Realty Operations Group

At a Glance

Industry

Real Estate

Project Type

Commercial Energy Efficiency

Year

2016

Location

New York, NY

Summary

Patrick Tomlinson evaluated the feasibility and performed a financial analysis of installing Combined Heat and Power at various properties managed by Realty Operations Group.

Goals

Realty Operations Group, a property management company that manages over 30,000,000 square feet of developed property in the New York City area, hired EDF Climate Corps fellow Patrick Tomlinson to examine the viability of installing Combined Heat and Power (CHP) on various sites. The company is interested in using CHP at its residential buildings as a way to save money on energy expenditures through operational efficiencies. Though the existence of state and federal incentives have made CHP even more attractive, the company was not yet clear which of its buildings would be good candidates for a CHP system.

Solutions

After shortlisting 10 properties, Patrick worked with different staff at Realty Operations Group to locate energy bills for each site. Once the bills were collected, Patrick developed a financial model to evaluate the spark spread for each of the 10 properties—the price difference between the amount currently spent buying electricity from the local utility compared to the amount that will be spent using CHP. To generate a valid reference point, Patrick asked two CHP companies to conduct assessments of the 10 properties and provide their own financial analysis. He ranked the properties from most to least suitable and then cross-referenced his work with what was provided by the companies’ assessments. Eight buildings were identified as potential candidates for a CHP system.

Potential Impact

If all eight were to install a CHP system, Realty Operations Group could achieve savings in the mid six digits per year on energy expenses, which would produce over millions in savings throughout the life cycle of all the projects. These savings equate to a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from the generation of electricity used by over American 60 homes.


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