Top Ten Hot (and Cool) Tips

Saving energy does a lot more than just reduce a building’s carbon footprint and toxic emissions—going green can save a building some green too. The steps a co-op or condo building can take to reduce energy consumption and save money range from the very simple to the very complex. We’ve asked various energy experts to offer their top 10 tips for saving energy and money. Remember, the list is just a start—there are many ways in which you can go green, but following some of these ideas is a great place to start.

Check Your Current Systems

Without a doubt, all of the experts agreed that keeping your current systems maintained was the number one way to save both energy and money.

“Boards cannot afford to wait until something is broken or leaking to perform necessary repairs,” says Eric Michaels, director of Green Building Technologies at Platinum Energy Group in Lindenhurst. “Failure of any kind—catastrophic or acute—can be avoided 95 percent of the time with a solid and well-executed maintenance program. Failure to adopt a regimented schedule will absolutely cost a building thousands of dollars in repair bills that could have been and should have been avoided. Take care of what you have is rule number one.”

Allan Samuels, a partner at Energy Squared, engineering consultants based in North Brunswick, New Jersey, suggests that there should be someone responsible for keeping the systems that consume energy—chillers, water towers, condensing units, lighting, fans, air conditioning units, heating, boilers, any mechanical or electrical systems—operating and functional, but unfortunately not everyone wants this responsibility.

 

 

Original article can be found here: https://cooperator.com/article/top-ten-hot-and-cool-tips