white paper
Building Automation Opportunities to Meet NYC
Emission Laws in Existing Buildings
New York City’s Local Law 97 mandates large (over 25,000 square feet) existingbuildings in New York City reduce their carbon emissions by 40% by 2030 and by 80%
by 2050. What are the requirements and opportunities for building owners andoperators?

By Michael St. Louis and Graham Martin, EnOcean Alliance Inc.

“With so many people and cars in NYC, it can be hard to believe that our buildings are
the number one contributor of harmful emissions” said NYC Council Member Andrew
Cohnen. (1) There are approximately one million buildings in New York City (residentialand non-residential) which account for 71% of New York City greenhouse gasemissions (2).
Local Law No. 97 of 2019, passed as part of the Climate Mobilization Act by the New
York City Council in March 2019, requires large (over 25,000 square feet) existingbuildings in New York City reduce their emissions by 40% by 2030 and 80% by 2050
(compared to base year 2005).
The law is unique and novel in its aim, because it targets existing buildings andrequires owners to invest in renovation and retrofitting to make their buildings moreenergy-efficient. The New York Post has called the law “one of the most ambitious
climate legislations for buildings enacted by any city in the world.” (3)The law covers approximately 50,000 buildings which account for around 30% ofcitywide emissions(4), meaning that this individual law is aiming to reduce all emissions
in the city by one quarter by 2050. Firstly, buildings will have to be retrofitted by 2024
or building owners will face severe penalties for emissions above the specified limits,
i.e. $268/year per metric ton above the limit. It is estimated that the average building
violation could reach approximately $162,772 by 2024 and the total value of fineswhite paper
faced by all affected buildings will reach approximately $330.4 million in 2024, and$695.6 million by 2030 (5). All buildings covered by the law must submit an emissions
intensity report on May 1st every year starting from 2025. The emission limits will betightened every 5-year period up to 2050.
The costs involved for the building owners or businesses will quickly run into billionsof dollars throughout the city, so it is important to understand what has to be done
and where potential returns can be expected, e.g. through lower energy bills, throughcreating more attractive properties (higher rents) or potentially through new
government incentive schemes.
What are the options for building owners/operators to reduce their building’s carbon
emissions? Some common strategies include:
Investing in the building envelope, such as insulated windows, walls or roofs.
Upgrading to energy-efficient technical equipment such as air conditioning andheating systems.
Installation of building automation and control, e.g. for lighting andtemperature control.
All of these strategies are effective ways of decreasing carbon emission, but what are
the practicalities involved and what is the return on investment period?

Saving Energy and Money with Building Automation andIntelligent Control Systems
Investing significantly in the building envelope can typically yield an energy saving of
50% and beyond. This is typically a huge investment and is invasive during theretrofit, potentially having to close down part or all of the building during this period.
Return on investment can typically be a multiple of decades.
Upgrading to energy-efficient technical equipment such as HVAC units can yieldenergy savings of 10% to 60%, depending on building type and status of existing
equipment, and will typically provide a return on investment within around a decade.
Installation may be with restricted disruption to building operation.
Installation of building automation and control systems can yield energy savings oftypically 10% to 50%, depending primarily on the use-case of the building, and will
typically provide a return on investment in three to eight years, in exceptional caseseven down to less than two years. Installation, if using wireless sensors, can be
virtually without disruption to building operation. This can be a game-changer inmultiple building types such as hospitals, care homes, government or educational
facilities, hotels or retail where disruption or partial closure can be costly or virtuallyimpossible.
Building automation and control systems have the added value of increasing thecomfort and security of a building, which in a commercial environment can lead toincreased productivity and health and wellness of employees and/or building tenants.

Going Wireless with Energy Harvesting
If tenants make up a large portion of energy use within a building, it will be absolutely
necessary to have their cooperation and buy-in on any major energy-efficient retrofit.
Considering the millions of sensors necessary for New York alone, these sensors must
be standardized, wireless, maintenance-free (self-powered) and easy to retrofit. Withwhite paperbuilding automation and control, the benefits of least invasion (noise, mess, shutdown, loss of revenue, etc.), as well as the lowest cost and fastest return on
investment, have become the most compelling way of taking the first steps to reachthe required goals. The sensors required can be installed by simply “peel and sticking”
wherever appropriate and today’s sensors which power themselves through energy
harvesting (e.g. room light, temperature differences, mechanical movement) can be
maintenance-free for decades. The added feature of being able to monitor and control
your space using cell-phones or other internet-capable devices from anywhere in theworld is also attractive to tenants and building users, making buy-in easier.

A Reliable Partner Eco System
There are a number of radio standards for building automation and intelligent control
systems on the market. One which is particularly good for building automation is theEnOcean Alliance wireless standard (ISO/ IEC 14543-3-11) in sub 1GHz frequency.
Optimized for use in buildings the sensor’s radio has a typical range of approximately
100 feet/30 m indoors. The interoperability of different suppliers’ end-products is animportant success factor when it comes to retrofitting and extending building
automation. The EnOcean Alliance ecosystem provides over 5,000 product variants
using the EnOcean radio.
The EnOcean Alliance based in California is a standards-based mutual benefit
organization consisting of 400 companies from the building automation community
who are specialized in creating solutions for energy-efficient, comfortable and securebuildings. Founded on an international open wireless standard, the organization’soffers enhance building energy management with a unique feature that the sensors
and switches power themselves using energy harvesting techniques. This means nopulling cables to sensors, no opening walls, no noise nor mess during installation andnever a battery to replace. The German technology, originally created by industry
pioneer EnOcean (a spin-off from Siemens), has been installed into over 1 million
buildings since its first-generation introduction 20 years ago.
Sustainable Buildings with a Sustainable Technology
Solutions from EnOcean Alliance partners using EnOcean’s resource-saving energy
harvesting technology in their products form the basis for energy efficiency and CO2
reduction of new and existing buildings. The energy harvesting technology fromEnOcean enables new and existing buildings to be sustainably digitalized and to reacha better CO2 footprint without any cables or battery waste in a short period of time –supporting New York building owners to meet all requirements of New York City’sLocal Law 97.
Picture credits:
Getty Images/Petmal

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References:(1) New York City Council Press Council to Vote on Climate Mobilization Act
ahead of Earth Day - Press (nyc.gov) April 2019(2) "To Fight Climate Change, New York City Will Push Skyscrapers To SlashEmissions". NPR.org. Retrieved May 2020
(3) Nonko, Emily (January 16th, 2020). "NYC buildings prepare to drasticallyreduce emissions to avoid penalties". New York Post.
(4) DiChristopher, Tom (April 18th, 2019). "New York City embraces pillar of
AOC's Green New Deal, passing building emissions bill". CNBC.
(5) www.cany.com Retrieved January 2021

Authors:
Michael St. Louis, Marketing Working Group N. America EnOcean Alliance.
Sales EnOcean Inc.
michael.st.louis@enocean.com
Graham Martin, Chairman & CEO EnOcean Alliance Inc.
graham.martin@enocean-alliance.org
www.enocean-alliance.org