Case Study

Whitney Young Manor

Recapitalization to achieve carbon neutral affordable housing

Project Highlights

Investment

12 million

of total investment allocated to bring Whitney Young Manor to carbon neutrality by 2035.

Project Scale

Project has potential replication across a portfolio of 51 existing affordable housing developments managed by Paths.

Testimonial

“The Empire Building Challenge is enabling Paths to pilot innovative approaches to decarbonization while at the same time helping to preserve affordable housing.”

Kenneth Spillberg

Head of Development

Paths Development LLC

Emissions Reductions

This project prioritizes intensive load reduction through envelope improvements and hydronic distribution to improve resident comfort while reducing carbon emissions, utility spend and maintenance costs.

Step 1

Step 1: Examine Current Conditions

A baseline assessment is key to understanding current systems and performance, then identifying conditions, requirements or events that will trigger a decarbonization effort. The assessment looks across technical systems, asset strategy and sectoral factors.

Building System Conditions

Equipment nearing end-of-life
New heat source potential
Comfort improvements
Indoor air quality improvements
Facade maintenance
Resilience upgrades
Efficiency improvements

Asset Conditions

Recapitalization
Carbon emissions limits
Owner sustainability goals

Market Conditions

Technology improves
Utility prices change
Fuels phase out

Whitney Young Manor is an aging affordable housing complex with open balconies, inefficient electric resistance baseboard heating, electric wall sleeve AC units, and gas-fired domestic hot water heaters.

The project team believes that with care, planning, and the appropriate resources, retrofitting these residential buildings can better serve tenants, deliver environmental benefits, and prove financially feasible for owners. Paths leverages the recapitalization cycle of the property to upgrade its infrastructure and include decarbonization measures to meet its climate goals.

Step 2

Step 2: Design Resource Efficient Solutions

Effective engineering integrates measures for reducing energy load, recovering wasted heat, and moving towards partial or full electrification. This increases operational efficiencies, optimizes energy peaks, and avoids oversized heating systems, thus alleviating space constraints and minimizing the cost of retrofits to decarbonize the building over time.

Existing Conditions

This diagram illustrates the building prior to the initiation of Strategic Decarbonization planning by the owners and their teams.

Click through the measures under “Building After” to understand the components of the building’s energy transition.

Sequence of Measures

2024

2025

Building System Affected

heating
cooling
ventilation

EIFS over uninsulated masonry, new windows, new roof

New hydronic piping drilled through common areas

Install 2 ASHPs to produce low temperature hot water and chilled water for in-unit FCUs

For use during power outages and extreme cold events

2-Pipe Low Temperature Fan Coils installed in units

Heat pump DOAS with ERV to recover heat from exhausted air to provide tempered supply air to the corridors

Install modular WSHPs supplied by hydronic loop

Install 18,000 gal sewage tank and use Sharc Energy’s heat recovery system and water-to-water heat pump to supplement central ASHPs

Reduce Energy Load

Whitney Young Manor demonstrates the benefits of over- cladding and hydronic distribution to enable heat pump technology:

New hydronic distribution: High efficiency water-based distribution system, lower supply temperature
- The new hydronic distribution piping will enable the integration of different heating sources and allow heat sharing between end uses, such as DHW production during cooling season. The construction team plans to pilot cross-linked polyethylene (PEX) piping to reduce cost and improve durability.
Dedicated Outside Air System (DOAS): decouple ventilation from heat and cooling systems
Envelope Improvements: overclad, roof insulation and window replacement
- Over-cladding using Exterior Insulation and Finishing System (EIFS) helps reduce heat loss and air infiltration while avoiding façade maintenance costs associated with LL11. This measure is combined with the new Dedicated Outside Air System (DOAS) to make sure adequate fresh air is injected into the building.

Recover Wasted Heat

The project team plans to integrate different heat sources connected to the central hydronic piping. This includes centralized air source heat pumps, Wastewater Energy Transfer (WET) system and gas-fired condensing boilers as back-up.

Wastewater Heat Recovery: Recapture heat from wastewater using WSHP
Energy Recovery Ventilator (ERV): Recapture heat from ventilation exhaust to condition make-up air

Electrification

Central Air Source Heat Pump (ASHP): Maintain design temperatures for the hydronic loop
Water Source Heat Pump (WSHP) for Domestic Hot Water (DHW): DHW production supplied by hydronic loop
Back-up gas condensing boiler: Provide supplemental heat during cold events as resiliency

Step 3

Step 3: Build the Business Case

Making a business case for strategic decarbonization requires thinking beyond a traditional energy audit approach or simple payback analysis. It assesses business-as-usual costs and risks against the costs and added value of phased decarbonization investments in the long-term.

Decarbonization Costs

$12M

Capital costs of decarbonization measures.

Business-as-Usual Costs

$1.92M

Energy cost savings, repairs and maintenance savings, BAU cost of system replacement and upgrades.

Business-as-Usual Risks

N/A

LL97 emissions fines don’t apply at this property.

Decarbonization Value

$6.14M

Incentives from Empire Building Challenge, Low-Carbon Pathways Program, and ConEd Clean Heat.

Net Present Value

TBD

Net difference between the present value of cash inflows and outflows over a period of time.

Paths Development LLC is a division of Paths, a full-scale, vertically integrated affordable housing developer, builder, and operator. Since 2004, the Paths team has created and preserved high-quality affordable housing across the U.S. that enhances communities and helps residents build better lives. With other 12,000 units across 9 states under management and more than 300 employees, Paths manages a suite of capabilities spanning the entire property life-cycle, including: development, construction, property management, maintenance, and security.

Strategic Decarbonization Action Plan

An emissions decarbonization roadmap helps building owners visualize their future emissions reductions by outlining the CO2 reductions from selected energy conservation measures. This roadmap is designed with a phased approach, considering a 20- or 30-year timeline, and incorporates the evolving benefits of grid decarbonization, ensuring a comprehensive view of long-term environmental impact.