In February, Vickie Paladino, a Republican city councilwoman representing Northeast Queens, proposed a bill to delay enforcement of the law for seven years.
Critics of the law have pushed for additional carve-outs, like the option to buy more renewable energy credits, or RECs, to offset their emissions. The credits allow buildings to pay off a portion of their excess carbon emissions by buying electricity from renewable sources, like wind and solar farms.
The city can also reduce penalties on buildings that make a “good faith effort” to get in compliance, but the criteria for the rule, as well as guidance on energy credits, is not expected to be finalized until later this year. If buildings are allowed to buy too many credits, it could weaken the law overall, said Pete Sikora, the climate and inequality campaigns director of New York Communities for Change, a community organizing group.
“We won the battle to pass the law but now they’re trying to gut the law in its implementation,” he said.
For Mr. Hart, the condo board president, theory and practice are clashing in his six-story, prewar condo in Washington Heights. In his day job as the executive director of the Pace Energy and Climate Center, a policy think tank, he works on cutting-edge renewable energy projects.
But at home, he has to figure out the best replacement for a more than 40-year-old boiler without breaking the bank.
Then there are the challenges of retrofitting a century-old property. The building is in a landmark district, complicating efforts to upgrade the facade. Electric heat pumps can be installed in apartments but require careful routing through the guts of the building.
“I’m afraid we are nowhere near where we need to be,” he said.
