NYC Can Slash Emissions by Midcentury, Says Report

According to the study, 90 by 50, buildings are responsible for 75% of the city’s CO2 emissions, with transportation producing another 21%. Based on modeling eight major types of residential and commercial buildings, the authors conclude that using techniques that are “in almost all cases currently available,” such as increased insulation and heat-pump technology, the building sector could be nearly free of carbon emissions.

Retrofits and improved building methods, combined with the expansion of electrified mass transit, will greatly reduce dependence on polluting fuels in exchange for slightly increased use of electricity—which the authors say can be supplied by a combination of rooftop photovoltaics, sewage-treatment biogas, and upstate or offshore wind turbines.