LL88 Brings Sub Metering To Large Buildings

By Andrew J. Pisani

Every night, a sea of large glowing buildings illuminates the City. We often think of the workers inside toiling away deep into the night, but the truth of the matter is that many of these large, non-residential buildings are not yet LL88 compliant. These buildings rely on a single energy meter to monitor electricity consumption for everyone, and individual office suites are billed a standard rate rather than their actual consumption rate.

LL88 seeks to take a bite out of energy consumption and attack an alarming statistic – that nearly 18% of energy use across all NYC buildings is related to lighting. LL88 intends to attack this problem my requiring large non-residential buildings by bringing together two pieces of the equation – requiring buildings to install sub-metering for individual tenants and to require energy efficient lighting upgrades.

As has been the case for large scale upgrades, the City has given buildings until 2025 to complete the work. While this may seem far in the future, it’s actually in line with the term of many commercial leases. Starting the planning early, as always, makes the most sense.

The challenge of recording all of the changes will take some thinking. Some owners may want to take care of the work when a space turns over and a new tenant lease begins. With this in mind, the selection of a single, dedicated provider to handle the upgrades, installation and compliance work makes sense.

We recommend Green Partners as a premier and qualified energy consultant that can help with the process. You can reach out to them at www.greenpartnersny.com  and ask for George Crawford.