Multifamily
Multifamily properties rely on energy to provide tenants with a safe, comfortable place to call home.
Discover new ways that managing energy can lead to long-term savings and year-round comfort at your properties.
How you benefit
- Lower operating and maintenance costs and extend the lifespan of your equipment
- Increase tenant satisfaction by improving the aesthetics and comfort of spaces
- Mitigate risk and tenant complaints by avoiding unexpected building maintenance issues
- Improve the asset value and marketability of your properties
Key energy saving opportunities
1. Resource Efficient Electrification
Decarbonizing multifamily buildings in a cold climate like New York requires a novel approach. With the help of industry-leading resources, you can plan your path toward a carbon neutral building portfolio by adopting an incremental methodology and integrated design process combined with strategic capital planning.
Learn more about Resource Efficient Electrification.
2. Building Envelope Upgrades
Building envelope upgrades (increasing insulation, weatherstripping windows, etc.) can be a low-cost, effective way to improve the comfort of your buildings and properties. Making improvements helps to both regulate your indoor climate and protect tenants from the outdoors. These upgrades can also help ensure that your heating and cooling systems are performing efficiently, saving you energy and money.
Learn more about building envelope upgrades.
3. Strategic Energy Management (SEM)
SEM is the framework for aligning energy efficiency with business practices and opportunities. Instead of managing energy saving projects one by one, it allows you to manage energy in a coordinated and strategic way across your portfolio of properties. SEM is a holistic process that includes forming a dedicated energy team, regularly collecting and tracking your energy use, creating an energy action plan, driving employee engagement, and more.
Learn more about strategic energy management.
4. Heat Recovery
Capturing and recycling wasted heat from equipment operations and building systems is a key strategy to reduce energy use and work toward decarbonization. Heat recovery leverages energy from exhaust air, wastewater, or central cooling systems – energy that building owners have already paid for – to store or repurpose it for other uses. Heat recovery systems can be tailored to a building’s existing systems or a planned upgrade, such as heat pumps, as part of a larger retrofit project.
Multifamily Programs and Resources
- Low Carbon Pathways for Multifamily Buildings (NYSERDA) – 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.
- Building Operations and Maintenance Workforce Development Training Program (NYSERDA) – 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 (NYSERDA) – Financial support for completing an energy study to identify and evaluate opportunities to reduce energy costs and incorporate clean energy into capital planning.
- Charge Ready NY (NYSERDA) – Rebates for the installation of electric vehicle charging stations. This can be combined with a New York State tax credit.
- Energy Storage (NYSERDA) – Technical assistance and funding opportunities for implementing an energy storage system.
- NY-Sun (NYSERDA) – Financial incentives and financing to offset the cost of purchasing and installing a solar system for your business.
- NYC Retrofit Accelerator (City of New York) – Trusted experts provide free, one-on-one advisory services to streamline the process of making building improvements, connect you with qualified contractors, find incentives and financing, and train your building staff
- Multifamily Financing Opportunities – Explore affordable and flexible financing opportunities through NYSERDA and partner organizations to help make cost-effective energy improvements to multifamily properties
For a full list of programs, visit our energy programs and incentives page.
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