Local Law 97 and PTAC Heat Pumps: What New York Building Owners Should Know

Published October 20, 2026 by New York PTACs, powered by Air Distributors Company, Inc.

Local Law 97 turned building energy into a line item. Every covered building in New York City now has a carbon limit, an annual report, and a penalty for every ton over the cap. In a hotel or apartment building heated by PTACs, the type of PTAC in each room shows up directly in that report.

Local Law 97 in brief

Who is covered. Most buildings over 25,000 square feet, about 50,000 buildings and close to 60 percent of the city's building area.
The limits. Emissions caps took effect in 2024 and step down in later periods, starting with 2030 to 2034. The goal is net zero by 2050.
Reporting. Covered buildings file an emissions report every year, due May 1.
Penalties. Figured at $268 for each metric ton of carbon dioxide equivalent over the limit, every year.
Exceptions. Some rent-regulated and affordable housing, and houses of worship, follow alternate compliance paths built around prescribed energy measures. Check which path applies to your building.

This article covers the PTAC side of compliance. It is not legal advice. Your energy consultant or registered design professional confirms what applies to your building.

Why PTACs matter to the number

A building's emissions come from the fuel and electricity it uses, each converted to carbon with factors set in the law. In a building where PTACs heat the rooms, those units can account for a large share of the electricity bill all winter.

The type of heat inside the PTAC changes that share a lot:

Electric resistance heat turns one unit of electricity into one unit of heat.
A heat pump moves three to four units of heat per unit of electricity at rated conditions. GE rates its AZHS heat pumps at a COP of roughly 3.3 to 4.1.
A variable speed heat pump, such as GE's AZVS, stays on the heat pump cycle down to 0°F, so it spends fewer hours on its backup resistance heater.

Replacing resistance-heat PTACs with heat pumps cuts the electricity used for heat in those rooms by roughly two-thirds or more over a season. Less electricity means lower reported emissions.

The easy win: resistance to heat pump

For a hotel or rental building that already heats rooms with electric resistance PTACs on 42 x 16 sleeves, the change is a straight chassis swap:

Same sleeve, same louver, same circuit in most rooms
No facade change, so no Landmarks filing for the louver
Lower electric bills during heat season, which hits the operating budget directly in owner-paid buildings
Lower emissions on the annual report

Many owners phase this in as resistance units fail, standardizing on a heat pump model so the building improves every year. See GE Zoneline for AZHS and AZVS options, including 265V models for high-rises.

The hard question: boiler buildings

Many New York co-ops and rental towers heat with a central boiler, and their PTACs carry hot water coils. Moving those rooms to electric heat pumps is an electrification project, not a unit swap. It affects:

Emissions. Whether moving heat from the boiler to electricity lowers the building's total depends on the boiler's fuel, its efficiency, the heat pumps you choose, and the law's emissions factors for each compliance period.
Electrical capacity. Apartment circuits and building service may need upgrades.
Who pays. Heat moves from the owner's boiler bill to the apartment electric meter, unless the building is master-metered.
The heat requirement. The owner still has to keep apartments at the city's required temperatures from October 1 through May 31.

Run those numbers with an engineer before committing. In the meantime, replacing a failed hydronic unit with a hydronic unit keeps the building's current plan intact. Applied Comfort builds hydronic replacements for standard and legacy sleeves.

Practical steps for a covered building

Inventory the PTACs. List every line by model, heat type, voltage, and sleeve. See how to find your PTAC model number.
Find the resistance-heat rooms. Those are the quickest emissions reductions.
Set a heat pump standard for every resistance unit that fails from now on.
Price a phased program to convert the rest before the next compliance period.
Keep hydronic rooms hydronic until an engineer recommends otherwise.

For the planning side, see planning a building-wide PTAC replacement.

Get a quote built around compliance

Send the survey, the heat type you want in each room type, and your timeline. The quote comes back by phase so you can match it to your budget and your compliance periods. Request a quote or call 800-866-1210.