Dr. Robert E. Paaswell, Distinguished Professor in the Grove School of Engineering at City College, is the executive director of the CCNY-based CUNY Institute for Urban Systems.
The Mayor's Office of Sustainability (MOS) is partnering with the CUNY Building Performance Lab, an initiative of The City College of New York-based CUNY Institute for Urban Systems, to re-launch the NYC Benchmarking Help Center.
The first of its kind in the nation, the Help Center ran in 2011-2013 through a partnership with CUNY BPL, MOS, Department of Buildings, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, and the Institute for Market Transformation. It supported property owners in complying with Local Law 84 of 2009 (LL84), a legislative mandate requiring all buildings larger than 50,000 square feet to submit annual energy and water benchmarking reports. In two years, the Help Center received over 2,000 calls and helped the city achieve an impressive 75% first-year compliance rate.
The re-launched Help Center is a free, one-stop shop for LL84 information located in lower Manhattan and supported by CUNY interns. It provides building owners information that includes how to gather energy and water data, or how to use the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager® tool.
The Help Center’s expanded capacity will focus on improving the quality of LL84 report submissions. It will assist property owners who have had difficulty complying in previous years, and smooth the way for properties that may need to conduct benchmarking in the future or want to utilize benchmarking to undertake energy efficiency measures.
For more information, contact Nora Sherman, BPL Director of Communications, at nora.sherman@cuny.edu or 212-652-2060.
About The City College of New York
Since 1847, The City College of New York has provided low-cost, high-quality education for New Yorkers in a wide variety of disciplines. More than 15,000 students pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in the College of Liberal Arts and Science; Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture; School of Education; Grove School of Engineering; Sophie Davis Biomedical Education/CUNY School of Medicine; and the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership. U.S. News, Princeton Review and Forbes all rank City College among the best colleges and universities in the United States.