Following the lead of the New York state government’s commitment to clean energy, the City of New York has passed legislation to do their part to move toward a carbon-neutral future.

The Climate Mobilization Act (1253-2018), a set of bills which was passed overwhelmingly by City Council on April 18, 2019, includes several regulations that affect building owners and developers. The regulations focus on ‘building energy and emissions performance’ and will create a dedicated office within the department of buildings (DOB) whose duties will include, but not be limited to, overseeing the implementation of this legislation within existing buildings, major renovations and new construction alike. Here is an overview of what steps existing building owners (especially of large buildings) in New York City need to take in order to comply with these new mandates.

Since buildings are the source of about two-thirds of New York’s carbon emissions, a big part of the legislation is setting new standards for these buildings. The initiatives aim to decrease greenhouse gas emissions from city buildings by 40% (compared to 2005) in the next ten years, and 80% in the next 20 years. Greenhouse gasses include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, and others.

This ambitious timeline means energy-efficient retrofits will have to occur on a scale that has never been undertaken by an American city. While there are some exceptions, lengthened timelines and reduced requirements for certain building types, for the most part, any building 25,000 square feet or larger must eventually meet new standards. That’s at least 50,000 spaces in New York.

Buildings that are in the top 20% of producing emissions will only have five years to implement changes. Exceptions include electric and steam power generation plants, rent-stabilized apartments (temporarily), places of worship and non-profit hospitals.

Starting in 2024, owners will need to show that the annual emissions of their building did not exceed the limits set in the law. The limits are based on square feet and occupancy, calculating electricity consumed by the building. Limits are calculated as metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per square foot (tCO2e/sf). While certain health care and civic facilities will have limits as high as 0.01193 tCO2e/sf, occupancy groups S and U will have the lowest limits to meet, 0.00110 [limits for years 2030-2034]. For the years of 2024-2029, the limits for a commercial building occupancy group B such as office buildings is set at 0.00846 tCO2e/sf.

According to the Energy Information Administration the average office building used 15.9 kilowatt-hours of electricity per square foot in 2012 (EIA ‘table 3: Total electricity consumption and intensities, 2012’). Using the legislation’s calculations for electricity directly consumed from the utility grid, that works out to 0.00459 tCO2e/sf which is less than the maximum limit of 0.00848 tCO2e/sf mandated, so this seems to indicate that at least for now many modern office buildings will already be in line with the new legislation requirements for the years 2024-2029.

The limits are calculated for those using power delivered by the electrical grid. Those that make use of on-site generation, distributed energy or are not on the utility distribution system will have separate rules. And those using steam will have an easier time meeting the requirements, as the calculations for energy consumed are lower than those for electricity.

By December 31, 2024, building owners must show they have undertaken energy conservation measures, including the following:

• Adjusting temperature set points for heat and hot water to reflect appropriate space occupancy and facility requirements;
• Repairing all heating system leaks;
• Maintaining the heating system, including but not limited to ensuring that system component parts are clean and in good operating condition;
• Installing individual temperature controls or insulated radiator enclosures with temperature controls on all radiators;
• Insulating all pipes for heating and/or hot water;
• Insulating the steam system condensate tank or water tank;
• Installing indoor and outdoor heating system sensors and boiler controls to allow for proper set-points;
• Replacing or repairing all steam traps such that all are in working order;
• Installing or upgrading steam system master venting at the ends of mains, large horizontal pipes, and tops of risers, vertical pipes branching off a main;
• Upgrading lighting;
• Weatherizing and air sealing where appropriate, including windows and ductwork, with focus on whole-building insulation;
• Installing timers on exhaust fans;
• Installing radiant barriers behind all radiators;
• Putting solar panels and plants to create green roofs;
• Use of clean distributed energy resources, including hydropower, solar photovoltaics, geothermal wells or loops, tidal action, waves or water currents, and wind;
• Using energy storage solutions, such as batteries, thermal systems, mechanical systems, compressed air, and superconducting equipment.

The bill provides for the creation of a loan program for businesses to apply to, to undertake these efforts, and new incentive programs are expected to be created.

It will be possible to purchase offsets or renewable energy credits, for up to ten percent of annual emissions, from authorized, local providers.

The new Office of Building Energy and Emissions Performance will oversee the implementation and auditing of the laws and policies in existing buildings and new construction. That department will be issuing the protocols for monitoring energy use by buildings, and creating an online site for building owners to submit their emissions data.

An Advisory Board will include architects, engineers, a building owner or manager, a public utility industry representative, environmental justice and advocacy organization representatives, a business sector representative, residential tenant representatives and a construction trades representative. A separate commission formed in the legislation has until the end of 2022 to create a guide to delineate the responsibilities of the building designer and owners to comply with emissions limits.

The penalties for noncompliance include fees for emissions above set limits, though there may be some leniency if the owner can show due diligence in attempting to comply by investing in energy efficiency measures. Non-reporting could rack up fines of $25,000 a month or more, while those who lie in their reports could face up to $500,000 or imprisonment. So it’s important to plan ahead, and start early to figure out what steps you will take to comply with the new law. As a building owner or developer, consulting with your architect or engineer for building assessment is a good way to start this process and avoid a lot of headaches down the road.

Recently, a developer client of mine mentioned a planning headache he’s been experiencing. He plans mechanical and electrical infrastructure to meet the requirements for an incoming tenant. But when that tenant moves out, sometimes he rents the space to multiple tenants, who will have new needs and will require redistributing power and separate electrical meters and panels. Conversely, a new tenant may take over the space that was formerly housing multiple tenants.

These tasks can be relatively easy or extremely difficult depending on how the original electrical infrastructure of the base building was designed. In high-turnover commercial spaces for office or retail purposes, this is an especially relevant potential pain point that should be considered in the earliest planning stages.

This brings us to the concept of flexible buildings, also called adaptable buildings. These structures offer the ability for easier maintenance and upgrade over the course of their existence, hence reduction in cost and time expenditures that adaptations require. Flexible buildings provide another benefit: long-term sustainability. If a building can be adapted rather than destroyed and rebuilt, clearly that is better for the environment as well as the bottom line.

Other reasons flexible buildings make sense is that technology continues to change rapidly, and alongside it, tenant expectations for comfortable and safe environments.

Just as office partition systems are created to be flexible to facilitate changes, mechanical and electrical engineering systems can be designed to be modular and easy to swap out as technology and tenant needs develop. In a flexible building, MEP systems are never embedded into building materials. All parts are separately replaceable when their life cycle is complete.

Heating, ventilation, air conditioning and plumbing services in commercial buildings can all be designed to utilize reusable components. Making sure that these systems are easily accessible through floors and ceilings is another important step.

In planning flexible buildings, the key is thinking about the building as two parts: the shell or base building, and the fit-outs or spaces that the base encloses. The base building consists of the concrete foundation, the skeleton, the utility connections and the outer facade. Fit-outs of various sizes can be created and adjusted for individual tenants.

Flexible buildings clearly require being proactive and planning ahead. But the savings of time, money and materials in the long-run make it a very reasonable investment.

Other design strategies include:

• Using interchangeable system components
• Increasing layout predictability
• Using dedicated system zones
• Separation of parts and modular building
• Movable elements
• Easy access to equipment
• Installing phase systems
• Reducing inter-system interactions
• Reducing intra-system interactions
• Improving flow
• Enabling sub-systems to be installed or changed with minimal interface issues

You can see a great example of a flexible building by looking at the Solids buildings in Amsterdam. All the vertical pipe shafts and meters are contained in two cores, each of which also contains an elevator and fire stairs. The services access level is several inches higher than the fit-out space to leave room for equipment. Meters and base building utility connections are accessible from the elevator lobby on each floor. A mix of business, residential and community space co-exist within the building.

For tenants, the benefits include freedom to adapt the workspace, determining where walls and even plumbing are placed to meet the needs of their workforce and industry. This ties into the Open Buildings architectural movement, which pushes for the ability to respond to inhabitants’ preferences by offering the ability to adapt individual units or spaces over time.

Flexible buildings are ready for any kind of change: changes in the number and location of people in the building, changes in what the space will be used for, changes in equipment load required, and changes in the outside environment.

We can’t know for sure what the future holds. But both energy and material costs are expected to rise in the future, so planning buildings that will last a long time makes long-term financial sense. And we can be pretty certain that reducing replacement and construction costs will never go out of style.

Creating an energy efficient building involves many factors, but an efficient HVAC system is the key. In my last post, I talked about the money that businesses can save by instituting the latest advances in heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems.

Here are six such systems/technologies, each of which happens to come with its own acronym!

Variable refrigerant flow (VRF)

These systems use refrigerant fluid rather than of air or water. They are by nature ductless. They can be configured to provide different amounts of refrigerant at different times of day and year, and to different parts of the building (zones). This kind of system is best suited for small areas (1,000SF +/-) with limited space for ducts such as in small offices, shops, dwelling units, computer rooms, hotel/motel rooms, schools, banks etc.

Chilled beam cooling (PCB or ACB)

A passive chilled beam (PCB) is a series of tubes containing chilled water. Warm air in a room rises towards the beam on natural convection currents. The air is then cooled before it descends back towards the floor (and occupants of the room). This is quite energy efficient as no fan is required. A variation that uses more power but provides more cool air is called an active chilled beam (ACB). It pulls the air from the space into a cooling chamber and then forces it back into the room. This is still more efficient than moving air across an entire building.

Adjustable speed/Variable Frequency drives (ASDs/VFDs)

These drives save energy as they are able to lower motor speed and torque as load demand decreases. Some motors even have built-in VFDs in the form of microprocessors. These are also called “electronically commutated motors.”

Geothermal heat pumps (GHPs)

These pumps operate a heat exchange with the natural temperature of the ground or water a few feet below the surface depending on site conditions. This is more efficient than exchanging heat with the more volatile temperature of outside air. Ground temperatures in North America are warmer than air in the winter, and cooler in the summer. Moving heat rather than creating it is also more efficient. As a bonus, these pumps are quieter than their counterparts that use air.

Energy Recovery Ventilation (ERV)

These systems work by “double dipping” into the energy that is already being used to exhaust air from a building, transferring heat and moisture from incoming air into the outgoing air. ERV systems are best for buildings located in warmer, more humid climates.

Demand Controlled Ventilation (DCV)

While safety in the form of air quality is of course vital, some systems end up wasting energy by over-ventilating. More modern systems include sensors for carbon dioxide levels, which feed that information to the motors to help determine current environmental ventilation needs.

Electronic expansion valves (EXV)

Here once again is a system that work in the benefit of energy savings. Electronic expansion valves (EXV) is a device that allows for the control of refrigerant flowing through your HVAC equipment, typically the evaporator. As an electronic device, it provides faster, more accurate and steady response to demand of refrigerant flow in the system than the usual thermal expansion valve. This results in the right amount of energy being delivered to the load, hence helping to prevent wasteful usage.

Maintenance

The good news is that these greener HVAC systems usually require less maintenance than older systems. Most of the new systems come with software that tracks equipment use, and will let you know when it’s time for maintenance to keep it at peak efficiency.

Finally, two low-tech maintenance actions that can pay off: Sealing ducts and making sure your building is well insulated are crucial to avoiding the loss of the hot or cold air you’ve worked so hard to bring into the space.

Using energy-efficient heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems isn’t just good for the environment, it’s good for your bottom line.

Several studies have shown that HVAC systems use about half of the total energy use of commercial buildings, and therefore half of energy costs and a big portion of operation costs. Commercial buildings like office buildings, retail spaces and schools consume almost 20 percent of the United State’s total energy. Of these, office buildings consume the most.

The bad news is that from 1979 to 2012, commercial buildings almost doubled their electricity consumption, from 2.2 trillion BTU to 4.2 trillion BTU. The good news is that the efficiency of use in those buildings is improving. A 2012 government report showed an average total annual energy used per square foot of commercial buildings was about 80,000 BTU per square foot. This is down from 91,000 BTU per square foot in 2003, a 12 percent drop in just 10 years. It is expected that those numbers will keep dropping as heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment improves in efficiency.

Meanwhile, according to 2016 U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates, New York businesses spend $42.35 Dollars a year per Million Btu for retail electricity. That works out to about $3.39 per square foot at the average usage rate reported in 2012. On average, New York companies provide about 125 to 250 square feet of space per office worker. A company of 200 people using 30,000 square feet of space could therefore easily be spending $100,000 in electricity costs.

Indeed, New York commercial businesses spent approximately $11 billion on energy costs in 2016, providing electricity to 545 million square feet of more office space than any other city on the planet.

If energy efficiency were improved by 10 percent, that would save New York businesses $1.1 billion!

The SmartMarket 2016 World Green Building Trends report shows that “green buildings” cost 14 percent less to operate than traditional buildings. For our hypothetical business using 30,000 square feet, a 14 percent improvement would be $14,000 in savings that could be used to invest in other areas.

Therefore it’s not a surprise that demand for green Mechanical and Electrical Engineering solutions is rising rapidly. A recent report predicts that global spending on energy efficient commercial HVAC systems will double in the next nine years, from about $30 billion to $60 billion.

In a future post, I’ll talk about some of those major solutions and systems, and which ones are right for different types of business spaces.