Invest in Long Island’s Energy Efficient Future

By: Paul R. Lageraaen, P.E., P.G. | Senior Vice President & Energy Market Director
Michael Rubino | Deputy Energy Market Director

This article originally appeared in the “Energy on Long Island” special section of Long Island Business News on August 6.

Long Island’s building owners and facility managers are facing growing pressure to control operating costs while maintaining comfortable, reliable, and resilient environments for occupants. As utility costs continue to rise and New York advances its clean energy goals, property owners are looking for ways to reduce energy consumption without compromising building performance. Many facilities, however, continue to operate with aging equipment and controls and inefficient building envelopes, resulting in unnecessary energy use and elevated operating costs.

While renewable energy often dominates the sustainability conversation, the most immediate and cost-effective opportunities lie in energy efficiency. By identifying inefficiencies and implementing engineered solutions, Long Island property owners can reduce energy consumption, meet state climate goals, improve user comfort, and position their facilities for long-term success.

Strengthen your building’s thermal envelope. A building’s thermal envelope serves as the first line of defense against energy inefficiency, separating conditioned indoor spaces from outdoor environmental conditions. Components such as insulation, exterior walls, roofing systems, windows, doors, and air barriers all work together to limit unwanted heat transfer and air infiltration. When these elements perform effectively, buildings are better able to maintain stable indoor temperatures throughout the year, reducing cycling of heating and cooling equipment and lowering overall energy consumption.

In many existing buildings, gaps in insulation, aging windows, and uncontrolled air leakage can cause conditioned air to escape and allow outdoor air to enter. Improvements such as air sealing, insulation upgrades, and high-performance window systems can significantly enhance building performance while supporting long-term energy savings. While tighter building envelopes generally improve efficiency, they should be balanced with properly designed ventilation systems to maintain healthy indoor air quality and ensure adequate fresh air circulation.

Replace systems with high-efficiency improvements. Building system efficiency improvements involve replacing fossil fuel-fired equipment with high-efficiency electric alternatives, such as upgrading conventional boilers, furnaces, and water heaters to electric heat pump technologies capable of providing heating, cooling, and domestic hot water. Beyond reducing greenhouse gas emissions, electrification can improve system efficiency and simplify building operations. Modern electric systems frequently require less maintenance than aging combustion equipment and can integrate more easily with renewable energy technologies and future grid modernization efforts. However, system upgrades are most effective when paired with energy efficiency improvements such as insulation, air sealing, and controls upgrades.

Implement building management systems. Building management systems (BMS) provide facility owners and operators with the ability to monitor, control, and optimize energy-consuming building systems from a centralized platform. These systems can manage HVAC equipment, lighting, ventilation systems, occupancy schedules, and other critical building functions in real time.

One of the most significant benefits of a BMS is its ability to eliminate unnecessary energy use. For example, HVAC systems can be programmed to operate according to occupancy schedules rather than running continuously, while lighting controls can automatically adjust based on occupancy levels or available daylight. More advanced systems can provide fault detection, trend analysis, and energy reporting capabilities that help facility staff identify underperforming equipment and operational inefficiencies before they become costly problems. As a result, building management systems not only reduce energy consumption but also improve occupant comfort, support preventative maintenance efforts, and extend the useful life of critical building infrastructure.

The first step on most energy efficiency projects is to determine a facility’s current energy usage through a comprehensive energy assessment. For commercial property owners, PSEG Long Island provides cost-sharing investments for energy assessment through its Commercial Efficiency Program, as well as commercial rebates for everything from building weatherization to heating and refrigeration upgrades to new energy-efficient equipment.

Different building types have different needs. Hospitals and public safety facilities, for example, require a steady, uninterrupted supply of power 24/7, plus redundancies to ensure that the facility can remain operational in the event of electrical infrastructure failure. Businesses with regular working hours, such as retailers, are far less likely to have these needs. Therefore, it is imperative for property owners and managers to consult with energy efficiency consultants like those at H2M architects + engineers to determine which sustainable solutions are the best fit.

H2M’s dedicated team of energy professionals have the expertise to perform ASHRAE Level 1, 2, and 3 energy audits, as well as develop ENERGY STAR-aligned building solutions under the guidance of LEED-accredited Certified Energy Managers. H2M’s multidisciplinary approach — integrating engineering, architecture, and related disciplines under one roof — helps minimize reliance on outside subconsultants, streamline project coordination, and foster a more comprehensive planning process at every project stage.

Energy efficiency techniques and technologies can help property owners reduce energy costs and meet government regulations. Working with an energy efficiency consultant like H2M can help ensure you implement the right energy-saving strategies to bring your facility into a cleaner, more cost-effective, and more sustainable future.