When looking to extend its success with its legacy control system, the New York City Housing Authority started with open BACnet communication as the center of its new BMS architecture, leveraging its fiber connectivity between campus buildings and including advanced graphics, alarms, exception reporting, and data analytics. Including these features has required NYCHA to work across its enterprise, from Operations/Maintenance to Capital Projects and IT, as well as with its business partners and consultants, to bring all the pieces together.

Capital planning has always been an integral part of a building owner’s strategy, but with NYC’s Local Law 97, state and city carbon reduction goals, gas moratoriums, and a shift towards electrification, it is more important than ever to have a long-term strategy based on the specifics of a building, property, or portfolio. This session will provide an overview of different integrated solution options and technologies for both commercial and residential buildings, including geothermal, thermal storage with energy sharing, and VRF.

Climate change will have significant impacts on indoor cooling needs in New York City, particularly for vulnerable communities who will see disproportionate health, economic, and other effects. This session will describe the key findings and recommendations from a recent NYSERDA-sponsored project. The project investigated how current cooling usage patterns will change based on climate change and committed building energy efficiency goals, and evaluated the impacts of different technology and policy options to meet future residential cooling needs while minimizing increases in energy use.

Electrifying existing buildings is easier said than done. There are numerous roadblocks to electrification, from first costs, to technical feasibility, to grid limitations, operating costs, and tenant education, just to name a few! Richard Gerbe will moderate this roundtable discussion with key stakeholders representing manufacturers, utilities, engineers, and building owners, to learn how cross-sector collaboration will help accelerate the decarbonization of New York’s existing building stock efficiently and equitably.

For decades, the drive for energy efficiency took priority over indoor air quality (IAQ). With COVID, the pendulum swung in the direction of IAQ, but as we emerge from the pandemic and prepare to meet ever more stringent building performance standards, we need to design and operate buildings for both IAQ and efficiency. The question is how to solve for these seemingly contradictory goals given the “energy penalty” associated with higher ventilation rates.

Adjacent to each other in the flood-prone Rockaways in NYC and completed 2 years apart, Beach Green Dunes I and Beach Green Dunes II are two of the largest multifamily Passive House projects in the U.S. Although nearly identical in appearance, they are very different under the hood. Each has a different structure, envelope, HVAC system, resiliency strategies, and operational requirements.

New York City’s Climate Mobilization Act (CMA) is viewed by many building owners as legislation thrust upon them, mandating unaffordable retrofits that benefit the environment at their expense. But for owners with the right strategy in place, these retrofits present a highly profitable investment opportunity, even with little access to capital.