Green Tips from Con Edison

Another burst of hot weather looms this weekend, and Con Edison is reminding customers about the best ways to stay cool and save money while doing it.

Saving on your electric bill is easy if you follow Con Edison’s energy-saving tips:

·         Turn off air conditioners, lights, and other appliances before leaving home. Use a timer to have your air conditioner turn on shortly before you’re scheduled to arrive home;

·         Make sure air conditioner filters are clean so the machines will run at peak efficiency;

·         Set thermostats no lower than 78 degrees. Each degree lower increases cooling costs by 6 percent;

·         If you have a room air-conditioning unit, close off the rooms not being used; if you have central air, block vents in unused or vacant rooms;

·         To reduce heat and moisture in your apartment or home, run appliances such as ovens, washing machines, dryers and dishwashers in the early morning or late at night when it’s generally cooler outside. Use a microwave to cook, or barbecue outside, if possible;

·         Keep shades, blinds and curtains closed. About 40 percent of unwanted heat comes through windows. Simply drawing blinds and curtains, which act as a layer of insulation, can reduce heat in your apartment or home, and,

·         Try using fans instead of air conditioners, but be sure to leave your windows open for ventilation. Fans use as little as one-tenth the energy as air conditioners.

Con Edison also urges customers with central air conditioning to accept the company’s offer of a free programmable thermostat for homeowners, religious institutions and small businesses. The thermostat can be programmed manually or from the internet. To learn more, call 1-866-521-8600 or visit www.coned.com/cool.

The company also reminds customers that $25 rebates are available for customers who invest in cost-cutting Energy Star-rated room air conditioners. Applications for the $25 rebate can be downloaded at www.coned.com/roomacrebates.

Despite that, sustained hot weather sometimes triggers service problems or power interruptions. If that occurs, customers can report them, and also view any service restoration information, either online at www.conEd.com, on their cell phones, or on their PDAs.  Customers also may call Con Edison at 1-800-75-CONED (1-800-752-6633).

When reporting an outage, customers should have their Con Edison account number available, if possible, and report whether their neighbors also have lost power. Customers who report outages will be called by Con Edison with their estimated restoration times as they become available.

Energy-savings tips are also available on Facebook at Power of Green, on Twitter @ConEdSara and by downloading the company’s Power of Green iPhone app.

Con Edison’s Green Team continues to offer a host of energy-savings programs for homes and businesses. Customers can take steps to reduce energy usage this summer with rebates and incentives now available for energy-efficient appliances and cooling systems in their homes and businesses. To learn more or enroll, go to www.coned.com/GreenTeam  or call 1-877-870-6118.

Green committee update

Over the past month, we have met with a couple of engineers that are submitting proposals for repairing the retaining walls. The concerns are the current state of the wall, techniques for repairing the wall, storm water management (to prevent future erosion), and maintaining the integrity of the pool. As we learn more information, we will share it with everyone.

Also, the Board has agreed to move forward with the oil to gas conversion, so we are looking into what that entails and a timeline.

in the news

Debra Alfano, Board member, shared this article about the retaining wall that had collapsed over 5 years ago. I'm sure there are some lessons learned that we can take away from this experience.

Thanks for sharing!

Green Issues

Jimmy Clark shared this link on the Facebook page and I just wanted to cross reference it here.

The Council of New York Cooperatives and Condominiums have a website and a special section about Green Issues.

Thanks for sharing!

Interesting reading

I was browsing some articles on the Cooperator today and saw this interesting article on Energy Efficient Lighting.

green workshop coming up!

As I was researching something else online about coops, I found information about a Green Workshop here:

INTRO TO GREEN FOR NEW YORK COOPS & CONDOS
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
7 PM
Location to be announced


There are many ways that cooperative and condominium boards can turn pressure to “go green” into an opportunity to reduce costs and comply with new codes. This popular workshop, sponsored by CNYC, NYSERDA Energy $mart Communities, and Solar One, will present easy ways to quickly reduce energy costs, and information on incentives available through the NYSERDA Multifamy Performance Program for comprehensive energy efficiency retrofits, and strategies for engaging shareholders and unit owners in the greening process. There is no cost for CNYC members and subscribers to attend this workshop but advanced registration is required. Others are welcome at a fee of $30 payable in advance. To pay at the door, reserve in advance and add a surcharge of $15.

Another home show

I saw an announcement today for the 25th Annual Suburban Home and Garden Show on Friday, February 10 through Sunday, February 12 at Rockland Community College in Suffern, NY. The show features hundreds of exhibits and demonstrations on home improvement, decorating, and landscaping. The show is open on Friday, 2/10 from 3pm-9pm, on Saturday 2/11 from 10am-9pm and Sunday, 2/12 from 10am-6pm.

I might be going. Anyone else interested in attending? Most likely, I would attend on Saturday.

For more information, check this website. There is a discount coupon online.

Thank you,
Gina Callender

Oil to Gas Conversion

There are many things that we can do to be more green as a dwelling, one of which is converting from burning oil to natural gas. Natural gas is an efficient, safe, and reliable fuel source. It costs less than heating oil, and is one of the cleanest-burning fuels available. Converting to natural gas will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve the air quality in your community. Help make a cleaner, greener New York. (from Con Edison's website)

Things that we need in order to persue this:
* Your property’s block and lot number
* Your point-of-entry (POE)
* Existing oil type (2, 4, or 6)
* Your oil consumption from the previous 24 months
* Existing, additional, and total gas load in cubic feet per hour (CFH)
* The type of service you will require (firm, interruptible, or both)

Here's an article that explains it in detail.

Here are some FAQ's.

What do you guys think???

HOME SHOW tomorrow

Terry Nagai wanted me to share with you that she is going to the Home Show at Pace University starting at 1pm. Here is the information in case anyone is interested.

By the way, the Journal News has a FREE Admission coupon.

Have a great weekend!

Welcome newcomers!

Welcome to the blog! Please spread the word so we can get a bigger presence here and people can follow these major issues. I don't know about you...I LOVE Facebook, but sometimes it's difficult to backtrack and find something that you posted previously. One of the things I love about a blog is the ability to tag your posts, so when you're looking for something later, it's easier to access.

Anyway, as we learn more, we will keep everyone posted. In the meanwhile, I will try and post some relevant articles that may be helpful to keep in mind as we undertake this contruction project.

The owner's perspective for managing a construction project

Today I came across a great article that outlines what owners need to be aware of when undergoing a construction project.

Some excerpts that struck me were:

“Waste, excessive cost and delays can result from poor coordination and communication among specialists. It is particularly in the interest of owners to insure that such problems do not occur. And it behooves all participants in the process to heed the interests of owners because, in the end, it is the owners who provide the resources and call the shots.”

“To carry this protective attitude to the extreme, the specifications prepared by an A/E firm for the general contractor often protects the interest of the A/E firm at the expense of the interests of the owner and the contractor.”

This is what we need to pay attention to:
“In order to reduce the cost of construction, some owners introduce value engineering, which seeks to reduce the cost of construction by soliciting a second design that might cost less than the original design produced by the A/E firm. In practice, the second design is submitted by the contractor after receiving a construction contract at a stipulated sum, and the saving in cost resulting from the redesign is shared by the contractor and the owner. The contractor is able to absorb the cost of redesign from the profit in construction or to reduce the construction cost as a result of the re-design. If the owner had been willing to pay a higher fee to the A/E firm or to better direct the design process, the A/E firm might have produced an improved design which would cost less in the first place. Regardless of the merit of value engineering, this practice has undermined the role of the A/E firm as the prime professional acting on behalf of the owner to supervise the contractor.”

What are your thoughts, comments or ideas?

Welcome to our blog!

Hudson Court Owners Green Committe has created this blog in order to keep everyone: You - the Shareholders, the Board, and the Management Agent on one page. This is continuing the goal of transparency and open communication and I hope you will come back and visit often.

There are a few things in the works right now and as soon as we have more information, we will post it here.

Please keep checking back for updates!

Thanks,
The Green Committee