How to Get Started on Your Energy Audit

1. Call CEC to schedule an Energy Audit.
2. We will make recommendations for energy improvements.
3. We will explain our recommendations to you, and give you a cost estimation to help guide you.
4. CEC will personally do the work and oversee our partners.

Energy Efficiency…Insulation…Energy Efficient Retrofits…

You’ve heard the phrases. But what do they mean?

At Community Environmental Center (CEC) they mean comprehensive, skilled and caring attention to your home or building. They mean that you will be warm in winter and cool in summer, that your energy bills will be lower and that you will be helping to protect the environment for generations to come.

Professional Energy Auditing

When CEC performs an Energy Audit, our technicians inspect your home to find out if your “energy systems”—the insulation, the heating and cooling equipment, ventilation, lighting and appliances-are providing you with maximum comfort and safety, and if they are using energy sources (oil, gas, electricity) efficiently.

CEC’s technicians are certified by the Building Performance Institute (BPI). They will inspect your attic, basement, walls, windows, ventilation systems, heating and cooling systems, and appliances.

They will determine if you are losing warm air to drafts, and if those drafts are coming from around your windows or from under your door. Are your walls cold, and is your attic a repository for chilly air during the winter?

Are your appliances functioning efficiently? Do they need to be replaced?

If the answer to any of these questions is “yes,” chances are you are using more energy to run your home than you should be. Chances are you are also spending too much money on oil, gas or electricity.

Get Incentives: Home Performance with ENERGY STAR®

ENERGY STAR® is a joint program of the U.S. Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Department of Energy. Home Performance with ENERGY STAR® keeps your home comfortable year-round, lowers your energy bills and protects the natural world around us.

After CEC’s technicians perform the Energy Audit and determine the needs of your home, they will provide a cost estimate for the improvements.

Now the Home Performance with ENERGY STAR® Program kicks in with a variety of available financing and incentive options, including:

• Assisted Home Performance
• Energy $mart Residential Loans
• Homeowner Financing Incentive

EC will help you take advantage of these financing opportunities. Once the work plan and the financing are in place, CEC will schedule and do the work to make your home energy efficient.

Benchmarking and LL84 Compliance

As part of the Greener, Greater Buildings Plan, NYC Local Law 84 of 2009 requires all commercial and residential buildings over 50,000 gross square feet, as listed by the Department of Finance, to measure and report energy and water consumption (benchmark) on an annual basis using the EPA’s Energy Star Portfolio Manager Tool. This data will become publicly available, allowing potential tenants and buyers to view your building’s energy and water use. The original deadline for compliance of May 1, 2011 has been extended to August 1, 2011. Failure to comply will result in quarterly fines of $500, payable until compliance occurs.

Community Environmental Center (CEC) can manage your building’s benchmarking requirements to ensure that your building is in compliance with Local Law 84. CEC can provide you with complete annual benchmarking services including:

• Collecting and analyzing utility consumption data
• Determining different space use types, an requirement of LL84
• Configuring and reporting energy use into the EPA’s Portfolio Manager Tool
• Submitting all of the required forms to comply with Local Law 84

If you are interested in speaking with us about Local Law 84 or any of the other energy efficiency technical services that CEC can provide to you, please contact Alvin Pettway (718-784-1444 x. 139) or Nitta Monteiro nmonteiro@CECenter.org

NYC Local Law 87: Energy Audits and Retro-Commissioning

Local Law 87 requires that all buildings over 50,000 gross square feet, as listed by the Dept. of Finance, complete an energy audit and retro-commissioning once every ten years beginning in 2013. Compliance dates are based on the last digit of the building tax lot number. Local Law 87 requires an ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers) level II energy audit and a retro-commissioning study of base building systems in order to increase the energy efficiency of the largest NYC buildings. Compliance with the law requires that an Energy Efficiency Report (EER) be submitted to the city every ten years. Community Environmental Center (CEC) has been a leader in energy efficiency audits for over 17 years and can guide you through this complicated process. CEC will provide you with the following services in order to comply with Local Law 87:

Energy Audit

• Perform a detailed building survey by experienced and certified building auditors, including diagnostic testing of building systems related to energy use
• Identify no-cost, low-cost and capital improvement measures designed to lower your building’s energy use and operational costs
• Perform sophisticated energy-modeling analysis of your building’s energy use, in order to identify the most cost effective energy reduction measures
• Compile a detailed report with the results of the analysis in an easy-to-understand format

Retro-Commissioning

• Optimize your building’s energy performance through examination, evaluation, testing, and modification of sensors, controls, valves, and building operational policies and procedures
• Immediately reduce energy usage using no-cost or low-cost adjustments to building controls systems
• Implement training programs for building and facility management to ensure sustained energy savings for years to come
• Assist you in operating a more energy efficient, cost-effective and profitable building

Community Environmental Center will perform all of the stated requirements of Local Law 87 and file the Energy Efficiency Report on your behalf. As one of the most experienced energy efficiency consulting firms in New York State, you can be confident in our ability to identify potential energy savings measures in your building, and assist you in complying with the law.

Community Environmental center is also a NYSERDA Multi-Family performance partner. If your building is eligible, NYSERDA and Community Environmental Center can provide cost-sharing and other financial incentives for the energy audit portion of Local Law 87. Please click here (insert link to MPP and other NYSERDA programs page of CEC website) to learn more about our status as a performance partner for NYSERDA.

If you are interested in speaking with us about Local Law 87 or any of the other energy efficiency technical services that we can provide to you, please contact Nitta Monteiro (718-784-1444 x. 139) nmonteiro@CECenter.org

Save money and reduce risk. Get Started Now!

Community Environmental Center (CEC) provides energy efficiency solutions for existing apartment buildings and complexes, whether they are as small as 5 units or as large as 20,000 units.

Our clients include Lindsay Park, a 2700-unit affordable-housing complex in Brooklyn, and Spring Creek Towers (formerly Starrett City), the 5,881-unit, 46-building Brooklyn complex managed by Grenadier Realty.

So whether you rent, own or manage an apartment building, there are cost-effective steps you can take to improve your building’s energy efficiency and safety, and provide lasting comfort to your tenants.

Step 1: The Energy Audit

When CEC performs an Energy Audit, our technicians inspect the building, the apartments and the building’s common spaces, to find out if

• Insulation
• Heating and cooling equipment
• Ventilation
• Windows and doors
• Appliances
• Lighting fixtures
• Smoke and CO detectors

are providing maximum comfort and safety, and if they are using energy sources (oil, gas or electricity) efficiently.

CEC’s technicians are certified by the Business Performance Institute (BPI). These skilled and courteous workers will inspect and test your building’s energy systems.

Are the systems functioning efficiently? If the answer is “no,” chances are you are using more energy, and spending more money, to run your building than you should be.

Step 2: Implementing Energy Efficiency in Your Building

When the audit is completed, CEC will develop a “work scope” that estimates the costs of bringing energy efficiency to your multifamily building.

When you have selected the items to be addressed, CEC begins the work of improving the energy efficiency of your building’s systems. Depending on the size of your building, this may involve sub-contracting the work, especially if large numbers of windows, lighting fixtures or appliances need to be replaced.

But always CEC’s technicians will provide oversight, so that the work will be of the highest quality.

Financial Incentives

Government incentives can turn a good financial decision into a great one.

For multifamily buildings in New York State, incentives are available through the New York State Energy Research and Development Association (NYSERDA), as well as other government agencies and public utilities. CEC is an approved NYSERDA provider and works with NYSERDA on both market-rate and low- to moderate-income projects.

To find out how to take advantage of these and other incentives, call or email Alvin Pettway in CEC’s multifamily buildings department:

718-784-1444, x. 104
apettway@cecenter.org

Get a free professional consultation today!

1. Call CEC to learn about what we may be able to do for your building
2. Schedule an Energy Audit with a certified CEC engineer.
3. Then CEC will discuss a custom plan to improve comfort and efficiency.
4. CEC will help you find incentives to lower the cost.

Save 10-40% on Your Energy Bills

We have seen it all. We’ve seen boilers that are 50 years old. We have seen brand new ones that were not calibrated properly. We have seen closet lights that were left on 24/7, and we have seen doors to the roof that were left open in the winter.

There are always things—big and small—that can save boatloads on energy bills.

Let CEC create a custom plan to help you save money.

Improve Health, Morale, and Attendance

Offices can be drafty, or stuffy. They can have hot spots and cold spots. Don’t make your heating, cooling, and ventilation work harder, let it work smarter. Studies regularly show that improving office comfort leads to better worker performance.

PLUS+ Toxic indoor chemicals smell bad, we all know that. But what’s less well known is the link between poor indoor environmental quality and “sick building syndrome”—which is very real. Reducing indoor toxins has been positively linked to fewer sick days, higher employee productivity, and improved staff morale. CEC can analyze your working environment, and make it safer, healthier, and thus more productive.

Get Money to Do It.

There are many incentive programs available from all different kinds of agencies, and CEC knows them all. Even though it’s a fantastic thing to do anyway, don’t miss out on funds if you have the chance!