenting the results.

What is an energy audit?

An energy audit is a systematic analysis of a building’s energy equipment and systems to identify cost-effective capital improvements that will save energy. An energy audit report provides a list of recommended strategies to save energy, along with an estimate of their cost and payback. Local Law 87 requires property owners to receive an energy audit but does NOT require them to follow the recommendations described therein. 

What is retro-commissioning?

Retro-commissioning is the testing and tune-up of existing building systems to confirm they are operating as designed and as efficiently as possible. Retro-commissioning commonly identifies maintenance, calibration and operations errors that are easily corrected and, when implemented, typically amount to significant energy savings and improvement in equipment reliability. Often the retro-commissioning process will make apparent issues that originate from the building’s construction or a subsequent renovation. Any operations measures revealed through retro-commissioning as not in compliance with the Law must be rectified.

Local Law 87 only requires energy audits and retro-commissioning of “base building systems” which includes, but is not limited to, the building envelope, HVAC systems, elevators and escalators, domestic hot water supply, and electrical and lighting systems. Neither the energy audit nor retro-commissioning include equipment owned by tenants or used for industrial processes within the building.

Who is responsible for complying with Local Law 87?

Property owners, including co-ops and condo boards, are ultimately responsible for complying with the Law. However, many of these parties have property managers to whom they can delegate administration of the compliance work. This work includes hiring and supervising consultants to conduct the energy audit and retro-commissioning, as well as submitting the “Energy Efficiency Report” to the Department of Buildings.  The property manager may also be tasked with reviewing the consultant’s reports and recommending follow up action to the owner or co-op/condo board.

How will Local Law 87 be enforced?

The Department of Buildings is responsible for the enforcement of Local law 87.  Failure to comply with Local Law 87 will be deemed a Class 2 violation, subjecting property owners to fines of $3,000 for the first year and $5,000 for each additional year of non-compliance. The Department of Buildings (DOB) intends to conduct random reviews of documents submitted under the Law.

There are three basic steps to ensure compliance with Local Law 87:

• Energy Audit: The energy audit is performed by a certified engineer at the building that is due for compliance.   At its most basic, the audit consists of a comprehensive evaluation of all of the building's energy systems. This can include heating, water, lighting, electric and any other system that may be contributing to the building's overall energy usage. After gathering this information, the engineer will construct a thorough audit that evaluates the building's performance and makes a calculated series of recommendations on how to increase overall energy efficiency in the building.

• Retro-Commissioning: Using the information gathered from the audit, a retro-commissioning engineer identifies certain deficiencies in the building's base energy systems that in accordance with LL87 must be fixed or upgraded. Typically, these are low-cost to no-cost items.  The goal of retro-commissioning is to optimize the performance of existing systems without having to completely replace them.

• Energy Efficiency Report: The Energy Efficiency Report consists of both the energy audit report and retro-commissioning report. This is the final report that is issued to the Department of Buildings to ensure that the building is compliant with Local Law 87.