Browsing by Author "Chameides, William"

Now showing 1 - 8 of 8

Open Access
Analysis and Recommendation of Energy Efficiency Upgrades in New York City's Upper West Side
(2012-04-25) Martin, Emily; Corsetti, Nicholas; Rigel, Adam; Shao, Xiao; Zaheer, Azhar
New York’s Upper West Side Side composes of hundreds of housing cooperative (co-op) apartment buildings using No. 6 oil as their primary heating fuel. The use of No. 6 oil in less than 1% of the building stock citywide provided 86% of heating fuel related soot emissions for all of New York City. As a result, New York implemented a ban on No. 6 oil effective in 2015. Additionally, since a majority of these co-ops were built before World War II, these co-ops provide an opportunity to implement energy efficiency upgrades that reduce operating costs while improving air quality and reducing carbon footprint. Our analysis features a financial and emissions inventory model for switching from No. 6 oil to cleaner fuels. The volatility of fuel and natural gas prices plays a role in shaping our final recommendations. We show that short payback periods due to significant cost savings make the switch to cleaner fuels economically viable today. Additionally, we provide recommendations for a variety of other energy efficiency upgrades and retrofits that co-ops can integrate into their buildings as well as suggest mechanisms for their increased adoption. We also discuss the barriers to the adoption of many of these upgrades and technologies and suggest ways to overcome them.
Open Access
Analysis and Recommendation of Energy Efficiency Upgrades in New York City's Upper West Side: A Comprehensive Guide for Residential Upper West Side Cooperative Buildings
(2012-04-25) Rigel, Adam; Shao, Xiao; Martin, Emily; Zaheer, Azhar; Corsetti, Nicholas
New York City’s Upper West Side is composed of hundreds of housing cooperative (co-op) apartment buildings using No. 6 oil as their primary heating fuel. The use of No. 6 oil in less than 1% of the building stock citywide provided 86% of heating fuel related soot emissions for all of New York City. As a result, New York implemented a ban on No. 6 oil effective in 2015. Additionally, since a majority of these co-ops were built before World War II, these co-ops provide an opportunity to implement energy efficiency upgrades that reduce operating costs while improving air quality and reducing carbon footprint. Our analysis features a financial and emissions inventory model for switching from No. 6 oil to cleaner fuels. The volatility of fuel and natural gas prices plays a role in shaping our final recommendations. We show that short payback periods due to significant cost savings make the switch to cleaner fuels economically viable today. Additionally, we provide recommendations for a variety of other energy efficiency upgrades and retrofits that co-ops can integrate into their buildings as well as suggest mechanisms for their increased adoption. We also discuss the barriers to the adoption of many of these upgrades and technologies and suggest ways to overcome them.
Open Access
Analysis and Recommendation of Energy Efficiency Upgrades in New York City’s Upper West Side
(2012-04-24) Shao, Xiao; Corsetti, Nicholas; Martin, Emily; Rigel, Adam; Zaheer, Azhar
New York’s Upper West Side composes of hundreds of housing cooperative (co-op) apartment buildings using No. 6 oil as their primary heating fuel. The use of No. 6 oil in less than 1% of the building stock citywide provided 86% of heating fuel related soot emissions for all of New York City. As a result, New York implemented a ban on No. 6 oil effective in 2015. Additionally, since a majority of these co-ops were built before World War II, these co-ops provide an opportunity to implement energy efficiency upgrades that reduce operating costs while improving air quality and reducing carbon footprint. Our analysis features a financial and emissions inventory model for switching from No. 6 oil to cleaner fuels. The volatility of fuel and natural gas prices plays a role in shaping our final recommendations. We show that short payback periods due to significant cost savings make the switch to cleaner fuels economically viable today. Additionally, we provide recommendations for a variety of other energy efficiency upgrades and retrofits that co-ops can integrate into their buildings as well as suggest mechanisms for their increased adoption. We also discuss the barriers to the adoption of many of these upgrades and technologies and suggest ways to overcome them.
Open Access
Analysis and Recommendation of Energy Efficiency Upgrades in New York City’s Upper West Side
(2012-04-26) Martin, Emily; Corsetti, Nicholas; Shao, Xiao; Rigel, Adam; Zaheer, Azhar
New York City’s Upper West Side is composed of hundreds of housing cooperative (co-op) apartment buildings using No. 6 oil as their primary heating fuel. The use of No. 6 oil in less than 1% of the building stock citywide provided 86% of heating fuel related soot emissions for all of New York City. As a result, New York implemented a ban on No. 6 oil effective in 2015. Additionally, since a majority of these co-ops were built before World War II, these co-ops provide an opportunity to implement energy efficiency upgrades that reduce operating costs while improving air quality and reducing carbon footprint. Our analysis features a financial and emissions inventory model for switching from No. 6 oil to cleaner fuels. The volatility of fuel and natural gas prices plays a role in shaping our final recommendations. We show that short payback periods due to significant cost savings make the switch to cleaner fuels economically viable today. Additionally, we provide recommendations for a variety of other energy efficiency upgrades and retrofits that co-ops can integrate into their buildings as well as suggest mechanisms for their increased adoption. We also discuss the barriers to the adoption of many of these upgrades and technologies and suggest ways to overcome them.
Open Access
Analysis and Recommendation of Energy Efficiency Upgrades in New York City’s Upper West Side: A comprehensive guide for residential Upper West Side cooperative buildings
(2012-04-25) Corsetti, Nicholas; Martin, Emily; Rigel, Adam; Shao, Xiao; Zaheer, Azhar
New York’s Upper West Side composes of hundreds of housing cooperative (co-op) apartment buildings using No. 6 oil as their primary heating fuel. The use of No. 6 oil in less than 1% of the building stock citywide provided 86% of heating fuel related soot emissions for all of New York City. As a result, New York implemented a ban on No. 6 oil effective in 2015. Additionally, since a majority of these co-ops were built before World War II, these co-ops provide an opportunity to implement energy efficiency upgrades that reduce operating costs while improving air quality and reducing carbon footprint. Our analysis features a financial and emissions inventory model for switching from No. 6 oil to cleaner fuels. The volatility of fuel and natural gas prices plays a role in shaping our final recommendations. We show that short payback periods due to significant cost savings make the switch to cleaner fuels economically viable today. Additionally, we provide recommendations for a variety of other energy efficiency upgrades and retrofits that co-ops can integrate into their buildings as well as suggest mechanisms for their increased adoption. We also discuss the barriers to the adoption of many of these upgrades and technologies and suggest ways to overcome them.
Open Access
Challenges and Opportunities in Supply Chain Environmental Sustainability Disclosure: Navigating the Request-Response Process between Stakeholders and Suppliers
(2013-04-26) Jiang, Lin; Lab, Jessica; Lai, Phillip; Qian, Yifei; Rau, Peter
Environmental sustainability is growing in importance to organizations in many different sectors. The need to account for suppliers’ environmental performance through sustainability surveys is taking up a greater portion of the daily job responsibilities of sustainability professionals. This report incorporates insights from interviews with 15 organizations across multiple industries that address the current challenges and opportunities confronting those in the sustainability supply chain disclosure process. In addition, we analyze 31 collected sustainability surveys based on four survey-level characteristics (survey level, type, purpose and industry) and on four question-level characteristics (question format, nature, topic and subtopic). The resulting data show that, while it would be difficult to establish a single common survey or set of questions, opportunities exist for the standardization of question wording and format, which would constitute a step towards reducing the amount of time that organizations spend on responding to surveys. This report provides a roadmap for taking this project forward based on these results, centering on the creation of a web-based platform containing a repository of standard-worded and formatted questions covering a broad range of environmental topics. Using this platform, organizations could select questions to send to their suppliers based on their own preferences, while suppliers could reduce the amount of time spent on responding to survey requests. This establishes a path forward in supply chain sustainability disclosure, with the potential to reduce systemic inefficiencies and redundancies in this process.
Open Access
Gamification for Behavior Change of Occupants in Campus Buildings to Affect Improved Energy Efficiency
(2014-04-23) Du, Jing; Feng, Yue; Zhou, Changchang
In 2012, 40% of total U.S. energy consumption was attributed to residential and commercial buildings. However, in order to improve building energy efficiency, most conservation measures adopted today are based on technologies or maintenance. In this project, we worked with Smart Green Institute to develop behavior-based energy saving measures, which are more cost effective and have fewer installation constraints. After selecting two campus buildings-Old Chemistry and Rubenstein Hall- for our case study, we analyzed the building utility and expense data from 2005 to 2013 to explore the consumption and expenditure trends, and figured out the relatively elastic and changeable energy sources to focus on. Then we conducted survey to occupants of the two buildings to study their consciousness of building energy conservation and awareness of gamification. Based on the study of building data and occupants’ behavior, we proposed a tailored gamified energy conservation plan using the Behavioral Change Gamification Model.
Open Access
Policy Options for Reducing Natural Gas Leaks in Massachusetts
(2014-04-25) Smith, Becky
Massachusetts’ natural gas distribution systems – pipes delivering gas for fuel into homes and businesses – are leaking large quantities of gas due to aging and crumbling infrastructure – primarily pipes made of the outdated materials cast iron and unprotected steel. This is problematic in several ways. First, public safety is at risk from explosions and fires from the leaked gas; second, uncombusted methane in natural gas is a more potent global warming gas than carbon dioxide – contributing to climate change; and third, ratepayers bear the cost of the lost gas, as well as the costs of publicly- and privately-owned trees and shrubs that are harmed by soil health damage near the leaks. This master’s project explores actions being taken or considered in Massachusetts and in states with similar gas infrastructure to reduce natural gas leaks, and includes recommendations to achieve further reductions. A comparative case study approach was used to examine Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New York, and federal policy activity. Methods for the case studies included examination of publicly-available materials as well as interviews with individuals from different areas of expertise or leadership with respect to gas distribution systems. Findings indicate that there is no single, simple, or inexpensive solution to eliminating gas leaks from old, leak-prone infrastructure, but that a combination of approaches from the multiple states studied may lead to reductions in gas loss if implemented in Massachusetts. Recommendations include: adoption of consistent measurement and reporting criteria for lost gas from all utilities as modeled by Pennsylvania’s 2013 regulations revisions; creation or expansion of incentives for utilities to reduce leakage such as New York’s innovative benchmark and profit incentive for utilities alongside the federally proposed state revolving loan fund model for capital investments in system upgrade costs; and incorporation of the value of avoided environmental damage into all cost benefit analyses for aging pipeline repair and replacement. Finally, caution is needed in any new regulation or practice adopted to be assured that repair and replacement investments are served, and funding not redirected for additional natural gas capacity, keeping in mind that overreliance on any single fuel could prove a foolish gamble.