NEW YORK—New Yorkers will breathe at least a little easier after the future conversion of approximately 9,500 buildings from one heating oil to another, or to natural gas, or steam.
Those buildings burn either No. 4 oil, considered a dirty energy source; or No. 6 oil, a dirtier energy source that the Environmental Defense Fund says “is basically unrefined sludge.”
Though they are only 1 percent of the buildings in the city, these buildings produce 86 percent of the total soot pollution from buildings, according to the city, or “more than all the cars and trucks in New York City combined.”
Building owners must renew boiler permits every three years. The city will stop issuing permits for No. 6 oil on July 1, so as three-year permits gradually run out through June 30, 2015, owners must convert to different fuel sources, or face a fine.
