One City Built to Last

etween the U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development
and the NYC Housing Authority providing
building owners with financial
incentives for retrofit ought to result
in lower utility bills, deBlasio said.
“High energy costs take a disproportionate
toll on lower-income residents
who typically live in less-efficient
buildings and must pay a higher
share of their income for energy,” de-
Blasio said. “The City’s plan aims to
protect New Yorkers from rising utility
bills while reducing emissions and
poor air quality.”
Private building owners not retrofitting
will eventually find themselves
and their buildings in conflict with
NYC city officials as retrofit mandates
and non-compliance penalties kick in
during One City’s later years.
Environmentalists are expecting results
– and with good reason.
One City is based on the NYC Clean
Heat program that since 2011 has
helped the city’s then nearly 10,000
buildings still burning heavy oil for
heating purposes to convert to cleaner
fuels thus dropping sulfur dioxide
particulate levels in the air by 69 percent
since its 2008 measuring, according
to the NYC Clean Heat website.
“America’s #1 city will show the way
to the big cuts in climate pollution we
need,” said Fred Krupp, President of
Environmental Defense Fund. “I congratulate
Mayor de Blasio for his leadership
– especially the Mayor’s plan
to upgrade buildings so they waste
far less energy – and his plan for cutting
costs for families and businesses,
cleaning the air, and delivering jobs.”
Key components of the “One City Built to Last” include:
•Requiring owners of all buildings more than 25,000 sq. ft. to measure and disclose energy use annually, conduct
energy assessments, and upgrade lighting. This replaces the previous city mandate limiting the energy disclosure
requirements to owners of buildings more than 50,000 sq. ft. in size.
•Energy upgrades in 450 schools over the next five years – including 325 comprehensive lighting upgrades and 125
boiler replacements to improve energy efficiency and improve indoor air quality.
•Create a green grant program for affordable housing that will fund efficiency upgrades in exchange for regulatory
agreements to preserve affordability. Deploy with local partners in neighborhoods – particularly the poorest
neighborhoods where utility bills take a higher percentage of resident income – and where preservation and rehab
of affordable housing is needed and where energy efficiency can reduce the load on the electric grid.
City officials estimate One City to
create at least 3,500 new jobs in construction
and require training programs
for the more than 7,775 building
staff that will learn new operating
skills. The new construction, retrofit
work and energy improvements are
expected to pump at least $750 million
in related spending per year in to the
NYC economy.
Perhaps one of the most beneficial effects
of One City is its indirect support
of emerging entrepreneurs and the financial
reason for office space owners
to expand their offerings thus giving
the real estate market a boost. As with
all things new, One City is bound to
attract movers and shakers in the clean
energy space. For some companies,
the hook has already set. One example
is the Urban Future Lab opening
its downtown Brooklyn 10,000 square
foot space in March of this year. The
firm is already running out of room
and seeking more space to continue
its research in clean technology as well
as providing exhibit space to educate
consumers. Clean technology innovators
tend to require larger work spaces
than other businesses. One City plans
to address this need in a partnership
with the NYC Economic Development
Corporation to build a 75,000 square
foot “step-out space” facility providing
temporary office space until
firms can secure more permanent
larger offices.
As One City begins its work, deBlasio
sees opportunity and potential
and not the challenges and limits often
associated with environmental
challenges.
“Realizing this vision will not be
easy. The change will come building
by building, block by block, and
neighborhood by neighborhood,”
deBlasio said. “It will require new
technologies and innovative thinking.
But New Yorkers are the world’s most
skilled architects, engineers, real estate
developers, academics, construction
workers and building operators. The
solutions we develop together will
change our city, and they can change
cities across the world.”
Learn more about One City Built to
Last online at www.nyc.gov/html/
builttolast/assets/downloads/pdf/
OneCity.pdf.