Your building's emissions fine, estimated

A seven-step play for an energy retrofit contractor. It starts from NYC Open Data, stacks Firecrawl and City permit portals on top, and ends in a message to the owner or asset manager that is useful before anyone replies.

Deploy in Glider

Installs this workflow, five project tables and a draft campaign. Source access and any external outputs are checked before research.

Category: Property and construction
Sources: 3
Steps: 7

The workflow

TriggerNYC Open DataBenchmarking filings and building data
Evidence
FirecrawlLocal Law 97 limits and the penalty per ton City permit portalsPast mechanical upgrades
Artifact
What you hand overA fine estimate for the 2030 period and the upgrades that remove most of it.
Contact
GliderFinds the owner or asset manager, with a verified work email and a phone
Message
Send itFrom your own mailboxes, evidence attached

Why it earns attention

New York's emissions law turns a building's energy use into an annual fine. Putting a dollar figure on their own building makes it a capital decision instead of a compliance memo.

The play in seven steps

01
Pull the building's emissions
NYC Open Data
What you pull
The latest benchmarking filing: floor area, property type, energy use by fuel and total greenhouse gas emissions.
Why it matters
This is what the building emits today, filed by the owner. It is the starting point of every calculation.
Example
Office · 180,000 sq ft · 1,760 tons CO2e a year · gas boiler
02
Find the building's limit
Firecrawl
What you pull
The emissions limit per square foot for that occupancy type in the 2030 period, and the penalty per ton over.
Why it matters
The difference between what it emits and what it may emit is the fine. The law sets the price per ton.
Example
2030 limit for office: about 1,450 tons for this building · $268 per ton over
03
See what's already been upgraded
City permit portals
What you pull
Mechanical permits for the building: boiler, chiller and lighting work, and the dates.
Why it matters
A building that has not touched its boiler in 20 years has the biggest and cheapest cuts left.
Example
Last boiler permit 2004 · no heat pump or lighting work on file
04
Build the estimate
Your artifact
What you build
The yearly fine at current emissions, and the three upgrades that close most of the gap, with rough cost and tons saved.
Why it works
An owner can weigh a one-time upgrade against a fine every year. That is the decision you want them to make.
Example
About 310 tons over · roughly $83k a year · 3 upgrades cut about 280 tons
05
Check before you send
Benchmarking data can be estimated or wrong. Present it as an estimate from their own filing and confirm the property type and any exemptions.
06
Find the owner or asset manager in Glider
Glider
Search for
Asset managerDirector of engineeringOwnerSustainability director
Why them
The asset manager weighs capital against fines. Engineering knows the equipment and will scope the work.
What you get
A work email and a direct phone, with the email verified before it goes into a sequence.
07
Send the evidence, then run the first test
To: the owner or asset managerEvery line comes from a step above
Your building's last benchmarking filing shows about 1,760 tons of emissions a year.¹ Against its 2030 limit, that's about 310 tons over, or roughly $83k a year at the published penalty.² Permits show the boiler hasn't been replaced since 2004.³ I put the estimate together with the three upgrades that close most of the gap.⁴ Want to see it?
- Facts from the data (the number is the step)
- What you built for them
- One small ask
Why it works
It turns a law into a number about their building, from data they filed themselves. The upgrades make the number shrink.
First test
Twenty buildings, estimates checked against the city's own calculator.
Success looks like
Three energy audits booked out of twenty buildings.