Adding Light Spotlight: New York Local Law 87

The Adding Light Spotlight highlights people or organizations working to make our communities stronger, more resilient, and safer for our improved quality of life. Through the Spotlight, I hope to demonstrate that EVERYONE does not have to do EVERYTHING to make our world better as long as EVERYONE does SOMETHING.

In 2007, New York City released a plan to change the city's relationship with energy and both the natural and built environments. PlaNYC covered all aspects of city life and governance, and regardless where you live, you should take a look at the plan for the specific strategies our nation's largest city has identified as the best for people, business, and the health of the city. Although many aspects of the plan have great value, the Greener Greater Buildings Plan and specifically Local Law 87 show how energy efficiency and environmental improvement can make sense to a community looking to stay strong or get stronger.

Many cities approached energy efficiency through energy codes establishing levels of performance that new buildings must meet. Addressing new buildings (and major renovations of existing buildings) makes sense, however much of the building stock that will make up our cities at the middle of the century have already been built. Any plan to improve the energy use pattern of a city, and therefore its environmental footprint, must address existing buildings. New York City did just that with Local Law 87.

Local Law 87 requires two actions by owners of buildings over 50,000 square feet (of which New York has 15,000 making up over half of the total built environment in the city) to perform two actions: a retro-commissioning and an energy audit. The retro-commissioning process looks at the existing operation of the energy-consuming systems of the buildings to spot defects in systems and to recommend adjustments to operation that will save energy. (Commissioning is the process of quality control that ensures that something built will work the first day it is operated. The phrase got its origin in the commissioning of ships which had better work the first day. Retrocommissioning returns a building to that same point: operating as if it were new.) Energy auditing catalogues the energy use of the building, breaks that use down by the systems that require energy, and makes recommendations for investments and improvements that will reduce the energy need of the facility. For the purposes of the law, the audit must comply with the terms of an ASHRAE level II (American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers), The law requires owners to perform the audit and retro-commissioning every 10 years, and phases in the buildings over the 10 years from 2013-2022. Owners who wish to get ahead of the game can perform their audit and retrocommissioning prior to 2013, and will not have to perform it again until the next cycle starting in 2023 (which for some owners could mean they do not have to do it for another 20 years).

Both of these requirements sound great, and requiring owners to measure and report their energy use (which in combination with Local Law 84, this law does) as well as know their options for improving their usage will certainly drive some to make improvements. The law, however, does not require that an owner make any of the recommended improvements. Some recommendations from the retrocommissioning process have no cost associated with them, so one can safely assume the owner will implement. However, any investments identified by either process will compete with direct business investment. New York City has identified this obstacle, and has developed a tool to help overcome it: the New York Energy Efficiency Corporation (NYEEC). The NYEEC, a non-profit corporation, partners with investor entities and energy service companies to facilitate funding for the projects identified in the energy audits. The owners make a commitment to use proceeds from any energy savings to pay down the original investment.

The implementation of Local Law 87 has three main benefits. First, as stated previously, it puts building efficiency in the forefront of the owner's mind, at least long enough to hopefully inspire action. Second, implementation of any of the recommendations reduces the energy use of the building and local area; this reduction paves the way for new load within the community, or for an overall reduced reliance on source of energy outside the community. Third, the work to perform the audits and retrocommissioning tasks requires local labor with skills in the building construction and operation trades. These jobs cannot be outsources, and are most cost-effectively done by local tradespeople with skills in building construction or operation. Everyone benefits.

Take a longer look at the Local Law 87, and PlaNYC. You will find many interesting opportunities for your community as you embark on a mission to change your relationship with energy and to mitigate the resulting environmental impact....and you could create much needed local jobs in the process.