CAMILA DOMONOSKE reports for National Public Radio
April 23, 20197:23 AM ET Heard on Morning Edition
On the steps of New York City’s City Hall last week, about 100 people gathered to enthusiastically chant their support for a landmark climate bill.
It didn’t target cars or coal, but another major emitter — in fact, the source of nearly 70% of New York City’s greenhouse gas emissions. It’s a sector that dominates New York’s skyline, but has largely managed to dodge the spotlight when it comes to climate change.
“Dirty buildings,” they shouted, “have got to go!”
The City Council passed a measure Thursday to require owners of large buildings to invest in retrofitting and improving their structures to slash their contribution to climate change.
Cities around the world have been calling for greater efficiency from new construction, and a number of cities have pledged to make all buildings carbon-neutral by 2050.
But Mayor Bill de Blasio says New York’s new measure, which he will sign into law soon, is the first in the world to actually mandate changes from existing buildings.
Under the law, which its supporters hope will serve as a model for other cities around the world, owners will need to improve insulation, lighting, heating and cooling systems, among other changes, to reduce the amount of energy their buildings use.
The goal is ambitious: The city’s largest buildings will have to cut their emissions by 40% by 2030, and by 80% by 2050. The cost of the necessary changes is estimated at some $4 billion, although some of those costs will be recouped by building owners through energy savings and the added value of an energy-efficient building.
“These are very intense goals, but reachable goals,” de Blasio told NPR in an interview. “These buildings are the single biggest piece of the [climate change] problem that hasn’t been addressed, and we had the tools to do it right now.”
If building owners do not comply with the measure, they will face substantial fines — $1 million or more per year for the largest buildings.
The Empire State Building, shown here in 2010, looks the same as ever. But the landmark is now packed with energy-efficiency retrofits, invisible to tourists and even tenants.Spencer Platt/Getty Images
“Silver buckshot”
So what does it actually take to make an old skyscraper energy-efficient?
A city icon — the 102-story Empire State Building — provides a glimpse.
Actually, there’s not much glimpsing involved. For the past 10 years, the landmark has gone through an ambitious energy-efficiency overhaul, but the vast majority of the changes are invisible.
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