Multifamily Buildings Low-Carbon Capital Planning Support

The Low Carbon Capital Planning Support for Multifamily Buildings provides cost-share funding for clean energy analyses focused on electrification or electrification-readiness upgrades:

• Portfolio-level studies: Plan across your entire portfolio or a subset of your portfolio, enabling you to prioritize and target properties for low carbon upgrades
• Building-specific studies: Develop a detailed building-level plan and gather the information necessary to implement a low carbon retrofit over time

Insightful and actionable analysis, in short. The comprehensive energy study provides you with valuable information to help develop a road map toward low carbon retrofits at your properties. The report includes:

• List of Recommended Low Carbon Upgrades: Identify and evaluate upgrades that reduce energy consumption and incorporate low carbon energy solutions at your properties
• Comprehensive Cost-benefit Analysis: Get a holistic view of the many benefits of a low carbon retrofit. Look beyond simple project payback through utility savings with a full financial analysis that estimates impacts on non-energy expenses, where certain upgrades may lead to reduced maintenance costs or reduced pest control costs. Gain an understanding of qualitative, non-energy benefits, such as improved tenant comfort and satisfaction, reduced noise, or improved indoor air quality.
• Low Carbon Phased Implementation Plan: Receive a high-level timeline that allows you to incorporate low carbon upgrades step-by-step rather than all at once. Develop a custom capital improvement plan for your portfolio or property that incorporates key milestones, such as equipment end of life, tenant turnover, and your work toward local law compliance.

Pre-Implementation Assistance for Building-Specific Studies

Save when you move your project forward to implementation. Building-specific studies are eligible to receive additional funding of up to 20% of the total cost of the study for pre-implementation tasks, including but not limited to:

• Bid document review
• RFP development
• Developing scoring guidelines
• Meetings with bidders and potential bidders

• Multifamily properties in New York State that pay into the electric System Benefits Charge (SBC)/NYSERDA Clean Energy Fund on their electric utility bill are eligible to receive assistance
• Studies focused electrification or electrification-readiness upgrades that: 
  • Transition at least one heating/cooling or DHW system to a high-performance electric technology,
    OR
  • Significantly reduce heating/cooling load and can enable future electrification (e.g. envelope improvements, ventilation improvements, building electrical infrastructure, etc.)
• Required level of analysis varies depending on type of study
  • Portfolio-level studies: ASHRAE Level 1+ or above
  • Building-specific studies: ASHRAE Level 2 or above
• All studies must be done with a FlexTech consultant or Multifamily Building Solutions Provider

For additional details on eligibility requirements and deliverables, review the FlexTech – Multifamily Low Carbon Capital Planning Study Guidelines [PDF].

NYSERDA, Steven Winter Associates, and the Building Energy Exchange (BE-Ex) have developed a series of Multifamily Building Low Carbon Playbooks.

These free resources offer technical guidance on the implementation of a low carbon retrofit and electrification of heating, cooling, and domestic hot water systems over time. There are five playbooks in the series, one for each of the most common multifamily building typologies in New York State.