New York City’s compressed urban footprint and extensive mass transit system make it more sustainable than most American cities. Its greenhouse gas emission level, at 6.5 metric tons per person, is lower than that of 16 of the largest U.S. cities and well below the national average of 19.0.
The average New Yorker consumes less than half the electricity of a Dallas resident and approximately 33% that of a resident in Washington, D.C.1 Recent legislation, stricter energy codes, and in-centive and cost-sharing programs have pushed sustainability goals to the fore-front. As nearly 75% of the city’s carbon emissions result from building energy use,1 owners of the large commercial properties dominating the Manhattan landscape are driven to serve as models for efficiency upgrades.
Working with the New York State En-ergy Research and Development Author-ity (NYSERDA), our firm has had the opportunity to audit more than 32 million ft2 (297 290 m2) of this existing, mostly Class A, commercial building stock. This work includes one of the largest NYSER-DA contracts of this kind.
This article is an introductory over-view of the most effective technical strategies for improving HVAC energy performance in this important build-ing type. Although real estate decisions can influence upgrade strategies in any locality, most of these techniques are transferable to other major cities.
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