'Green' buildings: saving money and the planet - economical solutions to building energy conservation

Real Estate Weekly, August 19, 1992 by Lois Weiss

Are you feeling the heat? Is hot air and water escaping your buildings? Do your pockets seem to have holes in them? Is your conscience bugging you to preserve the environment?

Take heart because many companies and suppliers are coming up with economical solutions to keep you in the "green."

Water Worries

"What's more important than our water?" asks Alan Rothschild, president of Vantage Group, a firm that specializes in water cost management and analysis.

Vantage helps building owners determine whether or not to put in a water meter early and guides them toward the proper conservation devices.

"Everyone has heard horror stories of water meterings but there are many stories of financial windfalls," he said. "Everyone I've told to put a meter in is saving more money than I told them they would."

Rothschild said it is important to know how to reduce consumption and mitigate the cost increase if there is going to be, one. "In many cases we can take an owner's expected increase and turn it into a decrease with a careful conservation device retrofit," Rothschild said.

The water experts agree it is not adequate to randomly select low flow devices and install them since some can end up costing you more money.

John Rakos, general manager of Consumer's Advantage Water Management agrees, particularly with rental situations.

"If it's not going to work right, and if the tenant is unhappy - they are just going to be pulled out," he said.

Consumer's Advantage, which at one time was primarily a fuel oil coop, developed a Water Management division that conducts a field test to establish current usage.

"We take a pro-active position so the place in the basement to dig. Usually, he said, the owner knows I boiler is losing water or notices the automatic feeder is filling every few minutes.

The company also offers an annual service plan and monitors for new leaks with specialized digital sonar tracking devices developed together with a company that builds submarine sonar.

"It takes an incredible amount of training to operate this," Garber added.

Another high-tech Aquiline system traces the piping underground and creates a computerized blueprint of the location of all the water lines.

"This is like an x-ray of the basement," Garber said, "and comes in handy if the owner ever has to deal with the Environmental Protection Agency."

Wattage Watching

Utility Programs & Metering, Inc. ensures that people pay for what they, use, said President Jay Raphaelson. The company will help monitor steam and water payments but its primary emphasis is on electricity. "The main thing is making sure people pay for what they use," said Raphaelson.

Many older commercial buildings charge a flat rate on a square foot basis for electricity, he said, and his company can help owners obtain the correct amount or ensure the tenants pay the correct amount. Raphaelson said. occupancy patterns and use patterns change over time and recommends metering to help owners to focus on dollars. He suggests metering of common areas - which may or not include air conditioning - the tenants, and what is on overtime, he said, "so the energy people can keep a what they are doing rather than going by how much income is generated through tenant services."

While a lot of people are making energy conservation efforts very few monitor with "before" and "after" studies to ensure they obtain the projected savings, he said.

Energy Audits Available

Con Edison Spokesperson Richard Mulieri said their energy examine a property from top to bottom to see what might make the building more energy efficient. This become a cost savings for the owner when utility bills go down. On the residential side, Con Ed will provide the approximate cost of these projects as well as the pay back time.

Con Edison also offers rebates for energy efficient lights and other electrical equipment such as motors for elevators. They also rebate for the conversion to steam or gas motors. Between January of 1991 and June of 1992 Con Edison has processed some 23,000 applications for $209 million in rebates Mulieri said.

The most popular changes by far are made in lighting, he said. There are new technologies that utilize electronic ballasts that make the fixtures much more efficient and cut down wattage. In many cases the rebate covers the entire cost of a new lighting system, he said.

Since there is no financial incentive for tenants to save electricity, Con Edison will help owners sub-meter so that each tenant can be billed for the amount of electricity that is consumed.

Its residential apartment program encourages the conversion of "exit" signs, hall and basement lights to flourescents which cut down both on electricity and maintenance costs.

Conservation Administrator Martin Shapiro of Brooklyn Union Gas, said they conduct free energy audits, which include combustion efficiency tests for gas burners, a check of the-insulation and windows and much more. He said there is still some state money available through the Energy Investment Loan Program if the effort pays back in energy savings in 15 years or less. These loans have an interest rate of 2.5 percent for up to five years.