Sustainable Construction Practices in USA

Abstract

The construction industry is a critical sector in promoting sustainability objectives because constructions form a major portion of energy use and greenhouse emission levels in the world. Sustainable construction practices have gained importance in the United States in the quest to deal with the environmental issues and achieve long-term climate goals. This study investigates the success of sustainability construction and energy efficiency programs in New York City with particular emphasis to the enactment and implementation of Local Law 33 (LL33), requiring buildings to publicly report their energy performance yearly. The research design adopted in the study is a quantitative research design based on secondary data of the NYC Department of Finance (2021), which comprises more than 18,000 large buildings and such variables as Energy Efficiency Grades (A-D), Energy Star Scores (1-100), and Gross Square Footage. Python, Excel and Tableau were used to calculate descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and visualization of data to measure the performance trends and spatial variation. Its findings show that most buildings have a Grade A and B, which are very energy-performing, but a significant fraction of buildings are in Grade D and indicate inefficiencies majorly on older or small buildings. Weak correlation between building size and energy efficiency is also found in the analysis indicating that operational practices and adoption of technology are considered to have more influence than scale. The 8th Avenue and Exchange Place are high-performing zones, which point to the areas of successful sustainability implementation. The conclusion of the study is that the use of data transparency policies such as LL33 has made a huge increase in the accountability and performance awareness of building owners. Further policy development and retrofitting incentives or technological advancement is however necessary to realize fair, city-wide development toward sustainable construction and carbon neutrality.