New York Grades Rate Buildings' Energy Use

In its waning days, the Bloomberg administration is issuing a final batch of grades, this time to rate the energy use of the city’s largest residential buildings.

Oct. 21, 2013

New York apartment building — The Dakota, on the Upper West Side, received an A from the city for its relatively low energy use.

New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's office has released energy consumption data for large multifamily buildings, allowing residents to find out how their co-ops, condos and rental buildings compare with similar structures. The New York Times reported that the city has been tracking energy use among its largest buildings under a 2009 law intended to help reduce the city’s greenhouse gas emissions, an issue that acquired added urgency after Hurricane Sandy.

Residential buildings are not yet rated under the EPA Energy Star program as large office and government buildings have been since 2011.

The energy use data, collected in 2011 with 75 percent of the buildings reporting, reveals some interesting patterns. It turns out that buildings built in the 1970s have the highest consumption levels compared with other vintages, especially compared with the structures built in the 1930s. And in all five boroughs, the highest energy usage per square foot among ZIP codes tends to be in households with higher median incomes...(New York Times)