At our March chapter meeting will hear from experts about new energy policy such as the New York State Cap-and-Invest Program (NYCI) as well as the New York City LL-97 policy update and roll out.

NYS Cap-and-Invest program (NYCI): A cap-and-invest program was recommended by the Climate Action Council’s Scoping Plan and proposed in Governor Kathy Hochul’s 2023 State of the State Address. The intent of the New York cap-and-invest program (NYCI) is to reduce harmful climate-altering greenhouse gas emissions, improve public health, and help combat climate change while advancing environmental justice and investing in disadvantaged communities statewide.

This is a multi-prong and will be a complex program. Success will depend on accurate planning and execution. We will hear from an expert about the general concept of the program, timeline, and their thoughts on the program benefits as well as potential drawbacks.

NYC LL-97: Local Law 97 is one of the most ambitious plans for reducing emissions in the nation. Local Law 97 was included in the Climate Mobilization Act, passed by the City Council in April 2019 as part of the Mayor’s New York City Green New Deal. Under this groundbreaking law, most buildings over 25,000 square feet are required to meet new energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions limits as of 2024, with stricter limits coming into effect in 2030, 2035, 2040, and net zero by 2050.

Well, we are in 2024, which means we are already in compliance period of LL-97, yet there still seems to be confusion and ambiguity about this law. We will hear from Emily Hoffman, Director of Building Energy and Emissions Performance for NYC’s Department of Buildings.

Speakers

• Anshul Gupta, Policy & Research Director, New Yorkers for Clean Power
• Emily Hoffman, Director of Building Energy and Emissions Performance (OBEEP)a controls integrator, specializing in BAS data extraction and use

Bios

ANSHUL GUPTA – Policy & Research Director, New Yorkers for Clean Power

Alarmed by the slow response to the rapidly worsening climate crisis at all levels of government, Anshul Gupta joined the NYCP team in April 2023 after taking early retirement from his role as a Principal Research Staff Member at IBM, where his research focused on high-performance computing, and recently included energy, materials, and decarbonization, in which he has multiple publications as well as one issued and two pending patents. He is a trained Climate Reality leader and volunteers on the leadership team of the NYS Climate Reality Chapters Coalition.

As a clean-energy enthusiast, Anshul has been an early adopter of EVs, rooftop PV, and a geothermal heat pump in his all-electric home. He has been active in climate advocacy since 2020, starting with his participation in the successful campaign to stop a crude oil pipeline through southwest Memphis, followed by participating in The Climate Reality Project’s efforts for the passage of the federal Inflation Reduction Act and stopping the Mountain Valley Pipeline, etc. Since the beginning of 2022, he has been an active member of the Renewable Heat Now campaign for a just, affordable, and timely decarbonization of New York’s buildings.

Anshul is a Board member of Environmental Leaders of Color and Hudson Valley Youth Robotics. He has worked with FIRST LEGO League teams on several projects with environmental and climate themes that have won awards, publications, and even a patent. These include working with Pepsi Research on reduced plastic bottles, a thermal management system to protect dogs trapped in hot cars, reducing freshwater pollution from road salt, and generating power on a future Mars colony.

EMILY HOFFMAN:

Emily Hoffman is the Director of Building Energy and Emissions Performance (OBEEP) for NYC's Department of Buildings, overseeing the implementation for Local Law 97 and other Sustainability Laws. Prior to OBEEP, she spent the last 10 years leading NYC DOB’s Energy Code development and compliance team. Ms. Hoffman was heavily involved in local and national energy code development – leading the development of the NYCECC, IECC and participating in the development of ASHRAE 90.1, 229P and NYSERDA Stretch Code. Ms. Hoffman was awarded the Energy Professional Development of the Year award in 2019 and 2020 from the Association of Energy Engineers, her team won the Green Builder Sustainability Award for the category “Large Municipality” in 2019, and she was named an NYC Climate Hero in 2020.