A five-story co-op at 350-352-354 West 12th  Street in the West Village has completely  eliminated the carbon footprint of its three  contiguous landmark buildings.  

 

Led by VRF Solutions LLC, a design-build  mechanical contractor, the project entailed the  installation of cutting-edge air source heating,  air-conditioning, and hot water systems. 

 

The new mechanical systems will effectively  decarbonize the buildings, bringing them into  compliance with the Climate Mobilization Act  (CMA), passed in 2019. Also known as Local  Law 97, it mandates the decarbonization and  electrification of New York City’s fossil fuel based building infrastructure. Starting in 2024,  the city will be imposing penalties based on a  building’s carbon footprint.  

 

“These are 158-year-old, landmark buildings  featuring time-honored architectural details  that are lovely to look at, but not energy efficient by today’s standards,” said VRF President Tom Esposito. “With the retrofit of the  heating, air-conditioning, and domestic hot  water infrastructure, the buildings are not  only more comfortable, but they are also able  to meet critical environmental standards and  help the co-op avoid significant carbon penal ties from the city.” 

 

The benefits of the work include: + Individual temperature control for improved   occupant comfort 

+ Improved indoor air quality (IAQ) 

+ Decarbonization 

+ Reduced operation and maintenance costs + Increased property values 

The 42-unit co-op was able to complete the  work in less than a year because VRF Solutions provided a comprehensive design-build  program that handled all of the project’s  engineering, permit expediting, procurement,  contracting, and commissioning work.  

 

Tom added,  “In the time it would have taken other co-ops  to conduct a preliminary study and explore  how to approach a project like this, VRF delivered the finished project. Because we do all  the work in-house, our ability to value-engineer and execute on our client’s decarbonization and electrification projects takes half the  time and is less expensive than the conventional approach.”