Things to Know about Local Law 87 New York

Posted by yadavsolutions on April 23rd, 2018

City Council and the Mayor signed Local Law 87 New York in the year 2009.  This requires any covered building space of 50,000 sq ft or more to undergo energy consumption audit and conduct building base system retro-commissioning. This includes the lighting and ventilation, hot water domestic, building envelope, and boiler. This applies to 2 or more than 2 buildings on same condominium board or tax lot together exceeding 100,000 sq feet. Energy audits work as technical formal assessment of base system of the building and this involves modifications and improvement to the mechanical systems, with optimization of energy performance with energy efficient technologies.

This quantifies savings, energy costs, and ultimately report findings to client. Associated benefits and the costs would vary according to the level of the audit. You have to know that the virtual audits are not qualified for compliance with Local Law 87. In order to ensure the compliance one needs minimum audit Level 2. This includes multiple facility site visits. This is for accurate collection of the data of energy consumption for a detailed analysis. It is a capital intensive and simple measure for the conservation of energy.

On an average, it takes about 8 months to complete the energy audit because it is necessary to evaluate a building for both cooling and heating seasons. Retro commissioning is correction and identification of sub-systems of deficient building and the existing building controls. This process identifies the drifts from the normal performance. It would fine-tune the systems so that they return to optimal operational efficiency levels. This applies commissioning procedure to the existing building seeking to improve the combined function of building system and equipments.

It is possible to resolve issues with retro commissioning especially those existing right from the building construction/design phase or address the problems originating during the lifetime of the building.  Compliance with Local Law 87 New York is something that the property managers and the owners need to be aware. For determining the need for retro-commission and energy audit, one has to look at block tax number last digit of the building. Now compare this to required year last digit. For example, when the tax block last digit of the building is 3, the filing of the efficiency report should be in 2013.

When the building managers and owners do not comply with the energy deadlines, they face penalties exceeding audit of Level 2 costs. They might also face an enforcement action landing them in the court. Only someone qualified under criteria defined by the law would be able to conduct both retro commissioning and the audits. It is necessary to conduct these both 4 years before the date of filing of the efficiency report of the building with Finance Department.

Certain exceptions to Local Law 87 NYC are also present. You do not require retro commissioning or the energy audit when building has label Energy Star for 2 of minimum 3 years preceding report filing. When you file reports early than the due date, the related benefits are immense.

About the Author:

The writer is an expert in the field of commercial & industrial buildings with focus on LL87 Deadline, Local Law 87 NYC, LL87 NYC and more.