Study Clarifies the Energy Savings in Retrofitted Buildings

While the practice of retrofitting buildings with energy-conserving technology like efficient boilers, high-quality windows and compact fluorescent light bulbs has been around for years, data on whether these changes result in any real savings has been virtually nonexistent. Now, a new study shows that these relatively straightforward fixes can significantly reduce spending on fuel and electricity.

Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation, a philanthropic arm of the German bank, and Living Cities, a nonprofit partnership of 22 foundations and financial institutions, commissioned the report, which will be released later this month. It examined nearly 19,000 affordable housing units in New York City that had undergone energy efficiency retrofits and found that these changes resulted in a 19 percent savings on fuel bills and a 10 percent savings on electricity across the portfolio. This translates into $240 in fuel savings and $70 in electrical savings per apartment every year.

“We have been looking for the secret sauce,” said Ben Hecht, the president and chief executive of Living Cities. “This study is definitely the first foray into data, and that is going to be critical to convince owners and lenders of the importance of retrofitting buildings.”

At Terrific Tenements, for example, an 88-unit, two-building affordable housing complex on West 48th Street in Manhattan, the installation of new boilers and heating controls reduced fuel costs by 50 percent. At one of the buildings, at 425 West 48th Street, there was a fuel saving of $551 a year per apartment, while at the sister building at 527 West 47th Street, the saving was $355 annually for each unit.

 “These buildings are prewar classics and are representative of a pretty broad swath of the city’s housing stock,” said Marc Zuluaga, a vice president and director of the multifamily energy services group at Steven Winter Associates, a building consultant in New York. The company, along with HR&A Advisors, an economic development and real estate consulting firm, conducted the study.

 The retrofits at the Terrific Tenements “was not achieved with any particularly exotic technologies” like solar panels or a green roof, Mr. Zuluaga said. Rather, this is the simple story “of how an owner took the worst-performing building type in the city and turned it into one of the best-performing buildings in the entire city.”

 Jeffrey I. Brodsky, the president of Related Management, an arm of the Related Companies, the landlord of Terrific Tenements, said: “This study proves that the assumption that you can’t rely on savings when doing a retrofit isn’t true. It may not be perfect or exact, but you will see savings.”

 The company does energy audits on all of its New York City buildings, where building engineers examine the utility usages to expose any opportunity for increased efficiency and savings, he said.

 Another project examined in the study is Riverview II in Yonkers, also owned by the Related Companies. The 343 apartments at Riverview, at 47 Riverdale Avenue, were heated with electricity, and the landlord was responsible for paying all of the tenants’ electrical bills. The Related Companies started an electrical savings program, including better windows, lighting upgrades and Energy Star refrigerators, that helped reduce overall electricity usage by more than 25 percent.

 In addition, each apartment was responsible for paying its own electric bills, giving tenants an incentive to conserve electricity. As a result, the changes translated into $808 in annual savings for each apartment.

Outages, closed roads mark day after Irene in NC

The aftermath of Hurricane Irene's weekend grind along eastern North Carolina came into focus Sunday as residents of Hatteras Island lost their highway tether to the mainland, residents cleaned homes scoured by floodwaters and power for some of the half-million once in the dark flickered back to life.

Officials blamed the storm for six deaths. While the numbers were decreasing, hundreds remained in shelters and more than 360,000 still had no electricity with warnings it could take crews days to get all the Diving lamp back on. Authorities up and down the coast said schools would stay closed Monday.

Gov. Beverly Perdue said residents were asking for food, water, generators and help with debris removal as she hopscotched to some of the most heavily damaged areas via helicopter. More than 1,700 people remained in 23 shelters around the state.

Still, the governor said the state fared better than she thought it would given early forecasts of the storm hitting with higher-speed winds.

"Overall, the destruction is not as severe as I was worried it might be, but there is still lots and lots of destruction and people's lives are turned upside down," Perdue said in Kill Devil Hills.

Despite the damage, Perdue said she didn't expect Irene to seriously dent the lucrative Labor Day weekend, when tens of thousands of visitors swarm the Outer Banks for a last summer holiday. All the state's beaches except those in Dare County were open Sunday, and Perdue said she expected Dare beaches would soon reopen.

In some places, relief will take a while. Ferries loaded with truckloads of food, supplies and emergency workers were being sent to Dare County to help residents stranded on Hatteras Island after four breaches chewed through Highway 12. The highway is the only road connecting the mainland to the island comprised of seven villages. State officials warned it may be days before the ferries could start taking people to and from the Outer Banks and gave no estimate on when the road might be fixed. Hurricane Isabel in 2003 chewed a new inlet in the island that took two months to repair.

"We're doing everything we can to help them. That's our focus," said Warren Judge, chairman of the Dare County commissioners.

LED Luminaires replace fluorescent lighting fixtures.

Building on the success of the company's Edge-Lit LED Panels, MaxLite(TM) launches high performance, energy efficient Direct-Lit LED Flat Panels that are designed to replace fluorescent lighting fixtures.

The Direct-Lit LED Flat Panels are suitable for offices, schools, libraries, hospitals, medical facilities and other commercial and institutional applications. MaxLite is a leading, global manufacturer and marketer of energy efficient luminaires and lamps.

The Direct-Lit LED Flat Panels are designed for installation into T-bar grid ("drop") ceilings. Fully dimmable and compatible with building controls, motion sensors, timers and daylight harvesting systems, the luminaires produce an even, consistent shadow-free illumination with minimal glare.

The energy efficient LED Panels deliver high lumen output and excellent color rendering (Color Rendering Index of 85) while minimizing maintenance time and costs.

Uniformed color consistency is ensured by proprietary LED binning. The panels are offered in a warm white 3500K model and the cool white 5000K.

With a power factor of over 98 percent, the panels operate on 120v-277v systems, are produced without mercury or other hazardous materials, and offer a long potential life of 50,000 hours. All are backed by a five-year warranty.

"Our Direct-Lit Flat Panel LEDs use up to 35 percent less energy than our popular Edge-Lit LED Panels," explains MaxLite's National Product Marketing Manager Pat Treadway. "These new luminaires provide optimal direct lighting replacements for fluorescent fixtures in a broad range of commercial and institutional task lighting applications."

The housings and LED back panels are constructed of aluminum that provides heat sink and thermal control capabilities. The translucent lens is crafted of white polycarbonate and the fixture's compact profile is just three inches long, including the control box. Modular construction enables easy replacement.