Buildings

9 posts

Mapping Local Climate & Equity Action Onto the Harris-Walz Opportunity Economy

A New Way Forward for the Middle Class: A Plan to Lower Costs and Create an Opportunity Economy (the “Opportunity Economy” plan) yields just ten hits on the word “climate,” eight of which are in citations to other sources. Still, the Harris-Walz vision for an “Opportunity Economy” maps neatly onto […]

Sabin Center Files Amicus Brief Supporting New York City’s Motion to Appeal in Local Law 97 Case

On June 20th, 2024, the Sabin Center filed an amicus brief in support of the City of New York’s Motion for Leave to Appeal to the New York State Court of Appeals in Glen Oaks Village Owners, Inc., et al. v. City of New York. Glen Oaks – a 2022 […]

IECC Appeals Could Undermine Electrification Requirements in New Construction

Building codes have a major influence on how local governments respond to climate change. They prescribe enforceable requirements for the materials that buildings are made of, for how living and working spaces are designed, and critically, for what kinds of environmental possibilities new buildings must be prepared to accommodate. For […]

NYC buildings and street

New York State Court Upholds Local Law 97

Last week, the New York State Supreme Court for New York County dismissed Glen Oaks Village Owners v. City of New York, a 2022 lawsuit brought by a group of cooperative apartment and other building owners seeking to invalidate Local Law 97 of 2019, New York City’s building performance standard […]

Campanile, Clock Tower, UC Berkeley

Ninth Circuit Holds Berkeley’s Gas Ban Preempted by U.S. Energy Policy & Conservation Act

On Monday, April 17, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit handed down a decision in California Restaurant Association v. City of Berkeley. The court overturned a District Court ruling to invalidate a Berkeley, California, prohibition on natural gas infrastructure in newly-constructed buildings. Berkeley’s so-called “natural gas […]

New York City’s Local Law 97: REC Mechanism Lacks Additionality; Will Set Price Too Low

By Amy Turner This blog post is adapted from testimony delivered at the New York City Department of Buildings hearing on proposed rule §103-14, Procedures for Reporting on and Complying with Annual Greenhouse Gas Emissions for Certain Buildings in connection with the City’s building performance standard, Local Law 97. The […]

Cooperative Federalism, As Applied: Building Electrification

By Amy Turner Earlier this month, groups supporting the City of Berkeley, California filed six amicus briefs in the appellate proceeding California Restaurant Association v. City of Berkeley, currently before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. At issue in the case is whether the U.S. Energy Policy […]

California Restaurant Association v. Berkeley and Local Natural Gas Restrictions

Yesterday, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California issued a long-awaited decision in California Restaurant Association v. City of Berkeley. The decision essentially – and subject to possible appeals – answered in the negative the question of whether Berkeley’s first-in-the-nation prohibition on natural gas hookups to newly-constructed […]