Rudin Management: Commercial Portfolio Retro-Commissioning

Well-established in New York City’s real-estate market, Rudin Management owns and operates a diverse portfolio of commercial buildings and pre- and post-war multifamily properties. Steven Winter Associates, Inc. (SWA) performed whole-building energy audits and developed retro-commissioning strategy for Rudin Management’s entire commercial catalogue. Our efficiency recommendations for two key Class-A commercial properties were as follows:

• 641 Lexington Avenue (429,866ft2, 33 stories): Installation of high-efficiency condenser filtration systems and low-e window coating present the greatest opportunities for annual cost and energy savings–$18,691/1,860MMBtu and $232,487/10,021MMbtu respectively. Other recommended energy conservation measures include naturally vented stairwells, LED lit common areas, VFP pump installation, and upgraded chiller control panels. Lastly, SWA conducted an in-depth evaluation of the building’s two basement chillers using data provided from BMS trends to determine chiller operating conditions and sensor calibration. We completed several analyses to ensure that the sensors monitoring chiller operation were within calibration, to verify chiller operation with respect to varying cooling loads and to determine the projected energy savings that would result from two potential ECMs: installation of a new control panel on Chiller 2 or replacement of Chiller 1 with an electric model. A life-cycle cost analysis of these alternatives was conducted in order to give the most accurate representation of the lifetime value of the projected energy savings, which were annual cost/energy savings of $18,571/1.17 MMBtu and $57,797/6.61, respectively.