This week the de Blasio Administration unveiled the city’s “retrofit accelerator” program, a “free one-stop shop” of energy-efficiency experts who’ll help landlords meet the administration’s emissions-cutting goals. That's among the reasons we're excited to host NYC Sustainability: When Policy Meets the Private Sector on Oct. 13 at Merkin Concert Hall, starting at 7:30am.

Among our speakers, Code Green Solutions principal Chris Cayten (shown here with former EPA head and Chris’ father-in-law, William Reilly) is helping over 100M SF of commercial property in the city reduce energy use and comply with current energy legislation. He says NYC’s lowered its carbon footprint by about 19% since 2005, when the Bloomberg administration first proposed a 30% reduction by 2030. Looking ahead, the de Blasio administration has set a goal of reducing building emissions by a million metric tons. To get there will mean new regulations, and Chris says most landlords are preparing for them, but they don’t always know what steps to take since there isn’t a clear timeline for the next round of regulations.

Until the new requirements are finalized, Chris says the biggest driver pushing owners to upgrade is pressure from investors and potential tenants. And he says that’s a good thing: it means a lot of owners are choosing to set an example that others can look to as a model when they don’t have a choice.

From a cost standpoint, Chris says a key question is what percentage of a building’s total value goes into its energy consumption. If you’re looking at a 10-year payback on efficiency upgrades and you’re not sure you want to hold the property that long, you might not take the plunge until it’s a matter of compliance. Chris says there could even be cases where this could move the market: those seeking short-term holds on buildings that need a lot of efficiency upgrades may end up holding longer in order to see the cost savings of retrofitting.

For owners who are holding out on full retrofits, Chris says one of the most exciting developments in the market is the growth in battery storage to shave costs and take load off the grid at peak times. While solar panels might be “sexier,” batteries make a lot more sense in high-rises, and Chris says we may soon start to see them really catch on.

Real-time meters for energy usage have also gotten a lot more cost effective in recent years, and owners are starting to install them. They can save as much as 10% that way, Chris tells us, even with the same old HV/AC backbone. This way they can avoid things like a landlord having the heat on when a tenant puts on the AC to cool things down (it's the kind of thing Chris sees all the time). Currently, even though tenants use roughly half of the energy load in NYC buildings, they have no regulatory obligations as far as energy usage. Chris believes they need to be a part of the solution if we’re going to reach the city's ambitious goal, whether that’s through regulation or incentives. Please join us for NYC Sustainability: When Policy Meets the Private Sector, Oct. 13, at Merkin Concert Hall, 129 West 67th St, starting at 7:30am. Register and get more info here.