Residential buildings rush to cut gas emissions to comply with new laws

Some housing managers aren’t waiting at the last minute to get buildings ready Local law 97which will start at the end of the year and will require major changes to the heating system.

As we reported, the law requires most city buildings to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to a certain level.

Argo Real Estate manages 130 buildings and 13,000 apartments in Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn. Executive Vice President Gustavo Rusconi said: [co-op and condo] Since 2019, when the law was passed, the Board has

Rusconi said today:

as he says Compliance with LL 97 is neither easy nor expensiveit’s not impossible.

No buildings have been switched to electric heating managed by Argo. “The cost is exorbitant,” he says Rusconi. However, he helped the client find a way to significantly reduce emissions by adapting an old boiler to new requirements, with the objective of a 100-unit building where he could complete a complete project that would cost $250,000. It was to avoid getting a new boiler.

In some cases, the trick was adapting the boiler to a dual-fuel system using both oil and gas.

Or, “I changed the burner from No. 6 oil to No. 2 oil because the boiler was in good shape,” explained Rusconi. 6 is a high pollutant, very similar to tar. No.2 is less polluted. “

Argo worked with engineers to “make sure the boiler was working properly”, which is critical to minimizing emissions. One of her steps was to install sensors to monitor the temperature and reduce the number of times the boiler was turned on and off.

Rusconi said most upgrades were paid for through evaluation. “But we worked with heating companies to fund some of the installations and even refinance mortgages in some cases.”