Community Environmental Center is installing solar thermal systems in New York City

Thursday, July 8th, 2010

Part of an array of solar panels at Wadsworth Terrace

Long Island City, NY (July 8, 2010)—Community Environmental Center (CEC), the Queens-based not-for-profit organization committed to energy efficiency and green building solutions, is installing solar hot-water systems at three sites in New York City this summer, including the largest installation to date for a multifamily NYC building, announced Richard M. Cherry, the president of CEC.

The new installation—actually two systems—was designed by EarthKind Solar of Kingston, NY, and consists of 42 4’x 7’ solar panels in 4 arrays and 7 200-gallon water-storage tanks. They are located at two adjacent rental apartment houses at 75-79 and 81-85 Wadsworth Terrace, in the hilly Washington Heights section of Manhattan.

“The climate crisis and the evident need to use energy sources other than oil and gas are driving an urgent, growing demand for free, renewable energy,” said CEC’s Richard Cherry. “Solar heating systems that provide hot water for domestic use are still in their infancy in New York City, so for a privately owned building such as Wadsworth to install these systems is a significant investment and a turning point. Ultimately it can benefit all New Yorkers.”

Edmund Miller of Lemle and Wolff, Inc., the Bronx-based management firm for Wadsworth Terrace, recognized that the property’s hilly location made the buildings good candidates for using the sun’s energy. He investigated PV systems but opted for direct solar heat because, he says, “I wanted a quicker return on investment.” Says Miller, “I expect that it will be 5 years before the buildings’ owners make back their money, but if the cost of fuel goes higher, the payback will be faster.”

At EarthKind Solar, Senior Vice President Ron Kamen estimates that Wadsworth’s solar hot water collectors will save the buildings’ owners 3,500 gallons of heating oil per year, or more than 87,500 gallons over the 25-year life of the system. The systems will also eliminate the emission of more than 86,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per year.

The Wadsworth solar thermal systems will begin operating in August. In the meantime, CEC is installing solar hot-water systems for Plaza de los Ancianos, an 8-story residence for senior citizens at 297 Wilson Avenue in Brooklyn, and for a 4-story multifamily apartment building at 1501 E. 10^th St. in Brooklyn.

Quixotic Systems Inc. of New York City has designed the system for Plaza de los Ancianos, which will have 21 4’ x 10’ solar panels, manufactured by Heliodyne, Inc., in Richmond, California, and a single 1,200-gallon water-storage tank outfitted with two layers of seven massive copper coils, or heat exchangers. It will be operational at the end of July.

“The larger collectors,” says Richard Klein, Quixotic’s president, “result in a higher output rating. This is a big building–94 units–and these collectors are the right size for creating the heat value that will result in the best savings-to-investment ratio.”

The single water-storage tank was a matter of economy of scale as well as cost: the basement at Los Ancianos cannot accommodate a series. The lone tank, which has a galvanized sheet-metal exterior and an EPDM liner, has the added advantage of being collapsible, which facilitates delivery and set-up.

Community Environmental Center, which is the largest supplier of weatherization services under New York State’s Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP), first installed solar hot-water systems in March 2009 at two multifamily buildings owned by the not-for-profit Cypress Hills Community Development Corporation in Brooklyn.

“For us in the Northeast,” says CEC’s Cherry, “using solar panels to heat our water is an exploratory process. We do not know yet if it will prove an accepted, economically viable use of renewable energy. In a city like New York, there are engineering challenges and expense associated with putting 90-pound panels on rooftops and connecting them to storage tanks many floors below.”

But,” Cherry adds, “the more solar thermal systems we install, the more likely we are to refine the installation process, reduce the costs and transform the market – we’ve already brought down the costs substantially from where we were a year ago.”

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CONTACT: Alexis Greene, Community Environmental Center, 718-784-1444, ext. 156; agreene@cecenter.org

For more information about Community Environmental Center: www.cecenter.org

For more information about EarthKind Solar: www.earthkindsolar.com

For more information about Quixotic Systems Inc.: www.quixotic-systems.com

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