NYC Office Space Tips to Reduce Your Energy Bill

Below are helpful cost saving tips for NYC office space tenants to save money on their utility bills. Whether your lease is short or long term, the benefits of reducing energy use in your NYC office space are significant. It is best to contact a professional real estate rental broker in New York City who can tell you why these tips are important to consider before signing or renewing a lease.

A NYC real estate broker can help you find newly constructed and/or retrofitted LEED office space

It’s no secret that the majority of NYC office space building stock is old. With such a vast number of buildings built before “green” even became a buzzword for sustainability, it’s also no wonder that after salaries and real estate taxes, a business’s biggest cost is its utility bill.

Still, an increasing number of older NYC commercial office spaces are being retrofitted by landlords seeking to save money in the long run through green building techniques and certifications. LEED is the national green building certification standard for both retrofits and new developments.

Several LEED certified commercial office buildings already exist in the city (Bank of America Tower, The Hearst Tower, 11 Penn Plaza), and some real estate developers are even constructing zero-energy buildings. Knowing where to look for LEED commercial office space, retrofitted office space, and landlords in the process of retrofitting older office buildings is a time-consuming task. Contact a professional licensed real estate broker to start your property search for “green” space.

Ask a licensed real estate broker to discuss tenant incentive programs for NYC office space

Con Edison, New York City’s gas and electric utility company, offers residential and NYC office space tenants incentive programs to save money through energy reduction building investments. See the list below and contact a licensed real estate broker who will explain how to integrate these programs into the rental lease or lease renewal negotiations with the landlord:.

• Con Edison Commercial and Industrial Energy Efficiency Program—for directly metered tenants who can save money by installing a variety of equipment and/or systems, including less burdensome installations like lighting and energy efficiency studies.
• Con Edison Central Air-Conditioning Program—a free thermostat device that allows you to control the temperature of the building over the internet both remotely and manually—perfect before energy demand spikes in the summer.
• Con Edison Demand Response System—a service provided by Con Ed that handles energy usage through programs to save costs during high-use months.
• Con Edison Small Business Direct Installation Program—great for small tenants seeking expert analysis of their energy use through this free energy survey, installation and rebate program.
• Energy Cost Savings Program (ECSP)—ideal for commercial tenants moving from outside of Manhattan who are relocating to a new space above 96th Street, this program saves participants up to 40% on regulated heat and energy use. Hop on this program soon considering the up-and-coming commercial real estate market of Harlem

The tips and programs mentioned above illustrate the cost saving possibilities that NYC office space tenants have to save money on their utility bills. For further information on finding green space and understanding tenant incentive programs, contact a professional real estate leasing agent at Metro Manhattan today.