For what has been an unusually mild winter so far, many New Yorkers may have climate change on their minds. New York City has been at the forefront of adopting stringent carbon emission reduction and energy-saving standards for its one million or so buildings. While New York City and the State of New York, in general, were relatively late to enacting energy codes a decade ago, we have quickly caught up to our West Coast counterparts and, in some ways, are surpassing them.
New York City will have a new Energy Conservation Code beginning on May 12 that will go beyond the national standards it is based upon. Developers have until that date to submit completed plans to the Department of Buildings (DOB) if they plan to build their structures under the current 2016 New York City Energy Conservation Code (NYCECC). The 2020 NYCECC is based on a so-called “stretch” version of the new state energy code. The new City energy code and state stretch codes are based on a highly modified version of the 2018 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC), which is published by the International Code Council (ICC).
If that wasn’t enough acronyms and standards to keep in mind, it’s worth noting that the city energy code also incorporates the optional code Standard 90.1-2016, as published by the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE). Developers have and will continue to be able to choose either Standard 90.1 or the regular energy code as compliance paths for their buildings to follow.
While the state stretch energy code is optional outside the five boroughs, the city’s energy code will be mandatory within them. The changes made to the 2018 IECC by the state stretch code are also carried over into the city’s local version of ASHRAE 90.1-2016, so both compliance paths will lead to the same result — an approximate 20% targeted reduction in energy use over the current code and therefore, carbon emissions.
While the reduced energy consumption will be good for owners who seek to hold on to their properties, there will be more significant costs to comply up front. One example is interior lighting, which is now strict that most lighting must be LED to comply with the lowered lighting wattage allowances in the new code. Windows and walls will also need to be better insulated.
While the broader industry is becoming familiar to more stringent standards as energy codes have been updated every few years, the industry may not be used to the stricter limits that will be imposed on glass buildings. As a focus of the De Blasio administration, the new energy code will make the construction of glass buildings harder simply by limiting how much a glass building can fail certain “prescriptive” code requirements. Under older versions of the NYCECC, a building could be as glass-clad as its designers wanted, provided annual energy costs stayed below a certain amount. By providing more efficient lighting and air conditioning systems, a glass building could spend the same or less in a year on energy than its prescriptive counterpart, making it compliant.
Now, architects submitting plans for glass buildings will have to submit additional documentation to the DOB showing their envelopes are within a maximum failure percentage — 15% max failure for multifamily buildings and 7% for all others — in order to be granted plan approval. Glass buildings may be forced to incorporate triple glazing, more opaque wall areas with continuous insulation to prevent thermal bridges, or a combination of both to get their plans approved.
In addition to these compliance measures, designers and developers will also have to document whole building energy usage and identify thermal bridges on drawings. While energy usage monitoring has existed in some form for many years with the city’s benchmarking law, what is totally new is the documenting of thermal bridges — such as balconies, window lintels and other conductive elements that allow heat to easily leave a building in the middle of winter.
Taken together, whole building energy monitoring and thermal bridge documentation will be used to inform and refine future versions of the city energy code. This could look like Germany’s Passive House standards, which restrict how many thermal bridges are allowed in a building’s exterior.
While this may sound drastic, none amount to the paradigm shift that is the city’s carbon emissions law, Local Law 97 of 2019, which is the first of its kind. While the new NYCECC will make buildings more efficient, Local Law 97 will restrict how much carbon buildings over 25,000 square feet can emit beginning in 2024. Even the most efficient buildings could face millions of dollars in fines if their occupants keep their foot on the proverbial gas pedal.
Designing efficient buildings to avoid these penalties will, therefore, make Local Law 97 the real energy code standard in the five boroughs for the foreseeable future.
Mario Auriuso is co-CEO and principal of New York City-based MBE Code & Zoning LLC, with over 25 years of experience in the industry.
