Energy Efficiency & Building Decarbonization

Redesigning Buildings to Combat Climate Change

New York’s six million buildings are responsible for around one-third of statewide greenhouse gas emissions. Advancing building energy efficiency and electrification is a cornerstone of the State’s efforts to achieve carbon neutrality and meet emissions reduction goals.

Modernizing and decarbonizing New York’s buildings will also create healthier living and working environments, reduce consumer energy costs, and add thousands of local clean energy and energy efficiency jobs.

Our building decarbonization and energy efficiency targets are guided by the Climate Act , which sets a statewide target of 185 TBtu (trillion British thermal units) of cumulative energy savings in New York’s buildings by 2025. The total energy efficiency savings is equivalent to fueling and powering more than 1.8 million New York homes and represents a major step towards addressing climate change.

How We’re Transforming Buildings to Stand Up to Climate Change

Meeting New York’s building decarbonization and energy efficiency goals requires transforming how we design, heat, and power our homes, workplaces, schools, and industrial facilities. NYSERDA is directing investment in energy efficiency, especially in Disadvantaged Communities and for low-to moderate-income (LMI) New Yorkers, to ensure affordability and grid reliability as beneficial electrification of buildings advances statewide.

NYSERDA is working with affordable housing providers, utilities, and innovators to go beyond building-by-building solutions to strategies that can work block-by-block and community-by-community to achieve the level of decarbonization needed to address the climate crisis.

Here’s how:

• Delivering policy and strategic leadership on energy efficiency and building electrification through the Carbon Neutral Buildings Roadmap, Building Electrification Roadmap, Two Million Climate Friendly Homes Action Plan and decarbonization partnerships with other State agencies.
• Providing technical and regulatory assistance to advance codes and standards that send a clear signal to the market that New York State is phasing out the use of fossil fuel in buildings and moving to cleaner, healthier options.
• Developing and managing programs to eliminate barriers and increase adoption of carbon neutral building strategies, provide financial and technical assistance to solution providers and consumers, and prioritize LMI homes, schools, and other buildings located in Disadvantaged Communities.
• Supporting low-carbon product innovation to deliver better solutions for the New York State market, lowering the cost of the transition away from fossil fuels, and building a local clean energy industry.
• Providing financing for energy efficiency improvements and building electrification and enable private financing of clean energy projects on a larger scale.
• Helping advance and implement new policy directives in the building sector, such as zero-emission new construction, fossil fuel heating equipment phaseout, and letter grades for large buildings’ energy consumption.

Achieving Climate-Friendly Buildings

Our building decarbonization and energy efficiency efforts will advance the health and well-being of New Yorkers while enhancing resilience to climate change and cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

By 2030, New York State will have 2 million homes and buildings equipped with heat pumps to provide electric heating and cooling and paired with energy efficiency.

These climate-friendly buildings will operate without fossil fuels and be designed with flexible loads or storage to respond to grid conditions and maintain service reliability. Clean energy incentives, financing, and product innovation will continue promoting building decarbonization as a cost-saving investment for homes and businesses alike. Capitalizing on key points in the building cycle, such as renovations, heating equipment replacement, and property transfer, will streamline energy efficiency and building electrification opportunities.

Transforming New York’s buildings will require a skilled workforce and support job opportunities across the State, with the potential to create 100,000 jobs in the coming decade.

Our Progress

We’re prioritizing building decarbonization and energy efficiency to achieve our greenhouse gas emission reduction goals, create healthier communities, and increase energy affordability.

Progress will be measured by the cumulative energy savings across our buildings and industrial facilities compared to the forecasted energy use if New York continued business-as-usual from the 2015 baseline. The percentage of New York’s six million buildings that are efficient and decarbonized is a key metric to tracking our progress in meeting our emissions reduction and energy efficiency goals. The total investment in buildings and homes located in Disadvantaged Communities is also a critical indicator of our success.

Other indicators of our progress can be found on New York’s Clean Energy Dashboard.