[imagebrowser id=82]
Eight leaders in the field of energy conservation were honored by the New York Energy Consumers Council last week.
They were presented with an Energy New York Award (ENYA) during an event at the Tribeca Rooftop.
Robert Abbamont, Westchester County program co-ordinator, and Michael Lodenquai of the New York Power Authority, were recognized for their work upgrading the antiquated Westchester County Center HVAC system with a cutting edge approach that allows the center to cut fossil fuel consumption by 27 percent and electric consumption by 30 percent to-date.
Honoree Leonardo Cutone of energy consultants, LC Associates, has been responsible for securing millions of dollars of cash incentives from NYSERDA, Con Edison, and the Federal Government.
LC Associates has been serving the energy consulting needs of New York City’s commercial and industrial base for over 10 years.
This decade has seen them grow into a model business that employs close to a dozen of some of the brightest individuals that New York City has to offer in the field.
Tishman-Speyer Properties’ Steve Latargia was recognized as an “Engineer’s Engineer,” committed to decreasing energy waste in the Tishman portfolio.
Under his leadership, the existing utility metering system has been revamped to enable communication of 15-minute interval data to a web-based platform. This kind of monitoring and access to real time energy data has increased awareness of how energy is used — and misused — portfolio-wide, and has allowed the building engineers to make targeted efficiency improvements, take corrective action, and immediately enact low to no-cost energy conservation measures.
Additional initiatives under consideration include using multivariate regression analyses to account for variables like temperature, humidity, and occupancy, and then applying this data to better control the HVAC system.
Other honorees included Jay Raphaelson and Diana Sweeney from EnergyWatch Inc. Raphaelson was a pioneer who applied the first remotely read electric submeter for the purpose of billing tenants. Sweeney was instrumental in the negotiation and the implementation of the first WTC Replacement Power Contract, setting the standard for all future recipients.
Jonathan Resnick of Jack Resnick & Sons, Inc. was hailed by the Council as “a role model for New York City in demonstrating excellence in energy efficiency for not only his portfolio, but also for the environment.ˮ
Resnick’s vision led to the repositioning of 250 Hudson Street from an inefficiently operating industrial printing facility in 2011 to a LEED-certified (Silver) commercial office building characterized by the renovation and implementation of high efficiency HVAC systems, variable frequency drives (VFDs), high efficiency lighting systems, a green roof, and an advanced Building Management System (BMS) to improve operations. The result is a building that operates 25% more efficiently than similar types of commercial office buildings.
The Council also honored NYU Langone Medical Center’s Paul Schwabacher’s whose leadership resulted in a cultural shift where it is increasingly understood that institutional sustainability encompasses much more than minimizing environmental impact.
His expertise resulted in a series of drastic reductions in energy consumption across the NYU Langone portfolio of properties which exceed 3.4 million square feet of mixed use space within New York City.
Since the baseline year of 2005, Schwabacher’s energy management program has reduced consumption by 17% (MMBTU/gsf served) and greenhouse gas reductions by 34%, all while expanding the campus by 30%.
