22B — December 23, 2016 - January 12, 2017 — Green Buildings — M id A tlantic
Real Estate Journal
www.marejournal.com
G reen B uildings
By George Crawford, Green Partners NY Multifamily buildings – LED upgrades
quired by Lo- cal Law 88 to upgrade common area lighting, it will provide an interest- ing base of informative “case stud- W
i th mul t i fami l y buildings in New York City now re-
NYC LL 88 jurisdiction, they will need to develop a strategy for compliance. Because the deadline is some years away – January 1, 2025 – the thresh- old question is: Do it now or wait out the clock? LL 88 compliance will in- volve a complete LED retro-fit of all of the existing lighting lo- cated in the “common areas” of multifamily buildings, includ- ing hallways, fire stairs, lobby areas, storerooms, boiler/me- chanical rooms, laundries etc. Residential units are not required to comply with LL 88 provisions. Because there are benefits
for buildings that opt for early compliance - the “Do it Now” approach - the focus of this article is to look at the options – Compliance Now, Later or just on a Voluntary basis - and some of the pros and cons of each. In terms of the compli- ance “Later” option, because there will be the inevitable last minute compliance crush, the “Later” compliance approach should be “Wait and See” – but not for too long. Also in the mix are a number of multifamily buildings that are already in compliance with LL 88, because of earlier voluntary LED retro-fit up-
grades to their common area lighting. “Voluntary” meaning before there were any regular- ity requirements to retro-fit to LED. A quick look at some of the motivations behind these “Voluntary” LED retro-fits may be helpful in terms of just when to push the “go” button – either voluntarily or because of the necessity to meet LL 88 requirements. Two of the motivations or driving factors behind the early or “Voluntary” LED retro-fits include expense re- duction (combined with the currently available rebates) and improved building opera-
tions. There is also a third fac- tor – addressing deficiencies in lighting and egress code compliance. In terms of expense reduc- tion, LED lighting products consume only a fraction of the energy as compared to traditional lighting products. Replacing traditional incan- descent and fluorescent light- ing with LED will result in significant energy savings - an 80% reduction for incandes- cents and a 50% reduction for fluorescents, including CFLs. On average, a multifamily building LED retro-fit will pay for itself in about two years with the reduction in electric charges. Retro-fits that qualify for rebates will usually have faster paybacks - in the one to two year range. Improved building opera- tions are harder to quantify, but are an important con- sideration for many build- ings. It is little appreciated, except for those performing the task, how much staff time is involved in lamp replace- ments. With the 2,000 hour life of traditional incandescents and the 10,000 hour life of fluorescents, the average sized multifamily building with 350 lamps (including fire stair lighting) will have approxi- mately fifteen lamp changes per week - in addition to the time (and expense) of purchas- ing and storing the replace- ment lamps. With the long life of LED lighting products - five to ten years on average – lamp changes will be left in the rear view mirror. With regard to lighting and egress code issues, many building with older installa- tions have code issues with battery back-up lighting or egress lighting levels. Combin- ing the needed upgrades to meet code requirements with a LED retro-fit offers the ad- vantage of having the savings from the LED retro-fit cover the additional costs related to the code compliance upgrades. In terms of the “wait un- til later” approach, a LED retro-fit is not inexpensive. The combination of the cost of LED lighting products as well as the cost of installation can be substantial in terms of up-front costs – before the savings kick in. The wait until later approach may be the key solution to resolving budget priorities. continued on page 24B
George Crawford
ies” as to whether buildings outside of NYC LL 88 jurisdic- tion should upgrade to LED on a voluntary basis. For owners and managers of multifam- ily properties that are within
Green Partners is your one-stop energy efficiency consultant. We offer low cost solutions to help meet compliance requirements for PlaNYC Greener, Greater Buildings legislation.
• Local Law 87 - Energy Audits and Retro-Commissioning • Local Law 84 - Benchmarking and Energy Star
We can save money on your energy bills with LED Lighting solutions through our
Green Partners is a Participating Contractor in the Con Ed / AEA Multifamily Energy Efficiency Program (MFEEP) NO-COST FEASIBILITY STUDIES
FREE CONSULTATION Act NowWhile Rebates Are Still Available
CALL TOLL FREE 800-595-1094
George Crawford gcrawford@greenpartnersny.com
Visit Our NewWebsite At www.GreenPartnersNY.com
Made with FlippingBook Online newsletter