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NEW YORK CITY-When it comes to spreading the word about green buildings, Con Edison is turning it up to 11. With more than 1,000 projects completed and another 1,100 in the pipeline, the energy company kicked off its 2012 Energy Efficiency Summit at the Hilton New York with a little rock-and-roll—and pointers about transforming commercial and industrial properties into high-performance buildings.
Sustainability expert and guitarist Robin Crow, president and CEO of Nashville-based Dark Horse Recording, told attendees during the conference’s keynote address that energy efficient buildings can actually increase corporate profitability in the long term. “We are facing so many overwhelming issues with things like overpopulation, depleting resources, climate change and dependency on foreign oil that we are forming a perfect storm that is affecting everyone in this room,” he said, noting that while investing in cleaner energy takes a fair amount of capital, the payoff involves more than just money. “Not only do you lower your overhead, but you lower your carbon emissions and you increase your bottom line. It is a win-win situation.”
During the summit, property owners and managers learned how to get cash back through Con Edison’s equipment rebated program by installing new lighting, heating and cooling systems, furnace and boilers, variable frequency drives, LED exit signs and display case lighting.
In turn, officials said the initiative has already been making an impact. After Con Ed rolled out its Commercial & Industrial Energy Efficiency program two years ago, the company has tracked acquired savings of 85,000 megawatt hours and 58,000 deckatherms. “That’s quite an achievement,” said David R. Pospisil, program manager, commercial and industrial energy efficiency programs at Con Edison, who estimates that the firm’s upcoming projects over the next four years are expected to save over 300,000 megawatt hours and 360,000 dekatherms.
“Building technologies are rapidly advancing and businesses need to look at this technology like they’d look at IT infrastructure,” he said. “Businesses don’t wait 10 years to upgrade their computers because the technology improves at exponential rates. The same applies to building systems today. The longer you wait to upgrade that technology, the more you end up paying down the road.”
Another reason to invest in energy efficiency sooner rather than later, Pospisil said, is because over time, some of Con Ed’s rebates and energy incentives will start to disappear as government standards mandate the use of higher efficiency equipment in commercial and industrial properties. Locally, New York City has implemented the Greater Greener Buildings Plan under Mayor Bloomberg's plaNYC initiative, which requires all owners of commercial buildings of 50,000 square feet or more to benchmark and disclose annual energy usage by May of every year.
And because approximately 80% of New York City’s carbon emissions come from commercial buildings and existing buildings make up 85% of all the city’s real estate, Pospisil said the time to act is now, because "there is a high cost for doing nothing.”
“This legislation represents a new evolution in the commercial real estate market because it is going to allow tenants and prospective tenants to shop for energy efficiency," he said. "And with rapid advances in social networking allows building managers, owners, service providers and occupants the chance to connect online and off, I think we will see that high performance buildings have an increasingly competitive edge in the marketplace.”
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