Beginning in 2020, many NYC buildings are required to post letter grades that represent their energy efficiency performance, as the city strives to reduce both local pollutants as well as greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change.
Under the NYC law, most buildings with over 25,000 square feet of floor area must report their energy usage each year, a process called “benchmarking”. A federal energy analysis tool called ENERGY STAR then assigns a 1-100 energy efficiency rating to the building – but only if it falls into a limited number of categories, including apartment buildings, student residence halls, hotels, K-12 schools, offices, supermarkets, and warehouses. Based on that score, buildings then receive a score of A (85-100), B (70-85), C (55-69), or D (54 or below). Buildings also may post an F (if they failed to submit energy use data) or N (if they are not required to report a letter grade, perhaps because ENERGY STAR does not provide a score for that building type).
As of this month, you might notice that NYU has posted energy efficiency grades and scores on about 15 of its buildings, and some office buildings and student residences that NYU leases. For the scores posted this year, NYU’s owned and leased buildings received a mix of Bs, Cs, and Ds. Why this mix of scores? It’s a complex equation involving building age (old buildings and very new energy-efficient buildings tend to score higher; post-war buildings built before the 1970s oil crisis tend to score lower), building equipment (buildings with steam radiators tend to use more energy that those with “hydronic” heat that pumps hot water instead), how recently NYU has invested in building upgrades (since we try to time energy efficiency upgrades with other work the building is receiving, to lower overall costs and minimize disruption for tenants, not every building has yet received substantial energy improvement work), and many other factors.
That said, less than 25% of the total floor area used by NYU has a posted letter grade due to the limited number of building types eligible for an ENERGY STAR score. While NYU uses the LEED green building standard for new construction and substantial renovation, and has more than a dozen projects and over 2,000,000 square feet of building area certified or undergoing certification, only one building (Brittany Hall) is both LEED certified and has posted an energy grade. Not surprisingly, Brittany has one of the highest ENERGY STAR scores NYU received.
Looking at the full picture across all campus buildings, NYU’s energy performance has improved dramatically over time, with greenhouse gas emissions per square foot reduced by 30% since 2007. This is a big contributor to two awards NYU has received just this year: AASHE STARS Gold (putting us in the top 30% of schools) and a Princeton Review Top 50 Green Schools ranking.
Of course, like any good student, we’d like to see those individual building scores improve over time, too. Besides reducing energy cost, moving buildings up the score ladder will help NYU achieve its future sustainability goals: 50% greenhouse gas emissions intensity reduction by 2025, and carbon neutrality by 2040. For more information on NYU’s climate goals, see our website. And feel free to email us at sustainability@nyu.edu if you have any questions about your building’s score or the ENERGY STAR grades in general.