Commercial, Energy Efficiency  -  August 16, 2018

NYC landlords set energy reduction goal

A group of large New York real estate operators, including SL Green Realty Corp., Vornado Realty Trust and Related Cos., have agreed to a plan to reduce energy use in the city’s larger buildings by 20% percent by 2030.

 A report by Bloomberg said the plan would take the city’s 50,000-plus buildings of at least 25,000 square feet more than a third of the way to a city-backed goal of reducing greenhouse-gas emissions by 80% by 2050, according to the Urban Green Council, the New York affiliate of the nonprofit U.S. Green Building Council.

"We brought the most important building and energy stakeholders together around a framework to substantially reduce building energy use in New York City," said Russell Unger, the Urban Green Council’s executive director. Signatories also include Brookfield Property Partners LP, the Durst Organization, and Rudin Management Co. 

Bloomberg noted the plan includes a qualification, as it specifies that the signatories "accept the core ideas expressed here, even though some may not agree with the specifics of certain recommendations." In an interview, Unger called it "wiggle room by design."

In 2005, New York City was responsible for 61 million metric tons of greenhouse gases, about two-thirds of it from buildings. The city had reduced that number to 52 million metric tons by 2016.

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