Page 10 - NY Cooperator September 2020

10 THE COOPERATOR — SEPTEMBER 2020 COOPERATOR.COM Providing a Full Range of Architectural & Engineering Services In-house professional expertise in: Exterior Restoration & Historic Preservation Construction Inspection Alteration Review Architectural Design Engineering: n Mechanica l n Electrical n Plumbing n Structural Energy Audits Forensic Investigation Façade Safety Inspection Program Reporting Green Design – LEED Professionals Client satisfaction assured by the active daily involvement of the firm’s principals www.lawlessmangione.com info@lawlessmangione.com 914.423.8844 ARCHITECTURE & ENGINEERING SERVICES: - Structural - MEP - Interior Design BUILDING ENVELOPE / RESTORATION / FACADE INSPECTION SAFETY PROGRAMS CONSTRUCTION DEFECT TESTING / INVESTIGATION ENERGY CONSULTING FORENSIC TESTING / LITIGATION SUPPORT NYC SPECIAL INSPECTIONS 5 YEAR CAPITAL PLANNING 350 7th Avenue, Suite 2000 New York, NY 10001 (646) 292 - 3515 info@falconengineering.com www.falconengineering.com ENGINEERS, ARCHITECTS AND ENERGY CONSULTANTS tomated systems have the added benefi t of being touchless, making them helpful in the context of the pandemic by reducing the spread of coronavirus. Another energy fi x that is sure to please any owner or shareholder in a building heated by steam radiators (as much of New York’s, Boston’s, and Chicago’s housing stock is) is a new product called Th e Cozy. Designed in New York City and manufac- tured in the U.S., Th e Cozy is an energy so- lution that, if implemented building-wide, can reduce heating costs up to 45%, based on a 2018 NYSERDA study. Using new technology called the thermostatic radia- tor enclosure (TRE)—an insulating cover that is installed over existing radiators and includes a temperature-sensing system as well as a small fan—a desired temperature can be set either in a centralized system controlled by management or by individual users via mobile app, computer, or on- board controls. If a room falls below the set temperature, the fan turns on to circulate warm air until the desired temperature is reached. While the fan is off , the insulating cover traps heat, allowing the room to stay comfortable. Adam Farber of MG Engineering in New York indicates that, like any function- ing system, for these automated systems to work, compliance is key. If you’re going to spend the time and money upgrading to automatic controls in your building, he says, they have to be used properly. “If the lights are set to stay off in the basement, but the maintenance worker on the night shift overrides the controls because he doesn’t want to enter a dark room in the middle of the night, then it’s not being used to its po- tential,” he says in a recent webinar on the subject. Both Farber and Plichta therefore maintain that optimizing controls build- ing-wide requires signifi cant buy-in from both staff and residents. Let ‘Em In Th e retrofi ts with the biggest impact on energy effi ciency and emissions reductions involve building-wide upgrades that may require access to individual units. (More on this topic in the next installment.) Perhaps the simplest thing that every unit owner or shareholder in a multifamily building or community can do to achieve energy ef- fi ciency is to be reasonable about granting access to the unit when management or its hired professionals are conducting assess- ments or implementing upgrades. While it may take a concerted communication and education eff ort on the part of the board and management, resident participation and compliance are key to the success of any energy initiative. n Darcey Gerstein is Associate Editor and Staff Writer for Th e Cooperator. MULTIFAMILY... continued from page 2 airborne transmission. Th at happens when virus particles contained in smaller drop- lets don’t quickly settle out and fall to the ground within six feet of the carrier who expelled them, and instead hang in the air and drift around on currents—posing a threat to anyone who happens to walk through one of those currents. Airborne transmission is thought to have been a factor in the coronavirus’s spread among members of a vocal choir in Washington state, through an apartment building in Hong Kong, and in a restaurant in Wuhan, China. Drawing on what we know about how tuberculosis—another deadly airborne disease—is spread, Dr. Edward Nardel, an infectious disease expert affi liated with Harvard University, suggested recently in an interview for Th e Harvard Gazette that air conditioning use across the southern U.S. may well be a factor in that region’s recent surging COVID-19 cases. But while expert consensus is that HVAC equipment does have the capacity to spread the virus, questions of what exactly to do about that remain. What precautions can we take to protect ourselves? One facts-based option to make air conditioning systems safer is to use high- effi ciency fi lters to essentially strain dan- gerous contaminants out of the air before they get to anyone’s lungs. Peter Catapano, a mechanical engineer with O & S Asso- ciates, a national engineering fi rm based in Hackensack, New Jersey, says the an- swer lies in high-effi ciency particulate air (HEPA) fi lters, an existing technology cur- rently used in all kinds of medical facilities to fi lter out many bacterial, fugal, and viral particles. HEPA technology is benefi cial in both common areas and private apartment set- tings where HVAC systems are active—ba- sically anywhere a large fi ltration system uses ducts to move air from place to place. As to individual window or through-wall air conditioning units, there doesn’t appear to be any consensus at this time on how— or even whether—they help spread CO- VID-19. Th at said, common sense would indicate that if a person or persons were carrying the virus, and were congregated in an enclosed room cooled by an individ- ual unit, the circulating air currents could potentially propel viral bodies around the space, making it more likely that someone would inhale them and themselves be- come infected. UV vs. COVID Nardel also suggests in the same article that ultraviolet (UV) lights—which have been used for decades to sterilize the air of tuberculosis bacteria—could be used against the coronavirus. Catapano agrees, but with some caveats. “Scientifi cally, and through testing, ultraviolet light does kill SECURING AIR... continued from page 1