NEW YORK CITY-Talk about making lemonade out of lemons.

Rather than whine about having to comply with Local Law 87's energy audits and retro-commissioning requirements panelists at the BOMA/NY Energy Action Day on Thursday said the legislation actually paves the way for many positive changes for New York's commercial real estate industry.

Participants included Jay Black, director of sustainability, SL Green; Steven Caputo, NYC deputy director, Office of long-term planning and sustainability; John Gilbert III, COO/EVP, Rudin Management, and moderator John Salustri, Content Director, GlobeSt.com.

The new law requires buildings to undertake audits that lead to energy efficiency retrofits, which generally result in major cost and energy savings. Local Law 87 mandates that buildings which are 50,000 gross square feet or larger undergo periodic energy audit and retro-commissioning measures, as part of the Greener, Greater Buildings Plan (GGBP).

“Now you have the opportunity to track usage,” said Black. “That's a fantastic development. We can make our buildings operate more efficiently, and that can create profitability.”

Gilbert also extolled the virtues of collecting more data. “Being in the real estate business today is being in the management of information business,” he said. “As those who operate real estate in New York, we have a huge responsibility to lead, and to do that, we need to come together.”

He continued, “No one should leave here thinking government will do all of this; we have to do it ourselves. But unless we have measurement tools, we'll never really be green.”

And Caputo explained at least one reason why the law isn't as onerous as some in the industry may fear. “The retro-commissioning component is the 28 required measures to tune-up the base building systems by a qualified professional,” he said. “They will have to do the repairs, but they're things like fixing a crack; they're no brainers. Fines for non-compliance are $3,000 for the 1st year and $5,000 each subsequent year."

The audit is more for informational purposes, Caputo explained, and doesn't necessarily require action. “The audit is identifying larger issues and you're not required to do any of it," he said. "It's just a requirement for you to tell us what you can do, in terms of energy efficient capital improvements, in the future.”

Gathering such information can lead to several enhancements for building owners, the panelists noted.

Said Gilbert, “The more we collect this data and turn it inside out and use it, that to me is where efficiency comes in.” For example, he noted, “as we get to L.E.D. lighting, the ballast of that light is replaced with a chip. That can measure occupancy, lumens, CO₂ emissions, etc.  Having all that data is where we need to get to, so we can be proactive, not reactive. We need to make sure our tenants have the right infrastructure.”

Added Caputo, “There's a lot of waste happening, and if we could get buildings to even the median level [of energy usage], there'd be a huge amount of savings. If you have any doubt, download the New York City Local Law 84 Benchmarking Report.

But Caputo and others cautioned those interested in early compliance to get started on their LL87 research right away. “Everyone who's thinking of complying should start now,” Caputo advised. “Especially if you're going to have to do it in the next five years, you can start now and do the audit next year.” There are financial incentives to starting sooner rather than later, he noted.

Black added, “This isn't a quick process; you have to catch data from all seasons and possibly implement some retrofitting, which can take 9 to 12 months, so if you want to do early compliance, it's good to start now.”