New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s recently announced plan to make his city more environmentally friendly will be the subject of a Jan. 20 forum at ASHRAE’s winter meeting.

Dubbed “PlaNYC,” the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers’ session will explore how Bloomberg, a billionaire who founded Bloomberg LP, a financial software services firm, intends to make the nation’s most populous city also its greenest by 2030.

The plan calls for reducing the city’s greenhouse gas emissions 30 percent below current levels and cutting energy use in Manhattan’s many skyscrapers.

Laurie Kerr and Rohit T. Aggarwala from the city’s Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability are scheduled to speak.

“I look forward to working with ASHRAE on the 'greening' of our building code and reaching our goal of 30 percent carbon reduction by 2030,” Aggarwala said. “ASHRAE is the standard on energy performance and therefore has the opportunity to raise the energy performance bar for all buildings, allowing not only New York City but also the world to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

ASHRAE’s winter meeting is held in conjunction with the Jan. 22-24 AHR Expo, one of the largest HVAC-related trade shows in the world. For information on both events, visit www.ashrae.org/newyork or www.ahrexpo.com.