Lower your electric bill with these simple tips:

• Swap out incandescent and halogen bulbs with LED (light-emitting diode) bulbs. LEDs use 75-80% less energy. Take advantage of the free bulb exchange offered by National Grid beginning July 26, 2022 when they begin replacing steam traps on CV’s radiators.

• Upgrade your old appliances to Energy Star® appliances.

  • Replace your old fridge with one that is Energy Star-rated. You can save $200-$300 in 5 years. Also, be in the habit of closing the fridge door when you step away from it. If you have a lot of frozen foods, consider a chest freezer, which uses significantly less energy than a freezer with doors. Downsizing your fridge also helps.

• Reduce air conditioner use. 

  • Block the sun with window shades

  • Clean your air conditioner, AND

  • Set the A/C temperature a little higher. Each degree you raise on your A/C’s thermostat saves 1% in electric costs in 8 hours of use. Raise it 10° to save 10%. The Department of Energy suggests setting it at 78° F.

    If you think you need the A/C colder, your body might lack certain nutrients. Changing what you eat can reduce your body’s temperature. Eat cooling foods like melons, cucumbers, fenugreek, and green leafy vegetables.

New Steam Traps: How They Lower Our Energy Consumption

The boilers that heat our water and rooms are a significant source of energy use. Steam traps prevent steam from returning to the boiler as wasted heat. Instead they hold steam in the room to heat the room allowing greater efficiency. Only cooled water returns to the boiler instead of wasted steam.

Leaking steam traps cost money, because more energy is needed to heat more steam to replace what is lost. That's why -- as a matter of good maintenance practices -- co-ops like Concord Village inspect and replace leaking steam traps every three to five years.

To save energy use, National Grid is offering to do the job of replacing leaking steam traps for us this year -- and they will replace ALL our steam traps, one for each radiator, so several in each apartment. National Grid doing that work will save us more than $500,000 in labor and equipment costs -- and ensure that our heating and cooling system is as efficient as it can be.

Steam Trap Installation!

Sign up links for each building are sent from the management office.

Check your email for your building’s turn. If you don’t have an email address, reach out to the management office in 215 Adams.

What Grade C means…

On October 1, 2020, buildings over 25,000 square feet in New York City received their first energy efficiency grades from the City Department of Buildings (“DOB”).

Grades are based on a building’s ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager score, which is generated after buildings submit energy use and property information.

• A building with a score equal to or greater than 85 will receive an energy efficiency grade of A;

• A score equal to or greater than 70 but less than 85 will result in a grade of B;

• A score equal to or greater than 55 but less than 70 will result in a grade of C; and

• A score less than 55 will result in a grade of D.

About Local Law 97

Local Law 97 of 2019, a law that was passed along with the building grade law as part of the 2019 Climate Mobilization Act, requires buildings in the City over 25,000 square feet to meet greenhouse gas emissions caps starting in 2024. While building grades are based on energy efficiency, Local Law 97 compliance is based on greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, even energy efficient buildings (with a good building grade) may still exceed the Local Law 97 greenhouse gas emissions caps where they use a lot of energy, especially energy with high attributed carbon emissions. Furthermore, unlike the building grade law, which does not penalize building owners for a low grade, Local Law 97 imposes a penalty of $268 per metric ton of carbon dioxide that a building emits over its allotted cap, potentially resulting in annual fines of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Local Law 97 sets the following caps for multi-unit residential buildings:

• By 2024: 6.75 kg COe per square foot

• By 2030:  4.07 kg COe per square foot

More information about Local Law 97 HERE.

Your New LED Lights and Dimmer Switches: Q & A

Will my new LED bulb work with my present dimmer switch?

For an LED to be dimmable, only two things are required:

1. A dimmable LED bulb

2. A compatible dimmer switch

Are these new LED bulbs being installed at Concord Village dimmable? Yes.

Is my old dimmer switch for incandescent bulbs compatible with LED bulbs? Probably not.

To be clear, you can still use the new LED bulb with your legacy dimmer switch but in on/off function only. It’s only the dimming function that will not work properly without compatibility. Your LED will flicker and possibly suffer damage eventually should you vary the output.

How do I find out if my present dimmer switch is compatible with my new LED bulbs?

1. Contact the manufacturer of your dimmer and ask which LED bulb is compatible with it,

2. Or contact the manufacturer of the new LED and ask if his LED is compatible with the dimmer switch you have. For reference, the serial number or the SKU usually can be found on the base of the bulb or on its packaging.

What if I don’t have this information or don’t want to look for it and make the calls?

You can try dimming the new LED with your legacy dimmer switch and watch to see if the light flickers or if it progressively changes intensity in a smooth curve. If the latter, you may be lucky.

Better yet, you can save yourself all this trouble by buying directly online from a manufacturer such as Lutron or by visiting a big box store such as Home Depot or Lowes for a new LED dimmer switch and compatible LED bulb.

There are no consistent LED electrical standards. Circuitry and programming vary not only across manufacturers but among product lines within a single factory as well. The easy choice seems to be to buy your own setup and call maintenance for an installation.

Management recommends two options: install a simple switch or a compatible LED dimmer switch.

• CV Maintenance can provide and install a regular switch for $25.

• Or after you have purchased your compatible LED dimmer switch, CV Maintenance can install it for $25.