Dive Brief:

• The New York City Department of Citywide Administrative Services is broadening its demand response program designed to cut energy consumption and carbon emissions, and relieve pressure on the local electric grid during the hottest summer months. 
• As part of the program’s latest expansion, 627 city facilities across 36 agencies and organizations are collectively pledging to reduce energy use by 122 megawatts — the largest commitment from city facilities in the past decade, DCAS said in a July news release. 
• The DCAS also plans to install over 1,150 real-time meters in city buildings to help manage municipal electricity use. Participation in this program will reduce the need for high-polluting power plants to increase output to meet the city’s energy demands, the city said.

Dive Insight:

The demand response program enables agencies to earn revenue by reducing their energy consumption during periods of peak demand, according to DCAS’ June 2024 Powering Change report. Since launching the program in 2013, city agencies have earned more than $120 million in total program revenue, with 72 new facilities joining the program in the past two years, per the release. 

The program is part of the city’s larger decarbonization efforts, DCAS says. Over the past 15 years, the city’s targeted investments and energy efficiency measures have factored into an 8% reduction in energy consumption across municipal buildings and the city intends to drive it down another 12% by 2030, the report says. Further, the city government has slashed greenhouse gas emissions from its overall operations by over 25% since 2006, compared with a 17% reduction in emissions across the entire city in that time, according to the release. These include emissions from buildings, fleet vehicles, wastewater treatment and solid waste. 

Participation in the demand response program has grown 13% in the last two years, DCAS said in the release. In the summer of 2023, over 600 facilities from 34 agencies participated in the program with load reduction commitments of over 115 MW, or roughly 13% of the city’s government load, DCAS said in its Powering Change report. That report notes that these commitments garnered $15.9 million in net revenue.

Buildings across 430 public schools in the city are currently enrolled in the program, according to New York City Public Schools Chancellor David Banks. This program, in tandem with other energy efficiency and sustainability measures, will boost resilience against the growing impacts of climate change, Banks said in a statement. 

Further, 11 acute care hospitals and three post-acute care facilities are enrolled in various summer demand response programs to cut electricity demand by around 10 MW during peak periods, NYC Health + Hospitals Chief Decarbonization Officer Omer Cabuk said in a statement.

The city began installing real-time meters in 2015 to collect and report energy consumption data and inform strategic plans for building optimization, retrofit plans and capital upgrades, per the release. It has now installed over 1,100 RTMs at more than 950 sites across the city, covering 77% of base electric demand, DCAS said in its Powering Change report. RTMs help monitor the city’s energy consumption, including electric, gas and steam, and data collected by these tools can be used to optimize building operations and boost energy efficiency throughout the day and year, DCAS said. 

For example, since 2016 these RTMs have generated about $200,000 in energy savings and reduced 575 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent at the Charles S. Hirsch Center for Forensic Sciences by addressing simultaneous heating and cooling, according to the release. Additionally, an AC-unit plug load management project deployed in DCAS buildings has led to over $50,000 in savings and 243 metric tons of CO2 equivalent reductions annually, the government agency said. 

Expanding the demand response program and installing real-time meters in city buildings are “vital steps toward a greener, more resilient New York,” First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright said in the release