What is Local Law 84?
Local Law 84 (LL84) also known as the Benchmarking law in New York City was established in 2009 and mandates buildings over 50,000 square feet or buildings on one tax lot that collectively are larger than 100,000 square feet comply with annual energy benchmarking reporting. Energy Benchmarking is the process of measuring, tracking and reporting buildings’ energy and water consumption. These tools calculate an ENERGY STAR score as well as a Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions score.
What are the fines Under Local Law 84?
Building owners in New York City who fail to comply with Local Law 84 will face penalties and fines. The fine and penalties vary on the length of time the building owners are out of compliance and if there are any previous LL84 violations.
If a building fails to submit the Energy Benchmarking report by May 1st each year it would result in a penalty of $500. Continued failure to submit the report will result in additional penalties of $500 each quarter, up to $2000 each year.
Who is responsible for paying the fine?
Since each building owner is responsible for filing the report each building owner is also responsible for paying any fines accrued by failing to submit.
What should I do today?
Since Local Law 84 and benchmarking are based on the Energy Star Portfolio Manager, the first thing building owners should do is set up an account on the free web-based platform. The next step would be to check and see if Local Law 84 applies to each of your properties as well as the current Covered Buildings List that the NYC Mayor’s Office of Sustainability publishes yearly online.
How can FST Help?
FST can help throughout the whole process from gathering information about the building to conducting the energy testing to submitting the city.
FST will collect from the property management characteristics of the building and primary and secondary buildings to enter into Portfolio Manager® via a data collection worksheet. FST will also obtain whole-building energy consumption data for benchmarking. This is typically accomplished through the utilities directly with client support, however, in some cases, hard copies of utility bills representing whole building energy consumption must be provided by the client. FST will enter all requisite data into Portfolio Manager and follow the recommended procedures for error checking and accuracy of the data. To complete the benchmarking process, FST will upload the City’s reporting template into Portfolio Manager® and submit it to the City.
FST Technical Services (FST) specializes in building systems performance, analyzing energy usage and providing owners with ways to improve operational efficiency. FST can conduct an ASHRAE Level II energy audit to identify measures, with calculated payback, to lower the building’s energy consumption and/or operational costs. Understanding that every building is unique, we will help us guide you in prioritizing which energy conservation measures to implement. FST will also provide a general assessment of how the energy using equipment/systems in the tenant space affect the base building’s energy consumption.