The New York Times-Like Restaurants, Buildings Will Get Grades

By Jane Margolies

New Yorkers are used to seeing letter grades on restaurants and bagel shops. Soon offices and residential buildings will be getting something similar.

Beginning next year, midsize and large buildings will not only have to report how energy-efficient (or not) they are, they will also be required to post letter grades issued by the city, based on the data the buildings submit.

“We have buildings with A’s and buildings with D’s and everything in between,” said Kelly Dougherty, the director of energy management for FirstService Residential, which oversees 500 apartment buildings in the city.

The new grade system springs from Local Law 33, which was passed in 2017, signed into law in 2018 and tweaked in April of this year, when New York City passed its sweeping Climate Mobilization Act. The main goal of that ambitious legislative package is to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of buildings, which are responsible for two-thirds of emissions in the city.

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