Category: Energy Conservation

 “Sue” is a retired professional who is well-to-do, rarely eats at home and has lived  in her condo for decades. While everything seems perfect from the outside, Sue  is the keeper of a dirty little secret.    When the unit above he…

 As the ideas of energy efficiency and “green” buildings keep growing, associations and managers often want to know which  energy-efficient improvements make the most sense for their buildings—it might be compact fluorescent lights, energy…

 There are many reasons for “going green” in a residential community, starting with the goal of shrinking the carbon  footprint and decreasing dependence on fossil fuels. But the real reason a  condominium complex or HOA seeks sustainable …

 Winters these days don’t seem to be quite as brutal as they once were, due in part to the fact that in  recent years, the Northeast has had more flooding and ice storms than  blizzards. But pipes still freeze in the dead of night, and win…

 Utility submetering is the implementation of a system that allows a condominium  association or other multi-tenant property to bill tenants for individual  measured utility usage by making use of individual water, gas, or electricity  met…

 CHP (combined heat and power) is a marriage of electric generation and thermal  power—the use of an engine, usually gas-fueled, to simultaneously generate electricity  and heat. It can be done on a grand scale, as in manufacturing, hospit…

 My last column discussed how the approach to greening your individual  condominium unit is different from greening a single-family home. To complement the efforts private unit owners may be taking in their homes to reduce environmental im…

The buzzword in energy today is “sustainability.” More than the installation of the sexiest new technology, sustainability is a melding of renewable energy and energy efficiency. It’s a blend that forms the foundation of the Northeast Su…

Perched on the banks of the Connecticut River and a stone’s throw from Vermont rests the town of Hanover, New Hampshire. With an Ivy League college, a hospital and the Appalachian Trail all finding their place in or their way through th…

Mom was right. Her admonition to “turn out the lights when you leave the room” is as valid today as it was a generation ago. And yet many condominiums today, while energy-conscious in so many ways, seem to feel it’s better to jus…