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Hi Everyone,
We are a small building 57 units, 8 stories. We are trying to make sure we keep a good grip on our fuel expense and consumption.
Can you suggest ways you have been able to control your consumption that we may be able to apply in our building. We have a system brain, but im not sure how much we can alter burn times etc, looking for ideas that our super can perform to help keep our consumption on track.
All ideas are appreciated.
Thanks
There are a llist of things that need to addressed. Is the boiler being operated at peak effiecency. Is the boiler maintined regularly. compare month to month bills if one month is out of whack then you know.
there are so many things that most buildings can and should have done but are overlooked...
Below is a link to a site that holds a comprehensive list of areas to investigate and utilize.
The company is not accepting clients.. this was a business Idea that I had but never persued getting it off the ground...
http://reapconsultingllc.com/energy_Home.htm
You should get alot of good ideas from it.
Also.. One good thing that we were doing is to lock in on a gas price at a low rate (with a company that does not require minimum or exclusive gas usage) then play the market and use oil when its cheeper and the gas when its not, etc... most of the buildings saved at least 8% on thier fuel bill with this tactic alone.
Possibly I will post a more detailed list later...
Best
~AR
Hi,
We currently have a 1970 era boiler serving three buildings in a 111 unit complex. Since 2005, we have saved 40% per heating degree day (HDD) on natural gas usage. Tracking is a must since natural gas prices fluctuate so much. We replaced all air vent valves in the complex (so that we have no ‘steamers’ – making sure the boiler shuts down early as possible). We use the "Windows Open" test to see if we are over-heating. If we see a lot, we turn down the boiler (we are currently at the lowest boiler setting). We use a natural gas interruptible rate from ConEd - we therefore have to burn oil when the outside temp gets below 18 degrees or so. We track our usage for the last 5 years monthly to see if we have a systemic problem. We insulated steam pipes. We replace all windows with double glazed however we saved a lot before this by following the above steps.
Our next savings idea will be building insulation and/or boiler replacement to a hot water system.
I hope these ideas help 
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I use to just shut down the oil burner for a couple of hours per day/night. Just making hot water, it saves some money.
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