Published May 12, 2020
Listen to our second episode of Urban Green Live, hosted by Urban Green Council CEO John Mandyck. This livestreamed interview series features industry experts from NYC and around the globe to talk about solutions for a zero-carbon future.
On May 12, 2021, we welcomed Gina Bocra—the first-ever Chief Sustainability Officer at NYC’s Department of Buildings—to the podcast. Gina and John discussed New York City’s plan to cut carbon in buildings and the new Energy Conservation Code on the same day it went into effect. They also discussed next steps in the implementation of LL97, the city’s climate emissions reduction law for buildings.
Key Takeaways
The new energy code, which took effect on the day of the discussion, is a significant step for New York City’s sustainability efforts.
-> The code is stricter than previous versions, mandating higher energy efficiency standards, especially in building envelopes, windows, and thermal bridging.
-> This code aligns with New York’s goals for reducing carbon emissions and supports the enforcement of Local Law 97, which sets carbon emission limits for buildings.
By 2025, New York City plans to implement a performance-based energy code that will focus on predicted energy use.
-> This future code aims to set absolute limits on energy performance for buildings over 25,000 square feet, potentially using a carbon-based metric.
-> The shift to a performance-based code aligns with broader sustainability goals and the requirements of Local Law 97, pushing the construction industry towards designing buildings with lower carbon footprints.
Speakers
John Mandyck
Chief Executive Officer
Gina Bocra
Chief Sustainability Officer, NYC Department of Buildings
Gina Bocra is Chief Sustainability Officer at the New York City Department of Buildings (DOB). With 19 years of sustainability experience, Gina leads a DOB team of specialists charged with enforcing the Energy Code and chairs the new Local Law 97 advisory board. She supports the implementation of laws addressing building emissions, benchmarking, audits and retro-commissioning, and lighting and sub-metering, while also contributing to new legislation to increase energy efficiency in New York City’s building stock. She assists with the continued development of the New York City Construction Codes and the NYC Energy Code to accommodate advances in sustainability.
Q&A
John Mandyck: Are there any parallel efforts being done by any other New York City agencies in order to make it more streamlined for buildings to comply with sustainable features in order to comply with Local Law 97?
Gina Bocra: One thing about Local Law 97 that a lot of people have misinterpreted is that the covered buildings list excludes city buildings. That’s unfortunately been misunderstood to mean that city buildings are not governed by Local Law 97, but they are. In fact, the goal for city buildings is more aggressive. By 2030, they have to reach a 50% reduction in carbon as opposed to the private sector, which has to reach only a 40% reduction in carbon.
There are really great efforts happening at the Department of Citywide Administrative Services. They have already achieved about a 30% reduction in their carbon for city-owned buildings. I know that SCA, NYCHA, and DDC are also all working really hard to meet the other mandates.
John Mandyck: What are the most misunderstood aspects of the code?
Gina Bocra: We are trying to work on how to accurately calculate the thermal performance of different parts of the envelope. For example, one area that has been a problem in the past is that there isn’t a strong understanding of how to deal with spandrels. Hopefully our work and clearing confusion leads to better envelope performance across the city. That has certainly been an area of misunderstanding.
John Mandyck: Will energy modeling for existing buildings also be mandatorily similar to new buildings?
Gina Bocra: Okay, so the first one is not that I can see at this point, but it may be a very useful tool for any owner that is working to achieve Local Law 97 compliance. When you’re dealing with an existing building, there’s a lot of guesswork there. It is a really useful tool, and I’m sure some owners are looking into how they can use it to improve their chances of complying with Local Law 97, and also how they’re making decisions about what to do next.
John Mandyck: In an effort to move toward a performance-based code, has the DOB identified ways in which they can expedite the review of initial EN submissions using an energy model for compliance?
Gina Bocra: Yes, we are because it takes us an enormous amount of time to review an energy model. There are hundreds upon hundreds of inputs that can go into a model, and only a portion of them are regulated in the guidelines of the code. That’s exactly why in the 2014 code we eliminated the IECC option on energy modeling. It was not a very robust set of modeling guidelines, so we went with ASHRAE’s guidelines only.
In addition to that, we’re working with other jurisdictions and have a national effort to streamline some of the input and output.
John Mandyck: Will future codes be based on energy or are they going to be based on carbon?
Gina Bocra: We are certainly trying to get away from the single metric of energy cost because we know that that doesn’t serve us for some of our carbon goals.With this new code, we are also allowing source energy as the metric for our model. It’s a big step in the right direction to support projects that are looking at electrification for their building and may not be able to make that work if you’re looking just at energy cost as the metric for performance.
John Mandyck: How will fuel cells or CHP systems be addressed?
Gina Bocra: That’s a great question because CHP systems certainly combust fuel on site. I’m not as familiar with the technology, but my understanding is that fuel cells don’t combust. I guess the question becomes how far down are we taking that carbon footprint into account when we’re looking at something like a fuel cell?
There are modifications that we’ve made and how they are accounted for in your energy code compliance, which has mostly been an enforcement policy over the last few years. You can only take account for the energy savings that you’re offsetting with the use of a CHP system, so you don’t get to double dip. That was clarified by ASHRAE, and then clarified by the City of New York, but is now also clarified in the language of the 2020 code.
John Mandyck: We’ve been told that the Local Law 92 and 94 interpretations are left up to individual plan reviewers. Is this the case, or is there a single city agency or party to whom we can direct technical questions to ensure consistency across applications?
Gina Bocra: Yes, we have a number of plan examiners. We can’t have just one person responsible for all buildings across the entire city, so all of those plan examiners have been trained and they all should be looking at an application related to Local Law 92 and 94 (the solar and green roof requirements).
They should be looking at it the same, however, because they have varying degrees of experience, it’s possible that they may not be exactly consistent all the time. If that happens, you are always welcome to appeal the decision of a plan examiner to their chief.
John Mandyck: Since envelope performance is a huge priority in the 2020 New York City energy code, are dynamic glazing products given any incentive or additional advantage for using?
Gina Bocra: Dynamic glazing has actually been acknowledged in the code since the 2016 version. Those provisions for dynamic glazing haven’t changed. There’s a process for a calculation for how you take that performance into account, so you’re encouraged and welcome to use that technology.
John Mandyck: What programs of education or retraining are available to licensed design professionals whose experience is in other fields of expertise but who are interested in being involved in energy code compliance and or enforcement?
Gina Bocra: There are a lot of programs out there and many of the partners across the city are delivering really great ones. Certainly the energy code training that Urban Green has developed through NYSERDA funding is excellent. We rely on them to be able to help us get that word out to professionals. There’s also training out there for trades people that NYSERDA has developed as well.
Local Law 97
NYC’s groundbreaking climate legislation sets carbon emissions caps for large buildings that began in 2024.
The new NYC Bureau of Sustainability (w/ Laura Popa)
We sat down with Laura Popa to discuss the new Bureau of Sustainability and its priorities for the coming months.