Quick Facts

The impacts of climate change are evident in New York City. Sea levels are rising, temperatures are increasing, and extreme weather events are occurring more often. Several weather-related events in recent years have highlighted the city's vulnerability to the risks of climate change.

There are approximately one million buildings in an area of little more than 300 square miles in NYC,
representing roughly 70 percent of citywide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Air pollution from heating oil burned in New York City buildings contributes to air pollution levels that annually result in more than:
3,000 deaths
2,000 hospital admissions for lung and heart conditions
6,000 emergency department visits for asthma in children and adults

Through a series of policies and regulations, detailed below, NYC has committed to reducing its ghg emissions for all New Yorkers.

Reducing Emissions

PlaNYC:

Contains an initiative to strengthen New York City's energy and building codes to make buildings more energy efficient and sustainable.

One City: Built to Last

Aims to reduce citywide emissions from energy used in buildings by 30 percent by 2025, and requires public buildings to lead by example by reducing 35 percent of emissions by 2025
NYC Retrofit Accelerator: a one-stop resource provided by the City to help owners and operators of privately owned buildings reduce operating costs and increase the sustainability of their properties through energy and water upgrades.

Greener, Greater Buildings Plan:

Targets energy efficiency in large existing buildings. GGBP consists of four regulatory pieces supplemented by job training opportunities and a financing entity called the New York City Energy Efficiency Corporation (NYCEEC):
Local Law 84: Benchmarking: annual requirement to benchmark energy and water consumption
Local Law 85: NYC Energy Conservation Code: New York City’s local energy code
Local Law 87: Energy Audits and Retro-commissioning: conduct an energy audit and perform retro-commissioning once every 10 years
Local Law 88: Lighting and Sub-metering: by 2025, the lighting in the non-residential space be upgraded to meet code and large commercial tenants be provided with sub-meters

About NYCEEC

NYCEEC is a non-profit specialty finance company that develops financing solutions to enable projects that save energy or reduce greenhouse gases

New York City and New York State have been recipients of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding. The City has allocated $37 million of its ARRA funding to create the New York City Energy Efficiency Corporation (NYCEEC), which together with other financial institutions and energy services companies, provides financing solutions for energy efficiency and clean heat projects located in the five boroughs of New York City

NYCEEC has financed over $96 million dollars of clean energy projects across 7.2 million square feet
NYCEEC works directly with building owners, contractors, project developers and ESCOs to provide financing solutions that increase cash flow from day one

The Project:

The project has been developed as a resource for NYCEEC

Part 1: Projects Financed by NYCEEC- by Project Type

Part 1 was a data collection, organization, and map design project. The intention was to create a more visually appealing and user friendly map for internal use and potentially for NYCEEC's website.

Part 2: Spatial analysis to determine potential projects

Currently, NYCEEC is conducting a contractor marketing strategy where the organization hopes raise awareness about NYCEEC and its products through increased interaction with contractors. I feel GIS would be especially helpful in identifying contractors and communities that would benefit from a partnership with NYCEEC. The idea is to visually depict which buildings or areas of the city are good candidates for energy efficiency projects. By overlaying LL84 Site EUI data with other data sets, like NYC flood zones, NYCEEC may be able to target their marketing strategy and tailor their products for specific energy efficiency projects.

The map that has been developed is the inital step towards NYCEEC utilizing GIS in house. Several other datasets could be overlayed the Energy Usage data to highlight prime candidates for energy efficiency projects including, but not limited to; solor potential, heat/hot water complaints, affordability, etc.

Sources: Sandy Inundation Zone. (2015, November 9). Retrieved April, 2017, from https://data.cityofnewyork.us/Environment/Sandy-Inundation-Zone/uyj8-7rv5 >br> Energy and Waste Disclosure for Local Law (2014). (2015, December 8). Retrieved May 1, 2017, from https://data.cityofnewyork.us/Environment/Energy-and-Water-Data-Disclosure-for-Local-Law-201/jzst-u7j8
NYCEEC. (2015). Retrieved March, 2017, from https://nyceec.com/