Smart Controls Boost On-Peak Energy Payouts for Upper East Side Condo

Call it a smart way to cut costs and claw back cash for the building. The Oxford, a 199-unit condo on the Upper East Side, is maximizing the payout it gets for reducing energy use during peak demand periods by using automated building sensors and controls. Demand response events generate financial rewards for buildings when they agree to lower energy use during specific hours, typically during summer heatwaves, to protect the grid. The Oxford’s collaboration with the remote HVAC management firm Parity makes it much easier for the high-rise to participate and earn money. “The resident manager isn’t running around manually turning things on and off on the hottest day of the year, which takes forever,” says Joe Cascio, Parity’s service delivery manager. 

The controls installed at the Oxford, after Con Edison incentives, cost $74,000. They included temperature sensors and variable frequency drives (VFDs) on at least 20 existing pieces of equipment, such as ventilation units and exhaust fans. The sensors provide real time heating and cooling data, which is monitored by Parity 24/7, and remote controls allow fan speeds and temperature settings to be dialed back for optimized energy use. “Once a demand response event is called, the systems will automatically revert to the lowest settings or be switched off,” says Brown Harris Stevens resident manager Gerry Grady. Cascio says this automation avoids any delay in lowering energy use during the events. 

Buildings sign up to demand response participation with so called aggregators — in this case the climate-tech firm Logical Buildings — and share in the revenue generated by peak demand involvement. On a normal summer afternoon the building uses around 1,176 kWh of electricity. During three peak demand events in July, common area energy usage dropped by around 44%, more than meeting their target. “We doubled what we said we’d do,” Grady says. 

Con Edison determines the building’s performance and payout at the end of the season with checks sent out early next year. Logical Buildings estimates the reward for The Oxford will be in the region of $10,000. And the payout isn’t the only perk. By lowering energy use during peak demand events, buildings avoid paying the more expensive electricity delivery rate during the specified timeframe. In total, Oxford saved almost 2,000 kWh of energy, amounting to several hundred additional dollars in savings on days when demand makes electricity more expensive. Grady says the building reduced energy use by over 100 kWh during each hour of the demand events, more than half of its typical hourly summer usage. 

This is the first year Oxford has enrolled in a demand response program with Logical Buildings, which shares in the revenue generated by the utility company. Grady was the resident manager at a different building last year that participated in the program, and he understands its merits. “Even though you do get some complaints from residents about higher temperatures, when you explain the benefits, 99% of people are on board,” he says.