TACKING THE CHALLENGE

As the Big Apple embarks upon this historic carbon trimming effort, Mandyck points out that if other cities fail to follow suit, the New York Harbor is still going to flood. “So we have an obligation as the largest city in the United States to not only to reduce carbon emissions, but to do it in a way that can help other cities,” he says.

Raising the ethical side of the equation, Wolf points out that building teams would never imagine designing a building without safety factors, but when it comes to the ecosystems of our planet, that same sense of responsibility does not always carry through.

“We need to redouble our efforts to see that LL97 not only stays on schedule but attains some quantified margin of safety with detailed contingency plans,” he states. “It needs an experienced management team that is subject to open peer review and is answerable to the public at regular hearings.”

Further, carbon reduction needs to apply to new building designs. This means making the investment in well-thought-out, integrated sustainable designs at the onset.

“No one buys the cheapest car on the market, so why would you buy only the bare bones, code minimum facade?” asks Selkowitz. “With a bit of speculation, in a more competitive real estate post-COVID world, there may be a premium on workspace that has access to better views, fresh air from the facade, better thermal management and comfort, resilience, etc. A modest incremental investment in the facade may help future-proof your building marketability.”

Ultimately, architects are in a position to play a leading role in these crucial environmental efforts. Offering some encouragement, Kologlu states, “As designers, we are trying to spread our optimism to influence positive change. Everything we do today, whether we are setting new policies or designing a new building, can still curb carbon emissions and prevent long-lasting, irreversible disruption to our planet.

When a building owner invests in healthy and low carbon materials, enhancing air quality and natural ventilation, maximizing daylighting and views, and implementing new smart technologies, they are investing in the health of the planet, the wellness and productivity of their tenants, and the longevity of their building,” she concludes.

CARBON TRADING

Image courtesy of Urban Green Council

To help dense buildings comply with New York’s Local Law 97, it is anticipated that buildings will be able to “trade carbon” by purchasing credits from buildings that have gone below the carbon cap.

While New York City’s Local Law 97—requiring large buildings to reduce their carbon emissions by 2024, and again in 2030—is a promising climate change policy, it puts dense, high-energy building types at a major disadvantage.

“The way the law was passed presents a major challenge in that it penalizes density, which is counterintuitive to sustainable design because you want to put more people in a single building verses placing that same number of people in multiple buildings,” explains John Mandyck, CEO, Urban Green Council, New York.

While these building types have the option of paying the fine, which is $268 for each ton over the cap, this adds up to a few million dollars per building and unfortunately does nothing to help climate change.

“You could have a building that is super energy efficient and highly sustainable, but if it had 10,000 people working there, you can’t get around the fact that it uses a lot of energy,” says Mandyck.

“That is the concept of carbon trading that one building goes below their obligation and is able to trade and monetize those extra carbon savings with a building that is not able to meet their requirements,” Mandyck clarifies.

Urban Green has invested much in researching the concept and urging the city to incorporate carbon trading into Local Law 97. The council released a report this summer, “Trading: A New Climate Solution for Buildings,” which outlines 11 big questions that need to be answered for carbon trading to work in any city and identifies 59 policy options under each of those questions for cities to evaluate.

At this time, the city is conducting a study on the details of carbon trading implementation. New York University is leading a team to run carbon modeling scenarios and Urban Green is heading up stakeholder engagement and consultation on the study.

“The study is meant to make a determination in January about whether carbon trading can work in New York City,” says Mandyck. “We are hopeful that will lead to a positive determination.”

Urban Green views carbon trading as the “secret sauce” that will make Local Law 97 work, and something that can be exported to other cities to help reduce carbon emissions.

“It does not matter what climate you have, what political system you have, the age of your building stock, or whether you have hi-rise or low-rise buildings.” explain Mandyck. “This is a breakthrough policy tool for cities that are trying to tackle climate change.”

END NOTES

¹Hens, Hugo. “Heat, Air, and Moisture Transfer in Envelope Parts: The International Energy Agencies Annex 24 Common Exercises.” Department of Civil Engineering, Catholic University, Belgium. 1995. Web. 10 September 2020.

²Montes-Amoros, Vicente. “LEED Through the Eyes of the Building Envelope,” Curtainwall Design Consulting. June 2013. Web. 10 September 2020.

Barbara Horwitz-Bennett is a veteran architectural journalist who has written hundreds of CEUs and articles for various AEC publications. www.bhbennett.com