Monthly Archives: June 2019

Rooftop Gardens As A Sustainability Strategy

Some entities understand the financial benefits and would like to be more sustainable, but are under some pressure to have a “showcase” project that is more interesting and picturesque than energy efficiency or upgrading sophisticated equipment. If you are in that situation, consider rooftop gardens as an effective way to be more sustainable, gain benefits, and have a great “photo op.” Particularly in urban areas, rooftop gardens bring some greenery and an area for relaxation into a “concrete” space.
Rooftop gardens are essentially backyards atop one’s building, bringing “nature” into an otherwise sterile space. Rooftop gardens can be either vertical or horizontal and is an effective way to reduce the heat load on your AC system, saving on energy bills.

Rooftops are, by nature, urban heat islands, absorbing the sun’s radiation and giving off energy slowly, resulting in massive pockets of hot air. In an urban environment of many dark-colored roof tiles and concrete streets, cities are particularly prone to higher than normal summer temperatures because of heat islands, which contributes to worse air quality and mental and physical health concerns. In addition, energy being kept in and close to buildings raises the demand for air conditioning and other cooling equipment, making it work harder and for longer causing a significant rise in energy usage and putting a strain on the local energy grid, which some utilities have trouble maintaining. In addition, the building owner pays for the urban island effect big time as more utilities put a premium charge on high peak demand during the cooling season (summer). Even if a building has one 15-minute period in a month of very high cooling demand, it will be charged a very high amount for this single short-term spike in demand. In addition, heat islands damage roofing material, requiring the building owner to upgrade it more often than if a rooftop garden is installed and maintained to protect the building’s materials.

Rooftop gardens can mitigate this effect because the plants absorb the sun’s radiation, not the roof shingles or underneath part and the shade offered by plants reduces heat transport, resulting in cooler temperatures and improved air quality.

A recent study found that an exposed roof can get as hot as 158⁰F on a sunny day while an identical roof with a rooftop garden covering most of the roof stayed relatively stable at a temperature of 77⁰F (https://www.thespruce.com/green-benefits-of-a-roof-garden-1708536). In addition to providing natural cooling, rooftop gardens can provide a natural sound barrier, delay stormwater runoff, and provide filtered rainwater.

It is critical that the building owner bring in an experienced qualified roof garden designer and installer, who can check about any local permits and regulations that must be adhered to in your jurisdiction. Be sure that the designer assesses your building to determine whether it can hold a rooftop garden, that it can be waterproofed, or whether normal temperature extremes in your area may damage a roof garden or roof. It is crucial to choose the right types of plants depending on your local climate, such as winds and temperature extremes. If this is an office building with periods of inactivity, it may make sense to include low-maintenance plants, needing little water or pruning.

The cost of a rooftop garden will depend on many factors, such as size, plants selected, and construction materials used. A rule of thumb range of initial cost is $15-$40 per square foot of space. However, you should quickly begin to save money on energy bills and a payback in a reasonable time is likely, plus it should advance the building’s asset value and attractiveness for other potential tenants.

CCES does not perform rooftop garden design or landscaping. But we can manage professionals in these fields to do the proper work to install one to maximize your benefits. In addition, we can perform a sustainability assessment of your buildings, company, or assets to determine which strategies are most effective to become more sustainable and to optimize the financial benefits. Contact us today at 914-584-6720 or karell@CCESworld.com.

NYC’s New LL 97 Climate Change Rule – Part 2

Last month, I wrote an article with a basic summary about New York City’s new Local Law 97, a rule specifically tailored to Climate Change and reaching NYC’s 40% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030 and 80% reduction by 2050 goals by regulating existing building operations, the City’s largest source of GHG emissions. The rule goes into effect in 2024. The penalties for non-compliance (exceeding a limit) are great, likely annual 6-figure or greater fines. This article provides more details on the application of the new GHG emission limits affecting buildings.

LL 97 covers all buildings in NYC with a gross size of 25,000 sf or greater. There are several exceptions, such as power or steam plants, City-owned buildings, certain rent-regulated buildings, religious institutions, and certain low-income housing projects.

The crux of LL 97 is calculating annual GHG emissions and comparing it to allowable emission intensity in metric tons of CO2 equivalent per sf multiplied by square footage.

Different building types are regulated per Dept of Buildings listed classifications. Please note that this does not provide the full definition of a group or list all exceptions. Note the GHG emission intensity limits provided are for 2024 to 2029, more stringent in 2030.

Group A-1 – A-5. Assembly: the use of a building, excluding a dwelling, for gathering for purposes such as civic, social or religious functions, recreation, food or drink consumption, awaiting transportation, or similar group activities; or when occupied by 75 persons or more for educational or instructional purposes. Examples: theaters, banquet halls, museums, lecture halls, houses of worship, tennis courts, stadiums, etc. Building GHG emission intensity limit: 0.01074 tCO2e/sf.

Group B. Business: the use of a building for office, professional, service-type transactions, or for conducting public or civic services, including the storage of records and accounts and limited quantities of goods for office purposes. Examples: health care facilities, banks, laboratories, libraries, offices, professional services, colleges, etc. Building GHG emission intensity limit: 0.00846 tCO2e/sf.

Group E. Educational: the use of a building by 5 or more persons at any one time for educational purposes offered to children through the 12th grade. Examples: academies, day care facilities where no more than two children are under the age of 2, schools, and school libraries. Building GHG emission intensity limit: 0.00758 tCO2e/sf.

Group I-1. Personal care: the use of a building housing persons, on a 24-hour basis, who because of age, mental disability or other reasons, live in a supervised space providing personal care. Examples: adult day care, assisted living facilities, halfway homes, convalescent facilities. Building GHG emission intensity limit: 0.01138 tCO2e/sf.

Group F. Industrial: the use of a building for assembling, disassembling, fabricating, finishing, manufacturing, packaging, repairing, cleaning, or processing operations not classified as Group H hazardous. Examples: industrial, auto repair shops, printing presses, food processing, etc. Building GHG emission intensity limit: 0.00574 tCO2e/sf.

Groups H (High Hazard), I-2, I-3 (Institutional): the use of a building for child or adult care and treatment of those that are ill. Examples: industrial facilities using compounds considered hazardous, child care facilities, adult homes, hospitals, nursing homes, mental health facilities, etc. Building GHG emission intensity limit: 0.02381 tCO2e/sf.

Group M (Mercantile): the use of a building for the display and sale of merchandise, and involves stocks of goods, wares or merchandise incidental to such purposes and accessible to the public. Examples: department stores, retail and wholesale stores, drug stores, sales rooms, etc. Building GHG emission intensity limit: 0.01181 tCO2e/sf.

Group R-1 (Residential, temporary): the use of a building for dwelling or sleeping purposes when not classified as Institutional. Examples: hotels, motels, rooming houses, club houses. Building GHG emission intensity limit: 0.00987 tCO2e/sf.

Group R-2 (Residential, permanent): the use of a building containing sleeping units or more than two dwelling units that are occupied for permanent resident purposes. Example: apartment buildings. Building GHG emission intensity limit: 0.00675 tCO2e/sf.

Groups S (Storage) and U (Utility and Miscellaneous): the use of a building for storage or any other purpose not listed previously. Examples: warehouses, distribution centers (if it does not contain hazardous material), private garages, sheds, greenhouses. Building GHG emission intensity limit: 0.00426 tCO2e/sf.

Each subject building must calculate its GHG emissions for beginning in 2024. Conversion factors:

Electricity from the electric grid: 0.000288962 tCO2e/kilowatt-hour

Natural gas combusted on premises: 0.00005311 tCO2e/kbtu. (0.005311 tCO2e/therm)

#2 fuel oil combusted on premises: 0.00007421 tCO2e/kbtu (0.01039 tCO2e/gal. #2 oil)

#4 fuel oil combusted on premises: 0.00007529 tCO2e/kbtu (0.01090 tCO2e/gal. #4 oil)

District steam used on premises: 0.00004493 tCO2e/kbtu (0.0000466 tCO2e/lb steam)

Future updates will discuss other ways to calculate GHG emissions and the availability of GHG credits to compensate for emissions.

CCES has the experts and knowledge of LL 97 to perform an early assessment of whether your building meets your 2024 GHG emission limit or not. If you comply now, we can advise you how to ensure compliance into 2024. If you do not currently comply, we can advise you on cost-effective steps to comply on time and we can manage implementation to ensure you get the reductions in emissions you need. This is an onerous rule and with potential major upgrades needed to avoid high fines, 2024 is not that far away! Contact us today at 914-584-6720 or at karell@ CCESworld.com.

Blockchain Applied To Energy Management

Blockchain is the future of information technology and is beginning to be applied to how energy is created and transmitted in the US.

First, a quick review. Blockchain is the direction of information technology is moving toward: how we gather and store data. A blockchain is a collection of records aggregated into “blocks” that are linked to one another in a “chain”. It typically contains a history of a certain process, such as amount of energy generated, what type, when, and under what circumstances, and can also be used to set future actions, such as energy generation, based on history or other circumstances programmed. Blockchain data is usually available in some form in hundreds of distinct copies. While there are privacy guards in case someone attempts to alter the blockchain, a hacker will likely be able to alter only a minority of the copies. Full data from a blockchain is available to those that are permitted to access it, is accurate based on what was entered, and can provide privacy (which person is responsible for what), if need be.

Initiatives spearheaded by energy industry groups and stakeholders are working to create standardization in energy data sharing and blockchains. The North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB) is in the process of developing a standard digital representation of natural gas trading using blockchain. The results and mechanism for developing useful standards may well be replicated in other parts of the energy industry, such as managing electricity generation and renewable energy certificates (RECs). NAESB is industry-driven and organized by areas of interest, such as wholesale gas, wholesale electric, and retail markets to develop the standards for each energy group.

NAESB has developed a joint committee to develop a standard digital representation of natural gas trade events (futures or actual) in order to standardize and communicate smart contracts and trade disputes. A base contract for the sale or purchase of natural gas is being developed for the industry that can be used in a blockchain to keep appropriate and useful records. The actual base contracts are still being developed.

Given that renewable energy generation differs from that of fossil fuel-derived because the nature of renewable energy generation, the sun or wind, is free and, theoretically available to all, the future renewable energy blockchain application will likely focus less on development and futures, but instead on post-generation services, such as storage, distribution, and RECs, from generation to sales and retirement. This should come in handy as tracking RECs currently is a difficult process as records of transactions associated with RECs sales are difficult, given the different organizations and rules concerning RECs. Developing standards with blockchain to track RECs through their lifecycle could encourage renewable energy growth and investment.

CCES can partner with experts on blockchain technology to improve your data management. In addition, we can help you understand and manage your energy demand and usage, which is the first step to being more cost-effective and minimizing risk. Contact us today at 914-584-6720 or at karell@CCESworld.com.

Providing More Information on Energy Applied To Home Sales

Benchmarking is now the rage. More and more local governments are requiring building owners to compile and submit their energy usage data so that prospective buyers and renters have additional information to make their decision whether to bid, how much to bid, and to prepare for their time in the space. But these rules generally apply to large and/or commercial buildings and spaces. Since we spend most of our time in and our money on our homes, why can’t home buyers get access to a prospective home’s utility bills before you bid on it? The city of Portland, Oregon, has a program to give home shoppers such information, enabling the public to consider – if they wish – energy efficiency when buying a home. See https://www.pdxhes.com/ Other cities are looking at similar programs. After all, the energy efficiency of cars is public knowledge and used by many to decide on which brand to buy, why not the bigger investment of a home?

Portland is the first US city to require home sellers to determine and disclose a Home Energy Score through the Better Buildings Program of the US Dept of Energy, which gives a score from 1 to 10 and compares the energy performance of a given home compared to others in the US. Home owners must hire a certified assessor to perform an energy audit to determine the score.

In 2018, about 10,000 homes were assessed in Portland, achieving an average score of 4.6, slightly below average (5.0). This low score occurred presumably because many homes for sale were older, built before building codes set efficiency requirements, greatly reducing the mean. Of course, this brings up to the owners an opportunity to install insulation, replace windows, and/or upgrade HVAC to raise its energy score and, thus, improve the home’s marketability.

Austin, Texas, requires homes that are 10 years or older to have a professional energy audit performed and disclose its results when listing the property. Berkeley, California requires home sellers to develop a home energy score and disclose it to the buyer at or shortly after the sale. Montgomery County, Maryland, and Chicago require disclosure of utility bills to potential home buyers; Chicago also encourages (but does not require) including this information in listings.

Many believe that this can be successful in encouraging energy efficiency, as evidenced by automobile purchase trends. US car buyers now rate energy efficiency as important as price. Home energy ratings, already more common in Europe, has led to the correlation of higher home energy ratings resulting in higher sales prices.

CCES has the experts to help you determine how energy efficient your building is, whether it be your home, a commercial, or an industrial building. We can determine cost-effective ways to raise your score or efficiency, which will save you cost and raise your building’s asset value. Contact us today at 914-584-6720 or karell@CCESworld.com.