In most major cities in the US, transportation produces the bulk of emissions. In New York City, 68% of emissions come from buildings. Almost half of those emissions come from only 2% of buildings. To counter this, the city needs aggressive retrofits to make existing buildings more efficient.
The Mayor’s Office of Sustainability works on a range of programs to improve the energy efficiency of buildings throughout New York City. This includes establishing public buildings as models of sustainability, strengthening requirements for new construction and renovation, and ensuring that benefits are equally shared throughout New York City. Our green building initiatives aim to make homes more affordable, improve air quality, and create a thriving market with new jobs and new businesses. Learn more about the city’s building efficiency programs here: https://www1.nyc.gov/html/gbee/html/home/home.shtml
The Retrofit Accelerator is the flagship of the City’s green building plan. We offer targeted outreach and free, personalized advisory services to help building owners streamline the process of improving energy and water efficiency. The result is lower costs, greater comfort, and of course environmental protection. Community Retrofit works with smaller buildings to deliver similar services. Learn more about the program and how it can help your building here: https://retrofitaccelerator.cityofnewyork.us/
The NYC Benchmarking law (read here: https://www1.nyc.gov/html/gbee/downloads/pdf/nycbenchmarkinglaw.pdf) requires owners of large buildings to annually measure their energy and water consumption in a process called benchmarking. This data is publicly available, and allows building owners to compare their water and energy usage to comparable buildings, and tracks progress year over year. MOS uses benchmarking data to develop reports, inform energy efficiency policy, and create free resources that help building owners save energy and money. Learn more at https://www1.nyc.gov/html/gbee/html/plan/ll84.shtml