According to data from the American FactFinder, the total number of housing units in New York City is estimated to be close to 3.5 million and 42%, almost half of these residential units, are located in buildings that were built in 1939 or earlier. Furthermore, more than half of the pre-1940 historic buildings are one or two family type houses. The Greening NYC’s historic buildings manual by the Municipal Art Society of New York (MAS) stated in their report that solid masonry walls such as layered brick walls in historic buildings ‘’were rarely insulated.’’ At the time, insulation was not required in building envelopes. As a result, most of the one or two family houses in NYC, including the ones with thick brick walls were rarely insulated. According to the NYC Department of Buildings, one or two family residences are constructed as detached, semi-detached and attached row houses and townhouses.
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The Urban Green Council examined 2010 building types and their energy characteristic and reported that one or two family house types have higher heating and hot water loads than other residential buildings therefore, their energy bill is higher than homeowners who live in multifamily buildings. When we look at the total number of renters and homeowners in NYC, it shows that one third of the occupants own their homes and more than half of these homeowners live in one or two family buildings in NYC.
Heating is the biggest energy consumer in NYC, which makes energy efficiency programs important for the city to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. Having insulation in building envelopes helps homeowners reduce their energy bills. However, homeowners need to be aware of certified foam materials and their potential health and environmental concerns.
International energy efficiency program: Energy Star Over the years, concerns regarding climate change and greenhouse gas emissions led to the development of various green building certification programs for the building industry. These labeling programs and green building guidelines help architects, contractors and building owners select appropriate sustainable and energy efficient strategies and products for their projects. ENERGY STAR is one of the widely recognized voluntary energy efficiency program that also certifies and promotes foam insulation products due to their high R-values and effect on energy savings. The program was initially introduced by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1991, and later the US Department of Energy (DOE) joined in as well to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from buildings, electronic appliances and lighting. Since then, the ENERGY STAR program has been a simple choice for saving energy and reducing energy costs, and over the years it became a well known residential rating system across the world that provides a source of energy efficiency verification. The program only evaluates energy efficiency in buildings, thus it is cheaper than other green building standards. This makes the program affordable for more types of buildings and convenient for individuals who are new to the green building design. According to ENERGY STAR, ‘’more than 85 percent of American households recognize the ENERGY STAR label. That’s likely, in large part, due to the more than 320 million ENERGY STAR certified products that were sold in 2014 alone. Those products, along with ENERGY STAR certified buildings and homes, have helped families and businesses save $362 billion
The Urban Green Council examined 2010 building types and their energy characteristic and reported that one or two family house types have higher heating and hot water loads than other residential buildings therefore, their energy bill is higher than homeowners who live in multifamily buildings. When we look at the total number of renters and homeowners in NYC, it shows that one third of the occupants own their homes and more than half of these homeowners live in one or two family buildings in NYC.
Heating is the biggest energy consumer in NYC, which makes energy efficiency programs important for the city to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. Having insulation in building envelopes helps homeowners reduce their energy bills. However, homeowners need to be aware of certified foam materials and their potential health and environmental concerns.
International energy efficiency program: Energy Star Over the years, concerns regarding climate change and greenhouse gas emissions led to the development of various green building certification programs for the building industry. These labeling programs and green building guidelines help architects, contractors and building owners select appropriate sustainable and energy efficient strategies and products for their projects. ENERGY STAR is one of the widely recognized voluntary energy efficiency program that also certifies and promotes foam insulation products due to their high R-values and effect on energy savings. The program was initially introduced by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1991, and later the US Department of Energy (DOE) joined in as well to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from buildings, electronic appliances and lighting. Since then, the ENERGY STAR program has been a simple choice for saving energy and reducing energy costs, and over the years it became a well known residential rating system across the world that provides a source of energy efficiency verification. The program only evaluates energy efficiency in buildings, thus it is cheaper than other green building standards. This makes the program affordable for more types of buildings and convenient for individuals who are new to the green building design. According to ENERGY STAR, ‘’more than 85 percent of American households recognize the ENERGY STAR label. That’s likely, in large part, due to the more than 320 million ENERGY STAR certified products that were sold in 2014 alone. Those products, along with ENERGY STAR certified buildings and homes, have helped families and businesses save $362 billion