What is a property's borough?

Which of the five New York City boroughs a property is located, per NYC Department of Finance records.

What is a property's neighborhood?

A property's neighborhood, according to the NYS Department of Health, with supplementary data from The New York Times Real Estate Market Data.

What do you mean by "primary property type"?

The primary use of a property as identified by the owner. Examples of property types include Multifamily residences (like apartment buildings), Offices, and Mixed Use (such as properties with retail storefronts at street level and apartments above).

What do you mean by "year built"?

The year construction of the property was completed as reported in PLUTO, the NYC Department of City Planning's database.

What is a property's "last major alteration"?

The year the property’s most recent alternation was completed. An alteration, as defined by the NYC Department of Finance, is a modification to a structure that changes the value of a property. Data source: PLUTO, the NYC Department of City Planning's database.

Why is total number of properties listed?

Because benchmarking data is collected by property (rather than by building), we list the total number of buildings located on the lot. Note that in cases where a property has more than one building, not all buildings may have reported benchmarking data.

What does BIN stand for?

This refers to the seven-digit Building Identification Number assigned to every building in NYC. Multiple BINs may be listed in cases where more than one building is associated with the same property.

What is a property's category?

Indicates whether a property is owned by the City of New York (also known as "municipal" or "City-owned").

What is site EUI?

The utility-reported total amount of energy that a property consumes onsite divided by the property’s square footage. Because this does not take into account the amount of energy needed to generate a property's power, it is often considered to be less representative of the total energy a property uses.

What is an ENERGY STAR Score?

A scoring system developed to help measure how well a property performs relative to similar properties nationwide. ENERGY STAR takes into account surrounding climate and operational characteristics, such as building size and property type. The score is on a scale from 1 to 100, with 1 representing the worst-performing properties and 100 representing the best-performing properties. For instance, a score of 75 indicates that a property is performing in the 75th percentile.

How do you measure a property's energy use?

Whole property energy use means all energy used by the property, whether by the owner or tenants. Energy use will be reported by type – electricity, natural gas, district steam, fuel oil, and other fuel or energy types. Property owners can obtain aggregated energy data (a property's entire consumption measured by month) from their utility company.

How do you measure water use?

The Department of Environmental Protection manages New York City’s water supply and wastewater treatment and provides all water consumption information to properties eligible and covered under LL84. Only properties with an Automatic Meter Reader installed for an entire calendar year are required to benchmark their water consumption. 

How do you show greenhouse gas emissions?

To provide a useful comparison of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across all NYC properties, we use GHG Intensity. GHG emissions are expressed in kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent (kgCO2e). CO2e, or carbon dioxide equivalent, is a unit of measure that expresses the global warming potential of multiple greenhouse gases in one common unit (CO2). Total GHG Emissions refers to the emissions associated with onsite fuel generation and offsite purchases of electricity, district stream, district hot water, or district chilled water.

Why did a property get a Zero Property Floor Area alert?

Because all benchmarking data is self-reported, it's possible for certain items to be misrepresented. In this case, the total square footage for a particular property has been listed as zero. For obvious reasons, this is unlikely, and is most likely due to human error or incomplete data.

Why did a property get a Zero Energy Use alert?

Because all benchmarking data is self-reported, it's possible for certain items to be misrepresented. In this case, a property has listed either incomplete or no energy use for the latest benchmarking year.

Why did a property get a Low Energy Use alert?

The energy use per square foot reported by this property seems outside the realm of what is possible for most properties. In general, we consider any Weather-Normalized Source EUI under 50 kBtu/sf. to be suspect. However, some property types are expected to have extremely low energy use, so we've excluded the following property types from alerts: Distribution Centers, Non-Refrigerated Warehouses, Parking, and Self-Storage Facilities.

Why did a property get a High Energy Use alert?

The energy use per square foot reported by this property seems outside the realm of what is possible for most properties. In general, we consider any property with a Weather-Normalized Source EUI over 1,000 kBtu/sf. to be questionable. Note: some property types are expected to have high energy use, so we've excluded the following property types from alerts: Hospital, Food Service, and Laboratory.

Why did a property get a Reported Floor Area alert?

We cross-referenced this property's reported floor area with its listing in the NYC PLUTO database and found a difference of more than 10%. For this reason, we suspect it may not be correct.

Why did a property get an ENERGY STAR Score alert?

It is very rare for a property to receive a perfect ENERGY STAR score. We consider any score of either 1 or 100 that has not been certified by ENERGY STAR to be questionable. If your property has an ENERGY STAR Score of 75 or above, get certified to verify your score.

Why did a property get a Reported BIN alert?

The properties reported in the city's benchmarking data may contain more than one building. In this case, the number of buildings reported does not match the number of Building Identification Numbers (BINs) listed. This discrepancy is most likely due to human error or incomplete data.

Why did a property get an Unreasonable Greenhouse Gas Emission Intensity alert?

The greenhouse gas emissions per square foot displayed for this property seems outside the realm of what is possible for most properties. In general, any property whose energy data is suspect will also receive this alert. This result is most likely due to human error or incomplete data.

Why did a property get an Unreasonable Water Use Intensity alert?

The water use per square foot displayed for this property seems outside the realm of what is possible for most properties. This result is most likely due to human error or incomplete data.

What is the EfficienSEE savings projection?

By examining NYC Benchmarking data, actual property case studies, and more, NYCEEC has come up with a cost savings projection. Currently only available for multifamily properties, this gives a sense of how much a property could save through efficiency upgrades. Learn more at NYCEEC.

Best Practices for Affordable Housing Financing

Explore webinars, reports, and case studies on capital markets, development financing, project management, and asset management for affordable housing projects. Learn more.

NYSERDA

The New York State Energy Research Development Authority (NYSERDA) maintains a New York City office and offers assistance in energy upgrades, ranging from technical assistance to financial incentives. Visit their website for a complete list of programs and contact information. Learn more.

NYC Utilities

New York’s two utilities, Con Ed and National Grid, offer a broad range of incentives for efficiency upgrades. Please note that you must be a customer within National Grid’s service territory in Staten Island, Brooklyn, and parts of Queens in order to qualify for their rebates. Learn more.

NYCEEC

The New York City Energy Efficiency Financing Corporation (NYCEEC) will work with buildings to create an appropriately tailored financing structure for projects that reduce energy or greenhouse gas emissions. Learn more.

GPRO: Green Professional Building Skills Training

GPRO is a series of courses and certificate exams that teach the people who build, renovate, and maintain buildings the principles of sustainability combined with trade-specific green construction knowledge. Learn more.

Multifamily Performance Program

With the help of a highly specialized, experienced energy efficiency expert, called a Multifamily Performance Partner, you’ll develop an Energy Reduction Plan designed to hit an energy savings target of 15 percent.  Learn more.

Mayor's Carbon Challenge for Multifamily Buildings

The City is partnering with leading property management firms committed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from a portfolio of their multifamily residential buildings by 30% in 10 years.  Learn more.

Save Water to Save Energy

Reducing water use by adopting and promoting water-efficient products, services, and practices can save energy and reduce stress on our natural resources.  Learn more.

ENERGY STAR Trends and Best Practices

From improvements in operations and maintenance to upgrades in equipment and technology, competitors from ENERGY STAR's Battle of the Buildings pulled out all the stops to improve efficiency. Learn more.

EBie Award Winners

The EBies recognize improved environmental performance in existing buildings amongbuilding operators, facilities managers, owners, engineers, retro-commissioning agents and other professionals who conceived and implemented the work. Focus areas include energy, water, operations, materials use, lighting, portfolio-wide improvements, and tenant engagement. Learn more.

Certificiate of Proficiency in Benchmarking

Across the U.S. there is growing support for benchmarking building energy and water consumption, driven both by local legislation and voluntary interest in understanding and improving building performance. The Certificate of Proficiency in Benchmarking offers building professionals the opportunity to learn how to collect energy and water use information and successfully benchmark most types of buildings in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager tool. Learn more.

Solar Incentives

The City University of New York (CUNY) has created a guide to local solar incentives, along with a solar map, which can help you assess how much solar power your roof could provide Learn more.

Baby It's Cold Inside

In Baby It's Cold Inside, we looked at how quickly winter blackouts can turn buildings into iceboxes—some in just a few days. Find out what you can do to make your building a bastion against extreme weather. Learn more.

Building Resiliency Task Force

Superstorm Sandy taught us that the risk of an extended power outage is real. Our Building Resiliency Task Force report clearly lists all the requirements and recommendations building owners should know to prepare for the next storm. Learn more.

Spending Through the Roof

Spending Through the Roof, shows how open elevator shaft vents could be costing you. Use our online calculator to estimate the impact on your building, and the report's step-by-step guide to learn how to fix the problem. Learn more.

90 by 50

To ensure a global environment in which human society can bring security and prosperity to all its members, we must dramatically reduce carbon pollution by 2050. In 90 by 50, we look at how this is possible through deep energy retrofits for common building types in NYC. Learn more.

Holes in Our Walls

Conducted by Steven Winter Associates for Urban Green Council, There Are Holes In Our Walls found that the average room air conditioner leaks as much air as a six square inch hole—and increases total annual heating costs by $130-$180 million in New York City alone. Learn more.

The Next Frontier for Energy-Efficient Products

In partnership with NYSERDA, this research identifies technologies that the New York construction market can use today—and digs into why they aren’t on the market already. Learn more.

Local Law 84

New York City maintains a web page which provides extensive information about Local Law 84 (LL84). Here you can learn more about the law, download the text of a law or rule, and access the list of buildings that must comply. It also has information about how to collect water and energy data, outreach and training, and where to get help. Learn more.

NYC Benchmarking Resources

New York City maintains a web page that provides a list of local and web-based on training resources. Benchmarking Training is also available online through the New Jersey Institute of Technology, which offers an inexpensive Certificate of Proficiency in Benchmarking that has been endorsed by EPA and DOE. Learn more.

Benchmarking Outside of NYC

Currently 12 cities (Atlanta, Austin, Berkeley, Boston, Cambridge Chicago, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington DC) and Montgomery County, MD, require annual benchmarking of private sector properties, and the list of cities is growing rapidly. See BuildingRating.org for the latest on benchmarking policy nationally. Learn more.