From: imbibe@mindspring.com   
      
   New York Developers Rush to Reduce Emissions as Hefty Fines Loom   
   By Jane Margolies, Aug. 16, 2022, NY Times   
      
   Worried about higher temperatures, more frequent and intense rainfall and   
   rising seas that are nibbling away at New York’s coastal edges, the City   
   Council enacted Local Law 97 in 2019 as part of a pioneering legislative   
   package aimed at reducing the    
   greenhouse gas emissions that are causing climate change.   
      
   The law zeros in on large buildings in New York, setting limits on their   
   emissions. The city’s one million buildings generate nearly 70 percent of   
   its carbon emissions because much of the energy for their heating, cooling and   
   lighting comes from    
   burning fossil fuels.   
      
   Now, with just 16 months until the deadline to meet the first thresholds —   
   and with the threat of fines that could climb to millions of dollars a year   
   for buildings that do not — landlords are on high alert.   
      
   The good news is that nearly all the 50,000 buildings subject to the law will   
   be in compliance for the first deadline, Jan. 1, 2024, according to city   
   estimates. But that leaves 2,700 buildings across the city where action is   
   needed to avoid fines —    
   heating systems tuned up, leaky windows replaced and energy-efficient lighting   
   installed.   
      
   And the emissions thresholds fall significantly for the second deadline, in   
   2030, which is likely to mean that many more buildings will need to make major   
   changes — not just tuning up building systems but replacing them — or pay   
   hefty fines.   
      
   Real estate companies with large portfolios — and often staff devoted to   
   sustainability initiatives — have generally been getting their carbon act   
   together, and many are on track to avoid crushing penalties in the near term.   
   But mom-and-pop companies    
   that own older buildings that still have oil or gas furnaces in their   
   basements, and the boards running the city’s residential co-ops and condos,   
   have their backs against the wall. Some are still trying to figure out what   
   they need to do and how they’   
   ll pay for capital projects they never anticipated.   
      
   “We don’t really know what our obligations are and what our penalties are   
   going to be,” said Debbie Fechter, a partner at Digby Management, a   
   family-owned real estate business that has four buildings in Manhattan subject   
   to Local Law 97.   
      
   She added that her company had trouble getting the attention of the consulting   
   firms that do energy audits on buildings and help owners understand how to   
   comply with the law.   
      
   Some owners have been pushing back. In May, two garden apartment complexes in   
   Queens and the owner of a mixed-use building in Manhattan sued the city,   
   alleging that the law would saddle them and others with “draconian” fines   
   and asking that    
   enforcement be blocked.   
      
   City officials, who would not comment on pending litigation, have said they   
   are sympathetic to struggling owners and can waive or lower fines for those   
   making “good faith” efforts — wiggle room that is enshrined in Local Law   
   97. The city is still    
   drafting rules for applying the law and has hit pause on a financing program   
   that would pay for the sorts of retrofitting that many buildings will need.   
      
   But the administration of Mayor Eric Adams has also vowed to enforce the law   
   and hold building owners accountable as part of a broad effort to address   
   climate change. And a recent Supreme Court decision curbing the federal   
   government’s ability to    
   control emissions has made combating climate change on the local level   
   critical.   
      
   “Local Law 97 is telling everyone in the real estate business: Climate   
   change is your problem,” said Rohit T. Aggarwala, the city’s chief climate   
   officer. “Part and parcel of being in the real estate industry is moving to   
   a carbon-free future.”   
      
   Local Law 97 aims to reduce emissions from big buildings 40 percent below 2005   
   levels by 2030 and 80 percent by 2050. It applies to most structures larger   
   than 25,000 square feet, which account for more than half the built square   
   footage in the city. The    
   law aims to get them to use less energy overall and transition from fossil   
   fuels to electric power for things like heating.   
      
   “The basic mission is to put buildings on a carbon diet,” said Paul Reale,   
   director of building operations research at City University of New York’s   
   Building Performance Lab.   
      
   Real estate executives opposed Local Law 97 because of the costs it imposes   
   and because it targets large buildings, letting smaller ones and other   
   categories of real estate off the hook.   
      
   Members of the real estate industry have also questioned the rush to   
   electrify, asking whether the grid can handle increased demand and warning of   
   possible outages. They fault the law for holding buildings accountable for   
   carbon emissions generated at    
   the power plants that provide their electricity and still rely on fossil fuels.   
      
   “That’s outside the building owner’s control,” said Zachary Steinberg,   
   senior vice president of policy at the Real Estate Board of New York, a   
   lobbying group.   
      
   New York’s law has inspired similar legislation in other cities, including   
   Boston and Washington. The laws go hand in hand with the “electrify   
   everything” movement sweeping municipalities across the country.   
      
   Newer buildings generally seem to be having an easier time complying with the   
   law than older ones. Many already rely on electricity for heating, and some   
   may also be able to pass on costs to their tenants, who consume much of the   
   power used in a building.   
    Being able to promote their buildings as low carbon can benefit owners   
   because many companies want to lease space in properties that align with their   
   own sustainability goals.   
      
   “This is increasing asset value,” said Jimmy Carchietta, founder and chief   
   executive of the Cotocon Group, an engineering firm with a booming business   
   doing building energy audits.   
      
   Brookfield Properties, for example, recently announced that it would use   
   hydropower to run its One Manhattan West office building.   
      
   The Durst Organization, one of the oldest real estate developers in the city,   
   says most of its buildings will meet the 2024 thresholds but expects to be   
   fined $2.4 million a year for One Bryant Park, a Midtown Manhattan skyscraper   
   and home of Bank of    
   America’s corporate and investment banking business.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)