Energy Efficient Building Codes Bill Promises to Reduce Energy Usage, ‘Green’ NY’s Building Stock

ALBANY, N.Y. — Asssemblymember Patricia Fahy (D — Albany) today introduced legislation requiring utility companies and owners of large buildings to report and benchmark energy usage data. The bill would then require state regulators to use this data to update the state building efficiency code.

“You can’t manage what you can’t measure,” said Assemblymember Patricia Fahy. “New York’s building stock accounts for over half of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions and fossil fuel consumption. Requiring new energy efficiency standards in large building codes based on the resulting energy usage data is a small but essential step that will ensure the state is on path to meet our climate goals. This will help to ‘green’ our existing and future building stock with smart, cost-effective, and energy efficient designs.”

Energy usage and fossil fuel consumption from the U.S. building stock accounts for nearly half of all greenhouse gas emissions, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).1 According to the New York State Energy Research and Development Agency (NYSERDA), 56% of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions are produced by residential, industrial and commercial buildings, with the lion’s share emanating from industrial and commercial buildings. Although building stock is often overlooked, it remains a major contributor to the overarching climate crisis.

Measuring building efficiency works, the City of Boston implemented similar benchmarking requirements in 2008, which resulted in large-scale energy efficiency retrofits that have significantly helped put Boston on its path to become carbon-neutral by 2050. Similarly, New York City’s adoption of its ‘Green Code’ in 2009, this requires NYSERDA to implement energy efficiency standards based on these findings would result in significant reductions in carbon and fossil fuel consumption and energy usage from the state’s building stock. This would help to accelerate New York’s move toward a carbon-free electricity system and an 85% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 as laid out in the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.

Anne Reynolds, Executive Director of the Alliance for Clean Energy New York stated, “Assemblywoman Fahy’s bill is a simple, great idea. When people know how much energy a building uses, they will take the next step to reduce energy use. And when you buy a building, shouldn’t you have the right to know what the energy bill will be?”