Dive summary:
- Reducing the carbon footprint in mass-transit-heavy New York City is about building energy efficiency, not about cars, and the city is finding that not everything works out like it was expected to.
- A law requires owners of large commercial buildings to report their energy use and makes the information public, and a report from the city shows that the Empire State and Chrysler Buildings, with scores of 80 and 84, respectively, under the EPA's Energy Star system were ahead of the LEED-Gold 7 World Trade Center at 74.
- Large residential buildings come under the energy-reporting law in 2013, and the effects of the storm named Sandy have heightened everyone's attention in New York City to global climate change.
From the article:
Unlike cities that depend heavily on automobiles, New York racks up most of its carbon dioxide emissions – nearly 80% – in heating and cooling buildings. ....
