Good Neighbor Podcast Live

Decarbonizing New York: How USLT Helps Buildings Meet Local Laws

• Garfield Bowen & Fatou Jabbie

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Imagine a New York City where buildings no longer contribute 75% of the city's carbon emissions. That's the future Fatou Jabbie is helping to create through her company, USLT Technology Consulting. In this enlightening conversation, Fatou reveals how her journey from computer engineering to sustainability entrepreneurship uniquely positioned her to tackle one of NYC's most pressing environmental challenges.

The heart of USLT's work lies at the intersection of policy, technology, and human relationships. Fatou expertly unpacks the often misunderstood dynamics between building owners and tenants when it comes to energy usage and regulatory compliance. Rather than viewing sustainability as a zero-sum game, she demonstrates how data-driven approaches can create win-win scenarios that benefit all parties while reducing carbon footprints. Whether working on LEED Gold certification for new government buildings or conducting comprehensive energy audits for existing structures, USLT bridges technical expertise with practical solutions.

What stands out most is Fatou's nuanced understanding that building decarbonization requires both immediate action and long-term strategy. "Sustainability is both a short-term game and a long-term game," she explains, emphasizing that meaningful carbon reductions and energy savings can only be guaranteed through consistent data analysis and patient implementation. For property owners navigating NYC's complex web of local laws or tenants seeking more sustainable operations, USLT offers a mission-driven partnership focused on creating healthier, smarter buildings across all five boroughs. Connect with Fatou through USLT's website or social media to join the movement toward a more sustainable New York City—one building at a time.

Speaker 1:

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Garfield Bowen.

Speaker 2:

Welcome to Good Neighbor Podcast Live. Today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, fatou Javi, with USLT Fatou, how are you doing today?

Speaker 3:

I'm doing great, garfield, how are you?

Speaker 2:

I'm doing well, doing well. I'm excited to learn all about you and your company. Tell us about your business.

Speaker 3:

Thank you for having me, and my business is USL Technology Consulting. We are focused on providing New York City local law compliance across the five boroughs, and what that means is that 75% of New York City's carbon emissions come from our buildings. This is commercial buildings, residential buildings, mixed-use buildings across all sectors. So our focus is to work with building owners, government agencies, to help New York City decarbonize, meaning move away from fossil fuel so we can have a healthy, smart city. And in doing so, we're completely also evolving New York City's economy to move away from, like I want to say, more of a low carbon economy versus an economy that's focused on business as usual.

Speaker 2:

Wow, that's an awesome task. How did you get into this business?

Speaker 3:

Great question. My background is in computer engineering and I've worked in the private sector for over 15 years and during that time I mainly focused on data center network design and engineering and integration in the wireless and telecommunications sector, but also in the financial sector. Now what that means is that data centers are buildings and they consume a lot of energy and they're operational 365 days a year. And all that data that we use on our mobile devices exchanging information for example, right now, the streaming we're doing currently there's a server somewhere that's in a data center that's using a lot of energy to be able to deliver this to our audiences.

Speaker 3:

Having worked in that environment while in the private sector gave me confidence and the expertise in the background when I wanted to start my entrepreneurial journey to focus on energy use and energy efficiency in data center buildings. So that's kind of how I connected my private sector professional experience to starting my own business. And but on top of that, I went to graduate school at Columbia to get my master's in sustainability management. To graduate school at Columbia to get my master's in sustainability management. And during that period that's around in New York City 2009, during Mayor Bloomberg's office term in office, we had a suite of local laws called the Greener, greater Buildings Plan, and for over 20 years now, the city has been collecting data on all of our buildings in terms of the different fuel types that our buildings use, like natural gas, electricity, fuel oil, steam. So being able to know what's happening from a policy perspective, from a buildings perspective, from an industry basically the industry climate changing allowed me to really take a step back and start a business focused on this vision and that business model.

Speaker 2:

What are some myths and misconceptions? I know there's the whole thing about energy and productivity versus productivity. What are some of the myths and misconceptions that you come across?

Speaker 3:

I mean wow. I think that when it comes to our buildings, buildings are inherently complicated. Right, there's a lot of moving parts. You have the building owner, and I'm going to speak more towards commercial buildings or mixed use buildings. You have the building owner, then you have the commercial tenants that are leasing a space from the owner, and the dynamic of the relationship between the landlord and the tenant is so critical when it comes to energy use and energy consumption and compliance, right, the owner of the building is who needs to comply with the local laws, but when it comes to using resources, tenants tend to use a good chunk of that energy and water use, right?

Speaker 3:

So having landlords and tenants come to the table and figure out how to equitably align the cost of using resources is something that tend to be seen as a zero-sum game, that you know when the decisions are made, it's always going to favor the landlord or it doesn't favor the tenant, and it's not that simple, right, when we talk about compliance, there's a lot of layers that needs to be unpacked in terms of using data to inform the decision rather than the traditional way we looked at relationships between landlord and tenant.

Speaker 3:

So, for example, with the services that my company, uslt, provides knowing these local laws and who's responsible for what, is super important. So advising the landlord and the tenant and bringing them together is part of what we do to make sure that each knows the value that they can get out of it. So we can kind of demystify all these misconceptions when it comes to compliance with New York City local laws. Because lack of compliance, obviously there are penalties that are tied to this. And when those penalties get doled out to a building owner, who's going to be responsible for those payments, knowing that the tenant also has some level of responsibility there, given the energy and water use they need for their business's operations?

Speaker 2:

So in essence, you help them simplify the process by plugging them in, and you know the compliance side of it.

Speaker 3:

Exactly and just also looking at the engineering due diligence that goes into the existing conditions on how the building operates, but also the tenant operates as well.

Speaker 2:

So how would you define your clients and how are you currently attracting them?

Speaker 3:

We have government clients. A lion's share of our projects are currently focused on new construction projects. Myself I am a LEED AP, which is an acronym for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, and with that accreditation I work on new construction projects for buildings that need to be certified either LEED Gold, silver or platinum. Now most government contracts that are being taxpayer funded are required to be at minimum LEED Gold certified. So with that type of accreditation and expertise and experience that I have, my team is contracted to get this project a gold certification.

Speaker 3:

So we're working with architects, mechanical design engineers, electrical design engineers and structural design engineers so you can start to see when it's a new construction, the design team is who we work with directly to be able to influence the lead requirements within the design, but then we also move on to the construction process of that. So that's one type of project we do. Another type of project we do is focus on existing buildings. We're helping a building it's a school in Queens to be local law 87 and Local Law 97 compliant, which requires auditing the building. Similarly, how tax accountants audit your taxes, we're doing an energy audit or a water audit of the building right and then be able to align those audits with compliance requirements that will be submitted to New York City Department of Buildings.

Speaker 2:

Okay, have you ever thought about doing your own podcast?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, absolutely. I mean I think sometime down the line perhaps. But as an entrepreneur and a business owner, you only have so many hours in the day and instead of having our own podcast, we get invited to podcasts like yours and hopefully be still able to inform and share information in a way that can add value to our community, to businesses in our neighborhoods. And yeah, sometime down the line perhaps we will have our own own podcast, but for now I'm happy just being invited so that's true.

Speaker 2:

When you're not so busy running your business, what do you like to do fun?

Speaker 3:

I'm a runner. I like to go for a run every other morning here and there. I live in hastings and hudson and I'm right next to the old croton um aqueduct, which I mean it's 26 miles long, so you can run as far as you want. I also love to hike and um you know, hiking, running outside and spending time with my friends and exploring the city you get involved in any of the marathons.

Speaker 3:

No, not a marathon runner. I typically want to clear my head, and that alone is enough for me. It really helps me stay grounded.

Speaker 2:

All right, we're about to run out of time, but I want you to leave our listeners with one thing, if you were to sum it down, the one thing they should remember about USLT.

Speaker 3:

One thing to remember about USLT is that we are mission driven and our clients' goals and priorities is really what drives what we do, and we take pride in the quality of work we do as well. But also communicate to our clients in a way that they understand that sustainability and looking at decarbonizing a building and electrifying a building is both a short-term game and a long-term game, and the only way that we can guarantee carbon emission reductions or energy savings and reducing their utility costs month over month, year over year, is by using data to support that. And sometimes, you know, we tend to want to get projects done and turn them around very quickly. The work we do realistically dealing with buildings does not. It requires that short-term and that long-term strategy. That's one thing I want them to take away, because that's where the value is.

Speaker 2:

Now, our listeners have one word on their mind right now, and that's how? How do they get more information on the USLT?

Speaker 3:

They can go to our website, wwwusltechnologycom. I'm also on LinkedIn. I think nowadays every professional or business owner may be on LinkedIn or Instagram. Our Instagram page is also one way they can contact us, or they can contact me directly through LinkedIn or Instagram. Our Instagram page is also one way they can contact us, or they can contact me directly through LinkedIn as well.

Speaker 2:

Okay, for those that just like to push the buttons on the phone, is there a number you'd like to share?

Speaker 3:

I will share my direct phone, which is 425-442-9993. And I'll be happy to get on a call with them.

Speaker 2:

Listen for two. It's been a pleasure having you in the show. We wish you and your business the very best moving forward.

Speaker 3:

Well, thank you so much, Garfield, for having me. I very much appreciate this invitation and hope the audience enjoyed our conversation appreciate this invitation and hope the audience enjoyed our conversation.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNPLivecom. That's GNPLivecom, or call 877-934-3302.