New York City Local Law 84 requires buildings over 50,000 square feet to benchmark their energy and water use by May 1 each year. FirstService Energy will ensure your building is compliant by inputting the data into the EPA’s Portfolio Manager tool.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which buildings must comply with LL84?
The law requires compliance from buildings exceeding 50,000 gross square feet, or two or more buildings that together exceed 100,000 square feet and share a tax lot or are held by the same condominium ownership.
What is the data used for?
The data is used by New York City to track and assess the energy and water use of buildings relative to similar buildings. Benchmarking helps building owners become more aware of their energy costs, consumption and environmental impact.
Can I review the data prior to releasing it to the EPA?
FirstService Energy uploads this information directly from our database into the EPA’s Portfolio Manager tool. We will supply a copy of the information at your request.
Local Law 87: Energy Audits & Retro-Commissioning
New York City Local Law 87 requires buildings over 50,000 square feet to file an Energy Efficiency Report (EER) with the Department of Buildings. The EER consists of an ASHRAE Level II energy audit and retro-commissioning study of base building systems.
Energy Efficiency Reports must be filed once every ten years and are due in a staggered schedule based on the last digit of the building’s tax block number. Both the energy audit and retro-commissioning study must be completed within four years before the EER is filed. FirstService Energy is prepared to begin this work for you today.
Frequently Asked Questions
An energy audit is a systematic process of identifying and developing modifications and improvements of the base building systems. These include, but are not limited to, alterations of these systems and the installation of new equipment, insulation or other generally recognized energy efficiency technologies to optimize the building’s energy performance and achieve energy savings.
Base building systems are the systems or subsystems of a building that use energy and/or impact energy consumption including:
- Building envelopes
- HVAC (heating ventilating and air conditioning) systems
- Conveying systems
- Domestic hot water systems
- Electrical and lighting systems
The audit process identifies, at a minimum:
- All reasonable measures, including capital improvements, that could reduce energy use and/or the cost of building operations
- For each measure, the associated annual energy savings, the cost to implement, and the return on investment
- The building’s benchmarking output consistent with the EPA’s Portfolio Manager tool
- A breakdown of energy usage by system and the predicted energy savings after implementation of proposed measures
- A general assessment of how the major energy consuming equipment and systems used within tenant spaces impact the energy consumption of the base building systems
The law requires compliance from buildings exceeding 50,000 gross square feet, or two or more buildings that together exceed 100,000 square feet and share a tax lot or are held by the same condominium ownership.
Energy Efficiency Reports are due in the calendar year with a final digit that is the same as the last digit of the building’s tax block number:
| Last digit of tax block number | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| Year first EER is due | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
Retro-commissioning is a systematic process for optimizing the energy efficiency of existing base building systems by identifying and correcting deficiencies in these systems. This includes, but is not limited to, repairs of defects, cleaning, adjustments of valves, sensors, controls or programmed settings, and/or changes in operational
practices.
Through analysis, corrections and testing, a retro-commissioning study certifies that all systems and operations are running efficiently.