City Council Approves New Green Building Rules

Yesterday the City Council approved environmental building legislation that, despite being diluted by the lobbying efforts of commercial landlords, still put New York ahead of the curve in terms of its efforts to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse emissions. The bill would require office buildings larger than 10,000 square feet to install electricity meters, retrofit lights and perform an energy audit. Oddly, though, it doesn’t require that the building owners act on the results of the audit. The New York Times reported that the package of four bills is expected to reduce the city’s total carbon dioxide emissions by just under 5 percent over the next twenty years. Jeffrey Harris of the Alliance to Save Energy called the legislation a very significant step forward.
Council Passes Curbs on Greenhouse Gases [NY Times]
Green Light for Green Buildings [NY Post]
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