This year, Earth Day feels like NYPH‘s Birthday! Excerpts below are taken directly from the NYC Office of the Mayor’s article “OneNYC: Mayor de Blasio Announces Major New Steps to Dramatically Reduce NYC Buildings’ Greenhouse Gas Emissions”, published April 22, 2016. Read the full article here.
NEW YORK—Today Mayor de Blasio announced a suite of new energy efficiency initiatives that will dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions from New York City’s over one million buildings – of all sizes, types, and uses – and put the City on a pathway to an 80 percent reduction in all emissions by 2050, while creating green jobs and generating energy savings for building owners and tenants. The City also outlined a series of programs that will provide technical and financial support to building owners and managers in making these significant improvements.
“Cities that lead on climate, lead on buildings,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “We’ve set bold goals as we take on climate change and a clear path to meet them. The City has been leading the way by greening our own public facilities. Now, these new initiatives will dramatically reduce emissions from New York City’s over one million buildings, while saving New Yorkers millions and creating thousands of new jobs – and we’ll be providing owners support throughout the process.”
Buildings account for nearly three-quarters of all emissions in New York City. In September 2014, Mayor de Blasio released One City: Built to Last, a sweeping ten-year plan to retrofit public and private buildings to dramatically reduce the City’s contributions to climate change, while creating green jobs and generating operational savings.
Ken Levenson, President of New York Passive House, said, “With these planned actions New York City shows we have the knowledge, capability and courage to deliver deep building energy efficiency in the coming decades commensurate to the scale of our climate crisis. We are excited to move forward together.”
