With many people aware that hurricanes are now more likely than 100 years ago, many New Yorkers are both hyper aware and hyper sensitive to how weather systems intensified by climate change can affect our lives-- especially those still recovering after Hurricane Sandy.
That's part of why a good amount of people were up in arms that an alarming amount of new affordable housing in Queens will be located in flood zones. But that's not all. A new report on New York City's emissions presents some problematic information.
By far the largest contributors to NYC's carbon emissions are luxury high rise apartment buildings, and the root of the problem is exactly what makes them so desirable: spacious, private, and numerous amenities.
The report comes from Climate Works for All Coalition, and it shows that electricity needs, heating, and cooling such buildings accounts for 70% of NYC's emissions.
Given Mayor de Blasio's promise to reduce NYC's emissions 80% in the next 35 years with his OneNYC environmental plans, it seems there should be some interdepartmental communication with the zoning board, or something, for the message to come across.
What message is that? Luxury high rise developments should be required to integrate green technologies to minimize their emissions. That may seem like a bombastic statement, but the fact is that transportation only accounts for 24% of overall emissions in the City.
So, maybe New Yorkers won't need to wait until 2050 for OneNYC plans to lower NYC emissions by 80% if we just did something about the inefficiencies of our highest priced, highest rising, highly polluting towers in the sky.
via AlignNY
The top ten most polluting buildings, or "Elite Emitters," are listed above. It's a slap in the face to average, and indeed all other New Yorkers for a tiny percentage to be responsible for affecting our environment so negatively, while also pricing us out of our homes all at once.
The only good thing about this information is that it's likely luxury high rise unit owners likely have the funds to outfit their properties with appropriately efficient means of power consumption, heating, and cooling. Good for them. Meanwhile, we're going to get used to darker streets.
Check out NYC's First Micro Unit Apartments Are Now Officially Available to Rent!
[via Gothamist]