Costs of NYC’s Clean Buildings Law Mostly on Residential Sector

New York City’s landmark clean buildings law could be far less costly for the real estate industry than industry has suggested, and the costs will fall primarily on the residential sector, according to the official report mandated by the law that was released Monday.

Because commercial buildings derive a much larger share of their emissions from electricity than residential buildings, their emissions will fall more rapidly than the residential sector as electricity is decarbonized, said the report’s lead author, Danielle Spiegel-Feld, executive director of New York University’s Guarini Center on Environmental, Energy, and Land Use Law.

• Driving New York’s electricity ...