It takes a lot of energy to heat and cool Hebrew Home of Riverdale’s 32-acre campus on Hudson River in the Bronx, NY. When it came time to replace aging equipment — some buildings are well over 100 years old — in 2015 with an efficient and cost-effective system, the organization began looking at cogeneration, Daniel A. Reingold, MSW, JD, president and CEO of RiverSpring Living, told the McKnight’s Business Daily.
Fueled by natural gas, the cogeneration, or “cogen,” plant — which Reigngold said takes up the space of “about two shipping containers” — recovers otherwise wasted thermal energy for heating and cooling. The organization is the first official long-term care facility in the United States to have its own cogeneration plant, the Riverdale Press reported.
Reingold said that the company obtained a $2.5 million grant from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority to help finance the project. The rest of the funds, approximately $14 million, came from a 10-year loan from Green Bank, he said.
Initial estimates said that the cogen system, completed in 2020, would save $1.2 million a year. The savings are much higher than that, however, Reingold said, as costs for traditional sources of energy have skyrocketed.
“No one predicted five years ago that inflation would hit 9%,” he said.
Reingold said that the annual savings are approximately equal to or greater than what the campus would have paid for a traditional heating, ventilation and air conditioning system.
The best part of the cogen system, Reingold believes, is that it takes some of the worry out of caring for residents.
In addition to cogen being efficient, HVAC is often unseen and not appreciated until it doesn’t work. Having an efficient cogen plant assures residents and staff of a reliable, comfortable environment which affects resident care and quality of life,” he said.
If the cogen system were to fail, the campus has a backup generator, as required by law, that would kick in, Reingold said.
It takes a lot of energy to heat and cool Hebrew Home of Riverdale’s 32-acre campus on Hudson River in the Bronx, NY. When it came time to replace aging equipment — some buildings are well over 100 years old — in 2015 with an efficient and cost-effective system, the organization began looking at cogeneration, Daniel A. Reingold, MSW, JD, president and CEO of RiverSpring Living, told the McKnight’s Business Daily.
Fueled by natural gas, the cogeneration, or “cogen,” plant — which Reigngold said takes up the space of “about two shipping containers” — recovers otherwise wasted thermal energy for heating and cooling. The organization is the first official long-term care facility in the United States to have its own cogeneration plant, the Riverdale Press reported.
Reingold said that the company obtained a $2.5 million grant from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority to help finance the project. The rest of the funds, approximately $14 million, came from a 10-year loan from Green Bank, he said.
Initial estimates said that the cogen system, completed in 2020, would save $1.2 million a year. The savings are much higher than that, however, Reingold said, as costs for traditional sources of energy have skyrocketed.
“No one predicted five years ago that inflation would hit 9%,” he said.
Reingold said that the annual savings are approximately equal to or greater than what the campus would have paid for a traditional heating, ventilation and air conditioning system.
The best part of the cogen system, Reingold believes, is that it takes some of the worry out of caring for residents.
In addition to cogen being efficient, HVAC is often unseen and not appreciated until it doesn’t work. Having an efficient cogen plant assures residents and staff of a reliable, comfortable environment which affects resident care and quality of life,” he said.
If the cogen system were to fail, the campus has a backup generator, as required by law, that would kick in, Reingold said.
