Existing Building Decarbonization
Our Decarbonization team works to transform existing buildings by working with owners, design teams, operators, funders, communities, energy efficiency and other programs to pursue practical strategies for decreasing greenhouse gas emissions while addressing resiliency and tenant health risks at every opportunity.
Tracking, benchmarking, and reducing the emissions associated with existing buildings is critical to mitigating the negative impacts of climate change. Our goal is to ensure that decarbonization measures are effectively designed and constructed, and that future operation and maintenance costs and needs have been addressed.
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A Zero Over Time (ZOT) plan provides an approach for both short and long-term upgrades. This approach is often used for buildings that are years away from a re-financing event but must comply with local or state building energy performance standards (BEPS) – or- that simply need a logical plan for sequencing upgrades at a pace they can manage. The work entails a wholistic review of a building’s operational history, envelope, equipment life and condition, an owner’s goals, and more. New Ecology works with owners to ensure sound decision making around upgrades and improvements that are aligned with goals, regulations, and support the critical next step of applying for funding/financing.
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A Deep Energy Retrofit (DER) leverages investments made during a building refinance and rehabilitation process to achieve significant energy load reduction, carbon emissions mitigation, and improved resiliency, health, and comfort.
The team at New Ecology facilitates DER projects through building assessment and preliminary scope development and funding/financing opportunity evaluation.
Projects typically follow one of two approaches:
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New Ecology developed a resiliency assessment protocol to complement our energy and water audits. The assessment provides concrete, actionable recommendations to enable owners and developers of existing buildings to make improvements to resist damage from severe weather and to bounce back more quickly should damage occur. We have also incorporated planning for resilience into our design review process, applying our expertise in resilience in existing buildings to the design of new buildings.
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The LEAN Multifamily program identifies, scopes, and delivers cost-effective energy efficiency measures for affordable multifamily housing across Massachusetts, including electrification & weatherization. The entire process is managed by the program to ensure high-quality work and energy efficiency equity for disadvantaged communities. New Ecology acts as an owner’s representative for buildings going through the program, providing the expertise required to manage an energy efficiency design-build project.
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Funded by the City of Cambridge, Electrify Cambridge provides no-cost technical assistance and decarbonization plans to Cambridge residents who are interested in energy efficiency and electrification of their buildings but aren’t sure where to start.
Services and Programs:
