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As used in this article, the following terms shall have the following meanings:
BUILDING EMISSIONS. The term "building emissions" means greenhouse gas emissions as expressed in metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emitted as a result of operating a covered building and calculated in accordance with rules promulgated by the department in consultation with the mayor's office of long term planning and sustainability. The term "building emissions" shall not include greenhouse gas emissions emitted during a local state of emergency declared by the mayor pursuant to section 24 of the executive law or a state of emergency declared by the governor pursuant to section 28 of the executive law, where such local or state emergency has an impact on building emissions.
BUILDING EMISSIONS INTENSITY. The term "building emissions intensity" means, for a covered building, the number obtained by dividing the building emissions by the gross floor area for such building, expressed in metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per square foot per year.
CAPACITY RESOURCE. The term "capacity resource" means a facility that has the capability to generate and transmit electrical power and sell capacity (i) by bilateral contracts, (ii) in the wholesale capacity market, or (iii) by indirect sales of capacity in the wholesale market in accordance with the schedules of rates and charges of a utility in effect pursuant to section 66 of the New York state public service law.
CARBON DIOXIDE EQUIVALENT. The term "carbon dioxide equivalent" means the metric used to compare the emissions of various greenhouse gases based upon their global warming potential as defined in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fifth Assessment Report (2014).
CITY BUILDING. The term "city building" means a building that is owned by the city or for which the city regularly pays all of the annual energy bills, or a cultural institution that is in the Cultural Institutions Group as determined by the department of cultural affairs for which the city regularly pays all or part of the annual energy bills.
Exception: The term "city building" shall not include any senior college in the city university of New York system.
CLEAN DISTRIBUTED ENERGY RESOURCE. The term "clean distributed energy resource" means a distributed energy resource that (i) uses any of the following sources to generate electricity: hydropower, solar photovoltaics, geothermal wells or loops, tidal action, waves or water currents, or wind; or (ii) is designed and operated to store energy, including but not limited to batteries, thermal systems, mechanical systems, compressed air, and superconducting equipment.
COVERED BUILDING. The term "covered building" means, as it appears in the records of the department of finance, (i) a building that exceeds 25,000 gross square feet (2322.5 m
2
) or (ii) two or more buildings on the same tax lot that together exceed 50,000 gross square feet 4645 m
2
), or (iii) two or more buildings held in the condominium form of ownership that are governed by the same board of managers and that together exceed 50,000 gross square feet (4645 m
2
).
Exceptions:
1. An industrial facility primarily used for the generation of electric power or steam.
2. Real property, not more than three stories, consisting of a series of attached, detached or semi-detached dwellings, for which ownership and the responsibility for maintenance of the HVAC systems and hot water heating systems is held by each individual dwelling unit owner, and with no HVAC system or hot water heating system in the series serving more than 25,000 gross square feet (2322.5 m
2
), as certified by a registered design professional to the department.
3. A city building.
4. A housing development or building on land owned by the New York city housing authority.
5. A rent regulated accommodation.
6. A building whose main use or dominant occupancy is classified as occupancy group A-3 religious house of worship.
7. Real property owned by a housing development fund company organized pursuant to the business corporation law and article eleven of the private housing finance law.
8. A building that participates in a project-based federal housing program.
DISTRIBUTED ENERGY RESOURCE. The term "distributed energy resource" means a resource comprised of one or multiple units capable of generating or storing electricity, all at a single location that is directly or indirectly connected to an electric utility transmission and distribution system. The resource may serve all or part of the electric load of one or more customers at the same location, and it may simultaneously or alternatively transmit all or part of the electricity it generates or stores onto the electric transmission and distribution system for sale to or use by other customers at other locations.
FINANCIAL HARDSHIP (OF A BUILDING). The term "financial hardship (of a building)" means a building that for the combined two years prior to the application for an adjustment to annual building emissions limit pursuant to section 28-320.7:
1. Had arrears of property taxes or water or wastewater charges that resulted in the property's inclusion on the department of finance's annual New York city tax lien sale list;
2. Had been exempt from real property taxes pursuant to sections 420-a, 420-b, 446 or 462 of the real property tax law and applicable local law and the owner had negative revenue less expenses as certified to the department by a certified public accountant, or by affidavit under penalties of perjury; or
3. Had outstanding balances under the department of housing preservation and development's emergency repair program that resulted in the property's inclusion on the department of finance's annual New York city tax lien sale list.
GREENHOUSE GAS. The term "greenhouse gas" means a unit of greenhouse gas, including carbon dioxide (CO
2
), methane (CH
4
), nitrous oxide (N
2
O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), sulfur hexafluoride (SF
6
), and nitrogen trifluoride (NF
3
).
GREENHOUSE GAS OFFSET. The term "greenhouse gas offset" means a credit representing one metric ton of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions reduced, avoided, or sequestered by a project from a measured baseline of emissions and which has been verified by an independent, qualified third party in accordance with offset standards referenced by rules of the department.
METRIC TONS OF CARBON DIOXIDE EQUIVALENT. The term "metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent" means the global standard unit in carbon accounting to quantify greenhouse gas emissions, also expressed as tCO
2
e.
RENEWABLE ENERGY CREDIT. The term "renewable energy credit" means a certificate representing the environmental, social and other non-power attributes of one megawatt-hour of electricity generated from a renewable energy resource, which certificate is recognized and tradable or transferable within national renewable energy markets or the New York generation attribute tracking system. This term also means the environmental, social, and other non-power attributes of one megawatt-hour of electricity generated from a hydropower resource that does not trade or transfer renewable energy certificates for those hydropower resources in any renewable energy market or via the New York generation attribute tracking system, provided that the hydropower resource owner certifies the amount of energy produced in each reporting year and that it has not sold the non-power attributes equal to its energy production more than once.
RENT REGULATED ACCOMMODATION. The term "rent regulated accommodation" means a building in which more than 35 percent of dwelling units are required by law or by an agreement with a governmental entity to be regulated in accordance with the New York state emergency tenant protection act of 1974, the New York city rent stabilization law of 1969, or the local emergency housing rent control act of 1962.
(L.L. 2019/097, 5/19/2019, eff. 11/15/2019; Am. L.L. 2019/147, 7/27/2019, eff. 11/15/2019; Am. L.L. 2020/116, 11/17/2020, eff. 11/17/2020; Am. L.L. 2021/126, 11/7/2021, eff. 11/7/2022; Am. L.L. 2023/077, 6/11/2023, eff. 6/11/2023)
Editor's note: For related unconsolidated provisions, see Appendix A at L.L. 2021/126 and L.L. 2023/077.
There shall be an advisory board convened by the office of building energy and emissions performance upon the effective date of this article, in January of 2029 and in January of 2039, to provide advice and recommendations to the commissioner and to the mayor's office of long term planning and sustainability relating to effectively reducing greenhouse gas emissions from buildings. Such recommendations shall include, but not be limited to:
1. A report and recommendations to be delivered to the mayor and the speaker of the city council no later than January 1, 2023 for additional or improved approaches to assessing building energy performance. Such report shall include, but not be limited to:
1.1. An approach for buildings to submit energy use or greenhouse gas emissions and other information for the purpose of assessing energy performance of covered buildings;
1.2. A methodology that includes the metric of measure, adjustments to the metric, the approach to comparing the output to a benchmark, alternative compliance paths, credit for beneficial electrification and distributed energy resources, and an approach for a trading mechanism as described in section 28-320.11;
1.3. Recommendations for addressing tenant-controlled energy usage;
1.4. Recommendations for amendments to the audit required under section 28-308.2, including consideration of whether such audit should be replaced by a capital plan;
1.5. Recommendations for reducing building emissions from rent regulated accommodations;
1.6. Recommendations for allowing additional time to comply with the emissions limits for buildings converting to a new occupancy group or use with lower emissions limits or some other change in status that would affect applicability of the provisions of this article;
1.7. An evaluation of the extent to which the mayor's 80x50 energy infrastructure pathways study is incorporated and addressed within the recommendations made pursuant to items 1.1 through 1.6 of this section; and
1.8. A reference guide to delineate the responsibilities of the building designer and owners to comply with emissions limits.
2. A report to be delivered to the mayor and the speaker of the city council no later than January 1, 2023, providing an analysis of, and any recommendations for improving, energy and emissions performance requirements for covered buildings. Such recommendations shall be targeted to achieve at least a 40 percent reduction in aggregate greenhouse gas emissions from covered buildings by calendar year 2030 relative to such emissions for the calendar year 2005. Such report shall include, but not be limited to assessments of:
2.1. Incentives for reduction of peak energy demand;
2.2. Methods to allow for staggered reporting cycles for compliance with energy and emissions performance improvements;
2.3. Methods for calculating penalties for noncompliance;
2.4. Estimated emissions reductions associated with any recommended energy performance requirements;
2.5. The economic impact, including benefits, of achieving the energy and emissions performance requirements;
2.6. Methods for achieving earlier or larger reductions from city buildings;
2.7. Separate improvement targets for base building energy systems and tenant-controlled energy systems;
2.8. Methods for achieving emissions reductions from manufacturing and industrial processes; and
2.9. Methods for achieving emissions reductions from hospitals while maintaining critical care for human health and safety.
(L.L. 2019/097, 5/19/2019, eff. 11/15/2019; Am. L.L. 2019/147, 7/27/2019, eff. 11/15/2019; Am. L.L. 2021/126, 11/7/2021, eff. 11/7/2022; Am. L.L. 2023/077, 6/11/2023, eff. 6/11/2023)
Editor's note: For related unconsolidated provisions, see Appendix A at L.L. 2021/126 and L.L. 2023/077.
Such advisory board shall be staffed with registered design professionals and be composed of 19 members as follows: the chairperson, the speaker of the council or the speaker's designee, the mayor or the mayor's designee, eight members appointed by the mayor, and eight members appointed by the speaker of the council. The mayor shall appoint one architect, one engineer, one building owner or manager, one public utility industry representative, one environmental justice representative, one business sector representative, one residential tenant representative, and one environmental advocacy organization representative. The speaker shall appoint one architect, one stationary engineer, one construction trades representative, one green energy industry representative, one residential tenant representative, one environmental justice organization representative, one environmental advocacy representative and one not for profit organization representative. The director of such office, or the designee of such director, shall serve as chairperson of the advisory board. The advisory board may convene in working groups. Such working groups may include individuals not on such advisory board to address the recommendations required by this article. The mayor shall invite the appropriate federal, state and local agencies and authorities to participate, including but not limited to the New York state energy research and development authority. Such advisory board shall convene a working group on hospitals that shall be composed of engineers, architects, and hospital industry representatives.
(L.L. 2019/097, 5/19/2019, eff. 11/15/2019; Am. L.L. 2019/147, 7/27/2019, eff. 11/15/2019)
Except as otherwise provided in this article, or otherwise provided by rule, on and after January 1, 2024 a covered building shall not have annual building emissions higher than the annual building emissions limit for such building as determined in accordance with this section based on the occupancy group of the building.
(L.L. 2019/097, 5/19/2019, eff. 11/15/2019)
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