Looking Back to Move Forward: Understanding NYC Energy Trends Through Benchmarking
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Because large and midsize buildings are responsible for over half of New York City’s building emissions, understanding the benchmarked data provides necessary insight for how we will achieve a zero carbon future. On January 26, panelists from Urban Green Council and the NYC Mayor’s Office of Sustainability met for a virtual discussion, The Benchmarking Report: NYC’s Energy and Water Use. Panelists shared findings on NYC’s energy use trends and discussed whether buildings are on track to meet the city’s climate goals. Speakers from Urban Green and the Mayor’s Office presented their research findings regarding greenhouse gas emissions from the building sector and evaluated what these trends mean for building efficiency.
Sean Brennan (Urban Green) opened by explaining benchmarking, which requires building owners to record energy and water use in their buildings on an annual basis. Beyond the data collected, this regulatory tool has increased awareness of the issues of energy efficiency and pollution simply through the process of data collection itself. NYC now benchmarks over 25,000 properties, the equivalent of 3.1 billion square feet, making it the largest benchmarking city in the country. Brennan explained that the data showed a 23 percent decline in emissions from large buildings since 2010, which is attributed to factors such as fuel switching, lower energy use, and cleaner electricity generation. Brennan also explained how NYC buildings are currently on track to hit the Local Law 97 40x30 goal, which aims to reduce emissions by 40 percent by 2030. This trend makes the larger goal of 80x50 a feasible target for the city.
Ross MacWhinney (NYC Mayor’s Office) explained how NYC has been publishing annual citywide GHG inventories since 2007. These results, required by Local Law 22 of 2008, are important because they help track emission sources (including stationary energy, transportation, and waste) and how to reduce them. For example, the inventory results show that stationary energy (buildings) accounts for 68 percent of emissions, transportation 28 percent, and waste 4 percent. In addition, the GHG inventory results illustrate a significant decline in the prevalence of #6 oil use in buildings. Only around 89 properties still rely on this fuel, two-thirds of which are located in the Bronx and Manhattan. In order to improve the electricity emission accounting method, the Mayor’s Office:
reassessed the weighting of upstate electricity generation;
performed quality assurance for each year dating back to 2005;
ended the practice of assuming 100 percent of contracted power reached the city;
included emissions from old, dirty generation sources which were not originally included in the baseline, since the data was not available.
MacWhinney also highlighted the recent effects of extreme weather and its ability to drive emissions trends year to year. Dramatic temperature highs and lows, which we can anticipate more of due to climate change, pose a greater challenge to energy reductions.
NYC’s benchmarking data illustrates the city’s progress towards a carbon neutral future, and reveals the unique challenges of reducing building emissions depending on building size, location, occupancy, and relevant policy. Although it is unclear whether future reductions will result from changing tenant behavior or upgrading the base building energy systems, raising awareness about the issue and the possibility for change remains essential. As the public continues to be exposed to this information, they become more invested in the fate of NYC’s climate and in building a sustainable future for us all.
