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Condo and Co-op Energy Checkup

Get support to better understand your building while improving comfort, controlling energy costs, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions

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As the owner of a multifamily condo or co-op building, energy costs can be a big expense, and figuring out the best solution to managing your building’s energy consumption can be challenging due to the torrent of competing information and solutions on the market.

Frankly, sorting through the noise takes time, which as a board member of your condo or coop, with your own set of personal life responsibilities, can be in very short supply.  With New York City’s Local Law 97 (LL97) fines looming, and the rising cost of energy, it has become more important than ever to understand how your building is performing today and develop a long-term plan that prioritizes your needs balanced against a tight budget.

Let Us Help

If you are a board member or owner in a multifamily condo / co-op building, and you’re struggling to figure out where to start – we’re here to help!  We can provide connections to incentive programs, expert advice on building upgrade paths, and real stories of owners like you leveraging Real-Time Energy Management (RTEM) platforms today. 

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The Good News

NYSERDA has been running RTEM programs since 2016, and in that time has supported the development and deployment of RTEM platforms in over 1,200+ New York buildings, including 300+ multifamily sites.

We’ve reviewed over 500 proprietary solutions from vendors active in the New York market, and developed a list of the most qualified, capable of delivering real energy reductions to their customers today.

 
 
 

How RTEM Works

You can’t manage what you don’t measure, which is why RTEM technologies work in real time to monitor your building’s systems and equipment. They do this by connecting and pulling information from energy monitoring systems and delivering that data to one central location. Getting this baseline understanding of your building’s energy use is a helpful first step to begin eliminating wasteful equipment operations and ensure the health of your systems.

 

Although Energy Management Systems (EMS) have been around for decades, they often struggle to provide actionable information outside of proprietary control platforms and are limited to the capabilities of the hardware installed in your boiler room. Alternatively, RTEM systems can take a building's data, identify problems and inefficiencies, and turn them into actionable recommendations that can save energy for property owners and tenants.

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach for condo and co-op buildings, which is why RTEM can build off your current situation to transform existing building assets into smart devices. Depending on a building’s needs, RTEM may be cloud-based, on-site, or both, and range in scope from cloud-connected thermostats to complex building automation systems.

 

 

Benefits of RTEM

RTEM is a cost-effective solution for improving multi-family building performance. It can help boards and owners comply with upcoming Local Law 97 and protect against rising energy costs. Other ways you’ll benefit include:

 

  • Improve tenant comfort and satisfaction
  •  Reduce energy costs, freeing up money to use elsewhere
  • Gain data and insight to make informed building improvements 
  • Reduce maintenance work for your building super
  • Extend the life of your energy equipment
  • Prevent and identify building maintenance issues 

RTEM Resources for Condo and Co-op Buildings

RTEM Vendor Highlights

Frequently Asked Questions

What are RTEM Qualified Vendors?

NYSERDA has 120 RTEM Qualified Vendors who are experts in delivering the highest-quality RTEM service for residential spaces. Our partnered vendors offer advice and support throughout the project—from installation to continued monitoring and optimization.

Since 2017, NYSERDA has supported the installation of RTEM platforms in over 1,200 buildings – including 300+ Multifamily sites – representing nearly 300 million square feet of property in New York.

As a key condition of participation in the program, NYSERDA required that vendors were qualified through a rigorous, independent review process, which stress-tested claimed system capabilities and features, along with a vendor’s documented track record of performance on previous projects. While over 450+ vendor applications were evaluated over the course of the program, the NYSERDA team found that only ~125 met the minimum set of required functionality and service reporting standards.

Amongst these vendors, NYSERDA issued two types of qualification: System and Service

System Vendors: Responsible for the underlying data collection and control platform – the hardware & software located within the four walls of your building connected to equipment which extracts the real-time data and makes it available, along with automatic insights, in the cloud.

Service Vendors: Experienced with analyzing real-time data from RTEM Systems and working to optimize building system operation.  Responsible for generating an in-depth set of insights on equipment operation on a recurring basis to drive adoption of data-based Energy Conservation measures.

The qualified vendors offer advice and support throughout the project — from installation to ongoing monitoring and optimization. While all vendors have met the same minimum bar for qualification, some System or Service offerings may be more or less applicable to your specific building type or systems.

If you have questions on which of the companies on our Qualified Vendor list may be a best fit for your facility type or equipment, we encourage you to reach out to us through the link above and we can help generate options!

What is Local Law 97?

Local Law 97 (LL97) is part of New York City’s ambitious plan to address carbon emissions and make NYC carbon neutral by 2050. Once enacted, most buildings over 25,000 gross square feet that exceed emissions limits will face annual fines beginning in 2025.

Learn more about LL 97 from NYC Accelerator.Link opens in new window - close new window to return to this page.

 

 

You Might Also Be Interested In:

  • Building Operations and Maintenance Workforce Development Training Program – NYSERDA will share up to 50 percent of the cost, up to $400,000, to help employers and building owners develop training projects that create the educational strategy, on-site training framework, and tools needed to advance the skills of building operations and maintenance workers.
  • Flexible Technical Assistance (FlexTech) Program  – Financial support for completing an energy study to identify and evaluate opportunities to reduce energy costs and incorporate clean energy into capital planning.
  • Low-Carbon Pathways for Multifamily Buildings – NYSERDA provides incentives of $700-$5,000+ per unit for the installation of low carbon energy-saving upgrade packages for existing market-rate and affordable multifamily buildings, including incentives for upgrades to the building envelope, ventilation, heating and cooling systems, and domestic hot water (DHW) systems.