IN-PERSON: Livable Cities – New York

Abstract

To meet climate, energy performance, and clean air urban goals, municipalities have been moving from prescriptive to performative targets. One leading example of this change is New York City Local Law 97 of 2019 (LL97). LL97 is an important case study of its scale and depth. This overview of LL97 examines the law’s strengths and weaknesses. It looks for a way that educational institutions can learn from this project and how it can be used as a model for other municipalities. LL97 benchmarks energy consumption. Energy consumption is translated into greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions based on the type of energy utilized by the property. Typically, this requires all buildings over 25,000 ft² to reduce the GHG associated with their energy use, 40% by 2030, and 80% by 2050 depending on their occupancy usage. An estimated 50,000 buildings, representing 60% of the city’s building area and account for about 30% of the city’s total emissions. Starting in 2024 LL97 imposes fines for exceeding the GHG caps. These fees can range from $268 by 2030 to $2680 per metric ton of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2050. As a performance performative benchmark, there are many ways to achieve these GHG savings. Analyzing, proposing, and executing these methods is an ongoing area of research opportunities for academic and practical collaboration. The challenge to meet these goals can begin in the performance success rates of buildings starting to address these issues and in the number of buildings failing to achieve their energy standard goals.