More on New York Requiring Buildings to Upgrade Their Lighting
Highlights of Int. No. 973:
* Lighting systems in buildings larger than 50,000 gross sq.ft. (or buildings that combined with other buildings on same tax lot in total exceed 100,000 sq.ft.) must be upgraded
* Deadline for upgrade is 1/1/2025
* Upgrade defined as meeting minimum requirements of New York City Energy Conservation Code
* Code based on IECC and presents mandatory and prescriptive requirements for lighting controls (interior lighting controls, light reduction controls and automatic lighting shutoff), tandem wiring, exit signs, interior lighting power requirements and exterior lighting
* Notable exceptions such as certain dwelling units
The law says, “This local law shall take effect immediately.”
Get the text of the legislation here (click the Text tab).
Post updated with several corrections on January 16.
Unfortunately, the text of the legislation has no teeth. It allows building owners 15 years to come into compliance. That is a lazy river of a long, long time. And despite the metering and sub-metering requirements, it still has the phrase “may, or may not be used” for billing purposes by the building owner. This further waters down the intention to reduce consumption in tenant spaces. And why would the common areas, laundry and boiler rooms of large residential buildings be exempt from some type of compliance?
Doug, that is a great comment, I couldn’t agree more. It’s a very long timetable, there are no clear penalties for non compliance, and it’s unclear if you upgrade in, say, 2024, what version of the energy code you’re going to have to upgrade to meet–the latest version, or today’s version? (The implication is the latest version must be met, but it’s unclear.) That’s legislation for you–written by committee, usually not clearly. On the other hand, finally a major jurisdiction is recognizing that we are squeezing the life out of lighting design along with all the watts in new construction, and is focusing on existing buildings, which represent the lion share of energy input and carbon output. Even if half of New York’s 22,000 largest buildings upgrade over time, it will be a major achievement. That’s my take.