Decarbonizing Affordable Housing in New York City: Options and Obstacles to Scale Up Deep Energy Retrofits

Buildings account for about 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Retrofitting existing buildings for electrification and energy efficiency is a necessary first step toward building decarbonization. For the City of New York to reach its ambitious decarbonization goals, the city must create market conditions to allow rapid scaling up of deep energy retrofits. RiseBoro Community Partnership delivered one such innovative deep energy retrofit project called Casa Pasiva. This case study reveals ways in which affordable housing developers are uniquely positioned with many supporting policies in New York to become early adopters of deep energy retrofits, given their need to improve both business operations and tenant health. However, future projects still face steep obstacles ranging from funding gaps, a lack of familiarity with new building technologies, and conservative investors. RiseBoro’s successful Casa Pasiva pilot project identifies many of the remaining challenges related to deep energy retrofit capital projects as well as further opportunities to scale necessary retrofits across the New York affordable housing market. Readers will learn about options for and obstacles to implementing and scaling up deep energy retrofits in the affordable housing industry.