Promoting Energy Efficiency by Benchmarking Buildings

New York City completed its first comprehensive study of energy use in some of the largest buildings in the city. Although the covered buildings account for only 2% of city’s one million buildings, they consume 45% of energy used by all buildings in the city. The older buildings performed better than the newer ones, perhaps because of fewer windows and thicker walls.

“The report is a preamble to assigning scores to individual buildings on their energy use and publicizing them to further encourage property owners to make necessary improvements, not unlike the grade system the city uses for restaurants.”


Reference: Navarro, Mireya, Wide Differences Found in Buildings’ Power Use, New York Times, August 2, 2012
Illustration Credit: NEW YORK CITY LOCAL LAW 84 BENCHMARKING REPORT, City of New York, 2012

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