New York to make public buildings more energy efficient

Mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio, has announced that the city has committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent over 2005 levels by 2050, starting with a sweeping plan to retrofit public and private buildings to dramatically reduce the city’s contributions to climate change, while spurring major cost savings and creating thousands of new jobs.

“New York City must continue to set the pace and provide the bold leadership that’s needed – and becoming the world’s largest city to commit to an 80 percent reduction in emissions by 2050 is central to that commitment,” said Mayor de Blasio. “By retrofitting all of our public buildings with significant energy use in the next ten years, we’re leading by example; and by partnering with the private sector, we’ll reduce emissions and improve efficiency while generating billions in savings and creating thousands of jobs for New Yorkers who need it most.”

Nearly three quarters of New York City’s greenhouse gas emissions come from energy used to heat, cool, and power buildings, making building retrofits a central component of any plan to dramatically reduce emissions. The initiative One City, Built to Last: Transforming New York City’s Buildings for A Low-Carbon Future will make direct investments to increase the efficiency of its public buildings, including schools and public housing.

Every single city-owned building with any significant energy use, approximately 3,000 buildings, will be retrofitted within the next ten years, by 2025, with interim goals along the way.

“I strongly support innovative efforts to make public housing more energy efficient and sustainable,” said Julián Castro, United States Housing and Urban Development Secretary. “Expanding the energy retrofit initiative in New York City would make an incredible contribution to this goal. This would also support our Climate Action Plan, which is aiming to cut energy waste by half in the residential sector. As funding for public housing decreases, we must find creative ways to invest in our communities.”

This plan is projected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an additional 3.4 million metric tonnes a year by 2025, an additional 10 percent reduction in building-based greenhouse gas emissions, equivalent to taking 715,000 vehicles off of the road. This will also generate cost-savings across the public and private sectors of more than US$1.4 billion a year by 2025, leading to US$8.5 billion in cumulative energy cost-savings over ten years. It’s anticipated that approximately 3,500 new jobs in construction and energy services will be created, in addition to the training of more than 7,000 building staff to upgrade their skills.