The New York City School Construction Authority (SCA) is one of the City's largest developers of new buildings each year. FXCollaborative collaborated with the SCA to develop strategies to modify their existing building standards that would result in significantly lower energy usage in the design of new City schools and contribute to the City's ambitious response to the climate crisis. FXCollaborative lead a team of consultants that first evaluated existing standards, followed by proposing new energy efficient, practical, and cost-effective alternatives that would assure compliance with NYC Local Law 31 of 2016. The outcome resulted in the potential for new schools to have 31% less energy use intensity, and 40% less greenhouse gas emissions than the prior standard. Solutions included building envelope improvements inspired by the Passive House Standard, energy recovery ventilation for improved air quality, and full building electrification with solar energy production to support a renewable energy future. The SCA has since adopted virtually all our recommended energy conservation measures as standard.
