Building Decarbonization Insights
The Retrofit Playbook for Large Buildings
This expanded resource library supports building owners and their technical teams in planning and implementing low carbon retrofit projects. The Playbook also showcases examples of best practices in decarbonizing commercial tenant office spaces in New York City, a key sector to engage in building decarbonization.
The Playbook contains case studies for different building types, including commercial and multifamily buildings; specifically, affordable housing, residential, and high-rise buildings. Most of these new projects are located in disadvantaged communities and the strategies highlight cost-effective approaches to decarbonizing complex buildings over time, project-specific technical information, and best practices for building owners to achieve deep energy and carbon reductions at their properties.
Introducing Resource Efficient Decarbonization (RED)
Decarbonizing cold-climate buildings requires a novel approach. Through the Empire Building Challenge, NYSERDA, its real estate partners, and their consulting engineers are pioneering a framework tailored to this market: Resource Efficient Decarbonization (RED).
A rational approach to large building decarbonization: Lessons learned from the Empire Building Challenge
NESEA 2021 BuildingEnergy Magazine
: Building owners can build a clear path toward carbon neutral operations by adopting an incremental methodology and integrated design process combined with strategic capital planning.
Introducing the Resource Efficient Decarbonization (RED) approach
The EBC Approach [PDF]: Asset investment should be planned in the context of a comprehensive decarbonization roadmap rather than reactive maintenance. The EBC team piloted a Strategic Decarbonization Assessment, which allows building owners to include the complexities of capital refresh, tenant improvements, and non-energy benefits.
Join New York’s Retrofit Revolution
EBC cultivates key public-private partnerships with leading real estate owners, solution providers, and manufacturers from across the globe to bring innovative and scalable low-carbon building retrofit approaches to the New York market.
Partner Profile: Hudson Square Properties
Hudson 345 is a carefully phased building retrofit that deploys thermal networking—novel to the US market, but vetted across decades in other regions—to drastically reduce energy demand and eliminate carbon emissions.
Event Series
High Rise, Low Carbon
The High Rise, Low Carbon event series advances the decarbonization of New York’s existing buildings by sharing low-carbon retrofit success stories and making key connections among the real estate, construction, engineering, and design communities. It highlights the Empire Building Challenge and the commitments of the Challenge partners.
Watch the series below designed to inspire action.
- Series Launch. Explores Empire Building Challenge program and the work of four real estate partners pioneering new models for deep efficiency in tall buildings in cold climates.
- Financing Deep Retrofits. Focuses on long term capital planning and financing deep retrofit work.
- Keep the Outside Out. Discusses recent innovations in delivering high-performance envelope retrofits
- Sharing Heat. Features projects utilizing hydronic systems, thermal networks, and waste heat recovery across the commercial sector.
- Advance Ventilation Goes Mainstream. Presents information on the advanced technology and benefits of modern ventilation systems used in high performance building retrofits.
- Nimble Brains for Complex Buildings. Hear from experts who are deploying technologies and utilizing Resource Efficient Decarbonization strategies to optimize performance in low-carbon retrofits.
Take the Heat!
In this two-part series on building decarbonization industry experts highlight projects that deploy breakthrough heat recovery solutions across the commercial and multifamily buildings sector. The series, developed as part of the Empire Building Challenge, feature innovative strategies for heat recovery deployed by the Challenge partners.
Watch the series to learn how these solutions apply to your project.
- Part 1: Geo & Wastewater. Showcases approaches to wastewater heat recovery and geothermal heat projects in New York City
- Part 2: Building Core & Perimeter. Showcases approaches to ventilation and cooling heat recovery.
Empire Building Challenge in the News
The Empire State Building's Green Retrofit Was a Success. Will Other Buildings Follow Suit? , TIME
How to get New York City’s biggest buildings to zero carbon , Canary Media
High-rise buildings can’t eliminate natural gas all at once. But they can and should start electrifying their heating right now.
Empire State Realty Trust pledge total carbon neutrality by 2035 , The Real Deal
10 major NY landlords join public-private partnership to support Cuomo’s emissions goal