New Auditing Standards for New York

Over the summer, the New York City Department of Buildings updated the rules for compliance with the energy audit and retro-commissioning requirements of Local Law 87.  ASHRAE Technical Standard 211 has been adopted as the compliance standard for energy audits.  TS 211 aims to add clarity on the level of effort required to complete an effective energy audit and how the information created by that audit should be submitted.

Referring to audits as Level 1, 2 or 3 is industry shorthand for the depth and complexity of energy audits.  However, many practitioners and owners use these terms without a full understanding of the differences between them and, until recently, definitions of these terms have been somewhat vague.  To provide clear guidance on those terms for engineering professionals, ASHRAE has published the Standard for Commercial Building Energy Audits, aka Standard 211.  While a simple action, the adoption of TS 211 should have a significant effect on an important process for large building owners all across the City.

Join ASHRAE New York Chapter and the Building Energy Exchange for the first in our Technical Series focused on the technical standard that undergirds the codes and regulations on building energy performance.  For this discussion we have gathered Kim Kelsey, President of KW Engineering and the person largely responsible for the development of ASHRAE Standard 211, and Syed Abidi, the person responsible for managing the LL 87 compliance process at the New York City Department of Buildings.