While there is growing adoption of solar and energy storage systems in the US as a whole, there are still significant and unique challenges that are preventing New York City from achieving widespread implementation. The city is held back by numerous regulations, metering arrangements, complex carbon accounting, and a litany of other design constraints.

This session will provide an overview of two groundbreaking clean energy initiatives coming out of NYSERDA: the Carbon Neutral Buildings Roadmap and the Building Electrification Roadmap. These paired documents lay out the vision, recommendations and program planning that will allow New York to (1) rapidly accelerate heat pump adoption for HVAC and hot water solutions through 2030, and (2) overcome the various technical, economic, and behavioral challenges to full decarbonization of the state’s building stock by 2050.

Embodied Carbon (EC) emissions from the building sector produce 11% of annual global GHG emissions (second to transportation). Embodied carbon, unlike operational carbon, is out of sight, off site, and usually out of mind. As industry professionals, we have a responsibility to work towards a carbon-neutral built environment, and that work starts at design with a focus on the embodied carbon of a building and the materials that comprise it.

BREAKOUT SPONSORED BY TISHMAN SPEYER - Come learn from Charlie Marino of AKF and Jonathan Flaherty of Tishman Speyer on their recent collaboration in creating high performance operations and maintenance training for Tishman Speyer facility managers and engineers across the US. Tishman Speyer turned to Charlie and AKF to help create a training program to insure that their operating engineers and facility managers are up to date on the most recent developments in energy efficiency, grids and high performance buildings.