Energy / New York, New York: 2010 Smarter City - Energy

For its innovative and effective conservation programs that have reduced demand, New York City has come to the fore as a Smarter City for energy. These programs are just part of New York’s overarching global warming plan, which requires that the city reduce emissions of heat-trapping pollutants by 30 percent from 2005 levels by 2030 while municipal operations must meet this goal by 2017. The city now has its own Division of Energy Management to oversee this effort. To ensure it meets its commitments, the city conducts annual greenhouse gas inventories for both municipal and citywide emissions. Citywide carbon emissions decreased 3.5% in 2008 compared to 2007 and since 2005 they have declined 9%, falling from 58.6 to 53.3 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. Discounting reductions due to milder than normal weather, the total decline was 4.4%.

In particular, the city’s outreach to residents and businesses has been effective. As part of its Greener, Greater Buildings Plan, Steven Caputo, a policy advisor in the Mayor's Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability, points out that “The City now requires energy audits on a ten year basis for buildings over 50,000 square feet.” This is far from trivial—while other cities have focused on savings from new buildings, addressing emissions from buildings already here and that will be standing for decades to come is critical, according to Donna DeCostanza, senior attorney at NRDC. “The City’s groundbreaking Greener, Greater Buildings legislation is one of the most comprehensive and aggressive efforts in the nation to reduce energy consumption in existing buildings,” says DeCostanza, adding, “It clearly demonstrates New York City’s leadership in the fight against climate change and the important role that cities can play on this issue.” According to Caputo, “The City is currently working with Con Edison to ensure the utility’s ability to provide whole building energy data to up to 22,000 covered buildings” to meet a requirement that these building over 50,000 square feet also benchmark their energy consumption annually

Throughout New York’s history, the mismatched priorities of building owners and tenants have impeded energy conservation efforts in apartment buildings. Landlords have had no incentive to weatherize properly since they see little return for investment and tenants have few options to improve their home’s performance. The city is now developing a pilot program for “energy aligned leases” in commercial buildings that will allow landlords to amortize the costs of making energy efficiency upgrades and pass those costs through to the tenants to the extent of the energy savings that they enjoy as a result of the improvements, according to Greg Hale, senior financial policy specialist for NRDC.

Many have also noted the potential New York’s sea of rooftops has for generating solar power. The city is now working with the Solar America Cities Initiative funded by the U.S. Department of Energy to expand solar production throughout the city. Beginning with an online map that will show residents how much photovoltaic (PV) power they could generate in their buildings, the city (along with the City University of New York and Con Edison) is creating “solar empowerment zones” in peak demand areas. Permitting for PV systems will be streamlined in the empowerment zones to facilitate their installation. Solar thermal is also getting a boost via a program to a 30% grant, up to $50,000 to commercial, institutional, and mixed-use buildings.