Manhattan Co-op Spins Greener Future with Laundry Room Decarbonization

For co-op and condo boards wanting to dial back on fossil fuel use, the laundry room presents an opportunity. At The Brevoort, a 266-unit co-op in Greenwich Village, the board has embraced the chance to decarbonize this amenity by switching out gas-powered dryers for energy-efficient electric models. However, the project isn’t a simple equipment switch, since significant infrastructure upgrades are required. “We had to run new electricity in there,” says board president Diane Nardone. “The bathroom was a wreck, so we’re putting in a new bathroom and new utility closets. It’s really a gut rehab.”

The main driver for the upgrades is compliance with emission requirements under Local Law 97. Based on energy data from 2023, the co-op is not facing penalties through the first or second compliance periods, but it relies heavily on gas boilers for heating, cooling and hot water. In addition, electricity is generated on-site with a gas-powered co-generation plant. “It is very difficult to get rid of gas in a 1955 building — there are only a couple of ways to do it,” Nardone says. Full electrification was prohibitively expensive, so the board has looked at elements of the building that could be converted from gas to electric. “One of the most obvious ones was the laundry room,” she says.

The three-month, $250,000 project, which began in January, will not require a special assessment for unit-owners. “We try to fund projects through refinancing,” Nardone says. As well as upgrading the electrical capacity, the work has also involved replacing old ductwork, drilling through concrete slabs to add new flooring and putting in air conditioning to prevent the room becoming stiflingly hot.

Not all shareholders at the co-op use the laundry room, since washer and dryers are allowed in apartments. However, knowing many people would be without laundry facilities for three months, Nardone struck a deal with her local dry cleaner. The renovation cost includes a temporary arrangement to allow residents to drop off their laundry in the lobby before 9 a.m. and have it returned, washed and folded by 5 p.m. “Are shareholders happy with how it’s working out? Yes, pretty much,” Nardone says.

Energy efficiency is not new to shareholders at The Brevoort: The co-op has three green roofs, electric vehicle chargers in the garage and recycles exhaust from the co-gen plant to supplement the domestic hot water. “The exhaust goes into a series of heat exchangers and it also supplies hot water for the absorption chillers,” says Gary Earl, operations manager at New Tech Mechanical Systems, the engineering firm engaged by the co-op.

Three years ago, the co-op also began phasing in hybrid packaged terminal air conditioners (PTACs) to reduce emissions. The new PTACs combine heat pump technology with the original steam operations, running mostly on electricity but switching to gas at very low temperatures. This helps lower emissions and takes pressure off the gas boilers. Shareholders are required to upgrade their PTACs when an apartment is sold or renovated. About one-fifth of the heating and cooling units have been replaced, and Nardone says this transition has helped take the co-op from a B grade for energy efficiency to an A.

Although not a specific concern for The Brevoort, an all-electric laundry room removes the risk of service disruption if the building fails a gas pressure test and faces a shut down. When the laundry room re-opens next month, there will be 13 high-efficiency washers, five single-load dryers, and five double-load dryers.