HEAT BALANCE, P.2

David Welz, the longtime board president of The Vermont, a 100-apartment building in Rego Park, has a simple response when asked why his Queens co-op installed EMS about two years ago: "Money." He adds: "It's a cost-savings measure, and it's totally automatic. People are still comfortable, and we save money." The Vermont, which has a dual-heating system that can run off oil or gas, spent about $12,000 to install the energy control system.

Building manager Julio Villas, of Vision Enterprises, estimates that The Vermont has cut down on consumption by at least 15 percent. About half of Vision's 40 buildings – mostly rentals – have EMS, Villas says. While some boards need to be talked into spending now to save later, Welz notes that wasn't a problem at The Vermont. "As long as you say you can save money, they'll do anything."

Despite the seemingly rosy outlook on heat-balancing systems, some managers say condos and co-ops have been slow to employ them. Kaled Management, which helms, 50 co-ops, condos and rentals, and owns and manages another 18 rentals, has EMS in five of the latter. Jordan Platt, Kaled's VP of operations, says the system cost about $9,000 at a 58-apartment building in Forest Hills, Queens. In 2006, before installing it, the company spent $89,000 for heating bills from January to November 2006. Now with the system in place, a comparable heating bill is $41,000 less.

Co-op and condo boards "all say that it sounds great on paper," says Peter Lehr, director of management at Kaled. "You tell them that [they] can recapture [their] costs within a year, but what they see is that they have to write a check."

Levine, from The Schwab House, says he's not surprised that other condos and co-ops have been slow to adopt heat-balancing systems. Convincing Schwab's shareholders to foot the initial bill was probably easier, he suggests, because the building is so large. "It's the economy of scale," he says, noting that the co-op's annual budget is $9 million. He also believes it is easier to get big projects accomplished because the building is self-managed. "There is more direct contact between the board and the people who manage the property.

Adapted from Habitat December 2007. For the complete article and more, join our Archive >>