Time to Give Energy Efficiency a Good Hard Look

By Andrew J. Pisani

Owning a building is a constant battle between expenditures and savings. Every year, the owner and building management need to prioritize which upgrades to make, and which ones to push to the future.

Both the City and State would prefer that building owners move upgrades that impact energy efficiency to the front of the line. Through its Multifamily Performance Program  NYSERDA provides incentives to help building owners and developers to improve the energy efficiency in these buildings.

This program is available for multifamily buildings with five or more units and four or more floors. The program provides expertise, technology and incentives to permanently improve a building’s energy performance through proven technologies.

Incentives come in the form of per unit payments – between $500 and $700 each. So when evaluating whether to consider prioritizing energy related upgrades, consider the amount that your building could qualify for.  (For example, if you have 50 units, your range of funding may fall between $25,000 and $35,000).

There are requirements to join the program. The upgrades must yield a 15% reduction in energy consumption in order to qualify, so the math will dictate if it makes sense. While 15% is the target, we’ve heard of cases that have received funding even slightly below this level.

The first step in the process is to start with a Benchmarking assessment. We recommend that you contract our friends at Green Partners and ask for George Crawford at gcrawford@greenpartnersny.com.