Thousands of NYC buildings still burn dirty fuels, as owners struggle with looming ban

Landlords of roughly 2,800 buildings still use No. 4 heating oil, a major source of air pollution in New York City. But some building owners say they don’t feel prepared to pivot to cleaner alternatives as mandated, despite government-funded incentives to help make the switch.

This fuel source is now on a fast track to being abolished citywide, after the New York City Council voted in February to accelerate a ban. Akin to the new restrictions on gas stove hookups, the ban on No. 4 fuel oil is necessary for improving the city's air quality and reducing the effects of climate change, but landlords say the up-front expenses of phasing out heating oil has created logistical costs and hurdles.

With the accelerated ban, residential buildings must stop using No. 4 oil by July 2027. Over a decade ago, city officials had originally set a prohibition date of 2030. Likewise, city-owned structures will stop using No. 4 fuel oil years earlier than originally planned, with its ban taking hold in 2025.

“A lot of red tape,” said Vinny Gjonaj, the landlord and owner of a 78-unit apartment building located at 2800 Jerome Ave. in the Bronx. He said he has tried unsuccessfully to make the switch.

“[City officials] ask you to do something, and then they just throw grenades in front of your path on everything,” Gjonaj said.

Under the original ban adopted in 2011, about 10,000 buildings had to begin the process of transitioning away from heavier fuel oils. Fuel oils are any liquid forms of petroleum that are combusted in a furnace or boiler for the purpose of heating. They are graded No. 1 through No. 6 based on their boiling point, thickness and weight.

Fuel Oil No. 6, which the city phased out by 2015, comes directly from the bottom of petroleum barrels. It is used in a 50-50 mix to make No. 4, the dirtiest heating source still available in New York City.

A single building can burn huge amounts of fuel oil. During the cold season, the six-story complex at 2800 Jerome Ave. burns about 2,000 gallons weekly of No. 4 fuel oil, according to Gjonaj, the landlord. That spews nearly 300 metric tons of carbon dioxide during an average winter — the weight of pumping around 50 T-Rexes into the air.

All heating oils negatively affect human health. Their dark, billowing columns of smoke contain an unhealthy cloud of particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, nickel and black carbon – also known as soot. And most of the 2,800 properties still burning No. 4 fuel oil are located in northern Manhattan or the Bronx, which are home to predominantly lower-income communities of color with disproportionate rates of asthma and respiratory illness.

The City Council referenced human health concerns, global warming and the approximately $130 million spent annually by the city in health care when considering the bill. And Mayor Eric Adams signed the bill into law in March, citing the need for environmental justice.

“Removing these harmful emissions will prevent deaths, lifelong respiratory illnesses, and emergency room visits for asthma attacks every year,” said Councilmember James Gennaro, a Queens Democrat who sponsored the legislation to hasten the transition.

But making the change isn’t cheap and comes with the cumbersome process of replacing fuel oil boilers at residences, some of which are old structures.

Gjonaj estimates he’ll spend about a half million dollars to switch the fuel source from No. 4 fuel oil to natural gas at four of his eight buildings, including at 2800 Jerome Ave. in Kingsbridge Heights.

“For landlords, believe it or not, it's like the big topic for the last eight years,” Gjonaj said. “They don't want to proceed with the job because of the aspect of paying all that money at once.”

Building owners have basically two options for replacing No. 4. They can transition to natural gas, which is much cleaner to burn and can involve a quick switch-out of boilers. But this path comes with additional infrastructure expenses.

Gjonaj said he hired a contractor to handle the switch to natural gas six years ago, but the contractor failed to get the necessary permits before going bankrupt. Unused gas lines run through Gjonaj’s basement. He said he paid about $93,000 to install the gas lines and run tests to identify leaks. He estimates the final cost will reach up to $130,000 — “a hefty chunk of change.”

Alternatively, landlords can opt for a more expensive solution: electric heating. While this choice costs more in the short-term, it puts a New York CIty building ahead-of-schedule for future compliance under Local Law 97, which plans to begin phasing out natural gas in most buildings starting in 2024.

Pivoting to electric heat comes with more city and state incentives than the natural gas option. Grants and low-interest loans are available through the city’s Accelerator program, which is intended to help building owners meet the requirements of stricter environmental laws.

While the amount each building owner is eligible for in funding can vary tremendously, depending on size, financial need, costs and scope, there is the potential to get a substantial portion of it paid for, especially if energy efficiency upgrades are included.

Gjonaj said he has only sought modest subsidies from the government because more low-cost financing or grants come with additional oversight.

“When you're talking about replacing fuel furnaces, there's usually significant ancillary work to be performed around it,” said Matthew Bremer, president of the New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects. “In New York City, it becomes a huge issue, whether it's a rental building with a landlord who very often is not interested in upgrading heating for obvious financial reasons or for cooperatives it can be a hugely expensive proposition.”

Given its difficulties making the pivot, 2800 Jerome Ave. still relies on a hulking, 5,000-gallon oil tank to power a U-Haul-sized boiler that delivers heat and hot water to residents. The tank sits in a cement room that is sealed off from the rest of the basement and big enough to contain a spill.

“It looks like a submarine,” Gjonaj said during a tour of the building’s inner workings last month. “And that's what generates our fuel and our heat to keep the tenants warm and happy.”

Oil delivery trucks visit once a week to refuel the tank through a portal near the front steps, said Arsen Qemalli, who’s been the building’s superintendent for more than a decade.

“Sometimes the oil comes [delivered] too dirty, it clogs the [boiler’s oil] filter and they have to close the pipe,” Qemalli said. “I clean it [oil filter] every day, and when the oil comes dirty, I clean twice that day.”

Their address and the other 2,800 residential buildings still using No. 4 fuel oil are a fraction of the roughly 825,000 buildings with at least one unit in New York City. Yet this select group generates pollution that not only can sicken their immediate neighborhoods but also contribute broader environmental harms, such as acid rain upstate or global warming.

In 2021, the number of New York City residential buildings that are reliant on No. 4 fuel oil produced about 1.5 million tons of carbon dioxide, combined – or about the weight of the Empire State Building plus two U.S. naval aircraft carriers. Other “indirect greenhouse gases” come from burning fuel oil, including nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide. They contribute to the creation of ozone, which harms health and worsens warming.

Many air pollutants have declined in New York City over the last decade according to recent air quality studies. Public health experts attributed these improvements to the city’s phase-out of different fuel oils.

“Air pollution is the number four leading cause of preventable deaths around the world, and so any traction that we can make on reducing air pollution is good in my book,” said Daniel Carrion, director of education for Climate Change and Health at Yale School of Public Health.

The most deadly substance among fuel oil emissions is fine particulate matter, PM2.5, which is so small, it can penetrate the lungs and further.

“Some of those particles can get deep down into our lungs, and then a subset of those particles can actually make it into our bloodstream, and they can get into systemic circulation and impact almost every single part of our body,” Carrion said.

Exposure to PM2.5 is linked to a long list of respiratory diseases including reduced lung capacity. The pollutant increases the risk of hospitalizations, emergency room visits and premature death.

“It's also an exacerbator of existing health conditions,” said Dr. Diana Hernandez, associate professor of sociomedical sciences at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. Other fuel pollutants — such as nickel — can elevate cardiovascular and kidney diseases along with cancers in the respiratory tract. Black carbon, another byproduct of fuel oil combustion, is linked to similar health impacts, including birth defects such as low birth weights, respiratory problems and premature birth.

According to a 2014 study, completely discontinuing the use of all fuel oils in residential New York City buildings could avoid nearly 300 premature deaths, about 200 hospital visits for respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses and 550 trips to the emergency room for asthma, annually.

“Moving towards electric is really the holy grail with regard to both climate change and with regard to health,” Carrion said.