[Project] Energy Savings in NYC Buildings

[jessimckenzi]

Pitch

So there was this plan during the Bloomberg years to reduce the carbon emissions of NYC buildings, and there's data on the proposed projects and how much CO2 equivalent is supposed to be saved by each. I wanted to learn a bit more about these projects.

Summary

So it looks like that, on average, upgrading HVAC systems is far and away the best way to reduce emissions in city buildings.

And most projects are in DOE buildings:

Also interesting, is it seems like there might be some double dipping in terms of counting emissions reductions, counting "audits" and "retrofits" twice in the same location, for the same estimated energy reductions

And it looks like it happens quite a lot:

As you can see, the CO2e (MT) Calculated column is very specific, and it is unlikely that all of those are separate projects that just happen to have identical estimated CO2e. Would be great to subset all the rows in which both the location and the CO2e are a match, to see where the double accounting is happening.

If those repetitive numbers were used in assessing whether the city met the goal of 30% reductions by 2017, that might be quite a story. However, I'm not too hopeful, because in my experience city gov really doesn't give a crap about projects started by previous administrations, so they might not even be trying to meet Bloomberg goals........

Details

Possible headline(s): How NYC Is Reducing CO2 Emissions

Data set(s): Ack! I thought the data had been updated in 2017 but when I went back for this link I realized it was just the METADATA and actually the data hasn't been updated since 2013, so when I said nyc administrations don't give a shit about the goals of the previous administration I was right on the money

https://data.cityofnewyork.us/Environment/Energy-Efficiency-Projects/h3qk-ybvt

Code repository: https://github.com/jessimckenzi/data-studio/tree/master/05-energy

Possible problems/fears/questions: Well now I'm wondering how to make this data project more up to date by bringing in other info. I think it's still relevant to ask what interventions the city has done have had the most impact in reducing CO2 emissions. Updating HVAC systems seems key!

Work so far

See above!

It might be interesting to bring in some of this info on greenhouse gas equivalencies to illustrate the kind of difference these changes are making https://www.epa.gov/energy/greenhouse-gas-equivalencies-calculator

Checklist

This checklist must be completed before you submit your draft.

• [X] I have already spent time with my data set, opening it, exploring it, etc
• [ ] I have created a "DIARY.md" file to save links and list all of the terrible, no good problems I come across
• [X] My issue links to my data set(s)
• [X] My issue links to my code repository
• [X] My issue explains what I'd like to explore in the data set
• [X] My issue includes images - either inspiration or what I've done so far

[sarahslo]

if there is indeed double-dipping and you can prove that, even in 2011, it's a story. i'll bet you could find it again in later years. this is a huge project tho, proving things like that...