Beekman Hill Co-op Switches to Electric Heating and Cooling to Cut Costs and Emissions

Converting a building’s heat and cooling system is a big — and expensive — undertaking, particularly if you're considering electrification. But properties that use steam provided by Con Edison have a big incentive — in fact, two of them — to make the switch: rising operating costs and the carbon emissions-cutting upgrades as mandated by Local Law 97 in order to avoid hefty fines. That was the case at a large co-op in Beekman Hill, which took a big leap to solve both those problems at once.

Beekman’s System

Beekman Hill had a HVAC central air system, combining heating and cooling. There was a cooling tower on the roof that hooked up to a chiller. The system relied on Con Ed Steam, which came in through the basement at high pressure before being distributed to steam-fired equipment. After the steam condensed, it turned to water. “But it’s so hot it has to be cooled by preheating the domestic cold water with a heat exchanger before it goes down the drain,” says Bendjouya. “It’s probably the most expensive method there is.”

Timing Proved Crucial

The board needed a new system that would provide both heat and cooling, and made the decision to electrify the building with heat pumps. They brought in an engineer to develop plans for acquiring and installing them. The solution included replacing the one cooling tower on the roof with ten heat pumps, but the challenge was replacing the risers.

The timing of the installation was key. “There's a window when you can start the work when it’s still cold out so you can finish the job around May, since most buildings want to be assured that the system can provide cooling for the summer,” Bendjouya explains. At the Beekman Hill co-op, he got creative in order to make the deadline. “We found an area in the stairwell to drill from the roof down to the basement and install the new risers there, then boxed them in to make it part of the wall,” he explains. The individual piping to each apartment connecting to the new risers was all reused, not replaced, so there was no disruption to shareholders. 

Other adjustments had to be made to boost the electrical power for the new system. “We brought in more service from the street from ConEd to bring additional electricity to the roof for the units up there,” Benjoya says. Fortunately, that didn’t require ConEd installing a new steam pipe for the co-op under the street to increase the building’s electrical capacity, which would have been prohibitively expensive.

Still, the electrification project, which cost some $3 million, was a big investment for the co-op. Benjouya believes the board made the right decision. “I don’t think it was driven solely to reduce the operating expense of maintaining the steam heat system,” he says. “They also had a goal to cut their carbon emissions. Heat pumps do both.”