Manhattan Co-op's Decarbonization Costs Slashed with Rebate for Heat Pumps

Faced with an aging and unreliable oil-fired boiler, Stanton Young, the board president at a small seven-unit Upper West Side co-op, was tempted to make the relatively simple switch to gas. “A new boiler would have been easier,” he says. However, a Con Edison clean heat rebate presented an opportunity. Replacing the old boiler with cold climate heat pumps to provide the building’s heating and cooling cost north of $100,000, but the rebate amounted to $49,000, almost halving the cost for the co-op. “That made it more interesting to us,” Young says.

For small co-ops, major infrastructure upgrades can be particularly challenging because there are fewer shareholders to divide costs. This was the case at the landmarked co-op on West 94th St., where the boiler had become a liability. “The filter would get clogged or we’d have disruptions of heat and hot water and that was incredibly frustrating,” Young says. To design the new system, the building brought in the engineering consultancy firm Efficiti, which also applied for incentives on the co-op’s behalf and managed the project. “The heat pumps provide better cooling and heating control and comfort and are more efficient,” says Sina Jasteh, the firm’s founder and managing director.

The first step was to increase electrical capacity to the building to handle the higher load. Access to apartments was then needed to install the heat pump technology in the bedrooms and living rooms of each apartment. The installation also involved coordination with the Landmarks Preservation Commission to approve the placement of condensers on the roof. Additional hybrid heat pumps were installed in the basement to provide hot water for the building.

Removing the old steam heating system — the boiler, risers and radiators — was another element of the work, as well as fireproofing the new refrigerant lines throughout the building. “There was a lot of finishing work that had to be done,” Young says, making the project, which was paid for by combination of an assessment and capital reserves, more expensive and more time-consuming than he expected. Generally, rebates are not received until some time after the work is finished. “We used the reserve fund to cover additional costs as they came along,” Young says. The bulk of the work took place last summer and the rebate was received about six months later.

The co-op is well under 25,000 square feet and does not need to meet carbon emission targets under Local Law 97, but the switch away from steam heat has still been a benefit to residents. “Now everyone can control their own heat and air conditioning,” Young says. This means the building is no longer overheating with residents opening windows to cool stuffy apartments in winter. “That is not an efficient use of energy at all,” he adds. Young’s advice to others taking on electrification projects is to have a point person to coordinate. “You are involving electricians, engineers, contractors, there are a lot of people involved,” he says. The upgrades also allow for the removal of window air conditioning units.