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by David Pospisil, Manager of Con Edison's Commercial & Industrial Energy Efficiency Programs
Oct-19-2012
New York City recently released the first round of its energy benchmarking results for more than 2,000 commercial buildings. The energy data required under the city’s Greener, Greater Buildings Plan show that New York buildings are more energy efficient than the national average. That’s encouraging, but New York can do even better. And Con Edison is eager to help make that happen. The benchmarking law requires owners of buildings larger than 50,000 square feet to measure their annual energy usage and to report the results. This data can help owners understand their building’s energy use, monitor their building’s performance and compare that performance to similar buildings. Benchmarking can also help owners identify energy-efficiency investments that will lower their operating expenses and increase their property’s value. If you own or manage a commercial building that participated in New York City’s energy benchmarking for 2011, you probably know your building’s ENERGY STAR® score. Now that the 2011 energy data are public, you can look at the scores of buildings similar to yours at http://www.nyc.gov/html/gbee/html/plan/ll84_scores.shtml.
Con Edison Can Help Improve Your Score So how does your building’s energy performance stack up? If your building isn’t performing as well as you’d like or if it’s doing well but you’d like even better results, the Con Edison Green Team can help. Our energy-efficiency experts will guide you through a process that leads to lower energy costs and a healthier, more comfortable atmosphere for employees, tenants and anyone else who works in or visits your building. You might want to start with an energy audit. The American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers Level 3 audit focuses on potential large, capital-intensive projects. The audit will provide you with a detailed analysis of how much various, large-scale projects would cost and how much they would save. Once you have your audit results, you’ll be able to plot strategy and choose the technologies and projects that will save you money on energy, water and building materials. While you may need to make a significant investment to make your building a high performer, the good news is that energy-efficient technologies are becoming more affordable, and funding is available in the form of tax credits, low-interest loans, rebates and incentives. For example, the Con Edison Green Team’s Commercial and Industrial (C&I) Energy Efficiency Program ( conEd.com/energysavings) covers up to 50 percent (with a cap of $67,000) of the cost of an American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Level 3 audit. That’s just one of the ways that Con Edison can help. Our company also offers commercial and industrial customers rebates and incentives through our Equipment Rebate Program to help cover upgrades to high-efficiency electric and natural gas equipment and other energy-efficiency projects. You can save money on high-efficiency lighting, lighting controls, HVAC systems, boilers/furnaces, motors and variable frequency drives. If you are planning a more complex project, such as upgrading a chiller and/or refrigeration system, industrial process or compressed air system, Con Edison’s Custom Program may make more sense for you. Custom incentives are available for cost-effective, energy-efficient technologies not included in the Equipment Rebate Program. The Custom Program offers incentives for total energy savings per project rather than rebates for specific equipment upgrades. More than 600 experienced energy experts participate in the Con Edison C&I Energy Efficiency Program’s Market Partner network. Our Market Partners are trained to provide technical support to commercial and industrial customers for the installation of energy-efficient equipment and help with the application process. To be eligible for the Con Edison C&I Energy Efficiency Program, your business must be a commercial or industrial electric or gas customer of Con Edison and pay the System Benefits Charge on its utility bill.. Projects must be in the Con Edison service territory, and must not have received an incentive from any other source. For more information, visit conEd.com/energysavings or call 1-877-797-6347. Join the discussion on LinkedIn (Con-Edison-Commercial-Industrial), Facebook (ConEd Green Team C&I), Twitter (ConEd Green Team C&I) and YouTube (ConEd Green Team C&I). The Con Edison Green Team has an energy-efficiency program for almost everyone. To find out which program is right for you, call 1-877-860-6118 or visit www.conEd.com/greenteam.
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