Thousands of new heat pumps are coming to public housing, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said on Wednesday while vowing to enforce limits on emissions from New York City buildings.
The mayor marked Earth Day at a basketball court at the Woodside Houses in Queens, where he touted a suite of sustainability upgrades planned for NYCHA.
Over the next five years, he said, the city will install 10,000 induction stoves and 20,000 heat pumps, and will renovate 45,000 apartments with energy-efficient lighting and water systems. The city will also build 150 electric vehicle charging stations at NYCHA properties, along with 30 megawatts of rooftop solar panels, enough to power roughly 5,400 homes.
“We are telling our own very different story of heat,” Mamdani said. “One where we transition thousands of NYCHA apartments from inefficient systems to clean, beautiful heat pumps over the next five years.”
Heat pumps are an alternative to gas boilers and are increasingly popular in the city. The climate-friendly alternative provides both cooling and heating by running on electricity instead of fossil fuels. They are considered significantly more efficient than conventional boilers.
The heat pumps were piloted in Woodside Houses in 2023. Officials said the pumps have been a success and are being installed in more NYCHA complexes. Last month, Mamdani announced that all 712 apartments at Beach 41st Street Houses in Far Rockaway will switch to heat pumps for $38.4 million.
Other NYCHA complexes like the St. Nicholas Houses, Bay View Houses, Campos Plaza II and Claremont Houses are due for heat pumps, officials said.
The mayor also highlighted the city’s climate law, Local Law 97, which requires large buildings to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Over 90% of buildings have filed their first annual emissions reports in accordance with regulations, according to the mayor.
Buildings are New York City's top emitters of pollution, accounting for about two-thirds of the city's climate emissions. Landlord groups and some co-op boards have been critical of the law for imposing exorbitant costs on property owners to be in compliance.
”It is impossible to address the issue around climate change without investing and ensuring that we solve the issues around inequality,” said Queens Borough President Donovan Richards. “They go hand in hand.”
