Jolt of Reality: What It Takes for One Brooklyn Co-op Building to Electrify

The saga of a Brooklyn Heights co-op building’s switching from oil to electric heat tells both a success story and a cautionary tale about what it takes to reinvent a century-old residence for a greener new era.

Kathryn DeFehr, an architect who lives in the 20-apartment Hicks Street building, was the driving force for the project that’s been four years in the making. On an early April morning, the construction crew had finally hit her home.

Her living room was draped in plastic sheets. A team over two days installed heat pumps in her unit, conferring with her every so often about precise placement of the equipment.

“It’s been a long process,” said DeFehr, whose windows were open to provide relief from the stuffy heat she couldn’t regulate.

Soon electric heat pumps will provide heating and cooling for every apartment. The water heater will also run on electricity, and Con Ed will perform electric upgrades to bring more power to the building, which is also getting structural repairs. DeFehr expects the work to be done by the summer, just in time for the residents to take advantage of the cooling.

The complex project is happening thanks to a confluence of legwork and luck: professionals on the board, like DeFehr, had the know-how to navigate the process; the timing was such that the board could take advantage of a generous rebate program; and the contractor doing the job gave them a deal.

The work at the Hicks Street building shows how transitioning to electric heating from fossil fuels can require considerable time, financial resources and technical expertise.

The daunting renovation is one that thousands of other buildings in the city may be considering as a deadline draws closer to comply with a city climate rule , known as Local Law 97. Under that legislation, buildings — the largest source of planet-warming, air-polluting emissions in New York City — of over 25,000 square feet must reduce their carbon output or face fines. And beyond that mandate, experts say converting fossil fuel-reliant buildings to electric is key to meet statewide climate goals.

Bold Leap

The co-op building’s oil-burning boiler was about 50 years old, nearing the end of its life, and needed to be replaced. The board had discussed upgrading to gas, but DeFehr convinced them otherwise and helped walk them through how the new electric technology would work.

“I’m kind of an eco-warrior. I didn’t want to upgrade to gas, to another fossil fuel,” she said. “Now we’re leapfrogging to heat pumps.”

Heat pumps are more efficient than window air-conditioning units and boilers, which burn fossil fuels on site to produce heat. The devices work by pulling warmth in from the air or ground outside to heat a space and essentially do the reverse for cooling.

When board conversations about replacing the boiler began in 2020, it wasn’t clear if the building would even be subject to Local Law 97. But it is , and without changes, it faces annual penalties of about $13,400 starting in 2030. DeFehr said she feared if the board converted to gas, they’d have to level up once again to electric in order to comply with the law.

Mary Ann Rothman, executive director of Council of New York Cooperatives and Condominiums, has tried to encourage buildings to plan projects with Local Law 97 compliance in mind. For her, the Brooklyn Heights building is an example of doing just that.

“It’s always hardest for the pioneers,” she said. “Now that they’ve bitten the bullet once they do this upgrade, they will probably be in fine shape for Local Law 97 for a long time.”

When the boiler comes out, the building will not only slash its emissions, but shareholders will save approximately $50,000 annually spent on heating oil. Once the heat pumps are operational, each apartment will pay for its own heat as part of its electric bill, rather than sharing a payment for everyone’s heat.

“The main obstacle is financial for anyone doing this, but in the long run it’s going to save us money,” DeFehr said.

Hard Math

In all, the job costs about $900,000. Tom Esposito, president of VRF Solutions, the company doing the work, said the price should have really cost over $1 million, but he was able to secure “preferential pricing.”

The board expects to receive over $200,000 worth of rebates from Con Ed, contingent on decommissioning the boiler. That pencils out to a net cost of between $30,000 to $40,000 for each apartment.

The board decided to finance half the costs — increasing maintenance fees to pay for that — and shareholders each cover the other half of their unit’s costs up front, with options to finance if they need. The building’s lender didn’t allow the board to get outside financing. Instead, the co-op corporation had to get a second loan from the lender.

“It was a little complicated to work all the numbers out,” said board treasurer Greg Wiske, who works in finance and coordinated how the Hicks Street building would pay for the project. “Although there’s never an ideal time to spend that much money, we figured we should do it now.”

Esposito, whose company has worked to electrify heating in several buildings around the city, said that cash-related barriers tend to restrict what kinds of multi-family buildings can make the transition from fossil fuels to electric heat pumps.

“The buildings that are more well-heeled and have their financing in place and have gotten educated on the technology go much quicker than folks that are just learning,” he said. “Some projects fail because of financing. Some of the folks that need it the most can’t get it.”

That’s a problem coming home to roost. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York estimated there are 1.3 million apartments in buildings with five to 50 units statewide that are heated with fossil fuel equipment nearing the end of its life. (Buildings of that size make up over 20% of the housing stock in New York City.)

“That’s a lot of buildings that need to convert in order for the state to meet and the city to meet their goals,” said Claire Kramer Mills, director of community development analysis at the New York Fed.

Those buildings are particularly hard to electrify, in part because they are home to mostly low- and moderate-income tenants or may be rent-regulated with limited cash flow.

And costs go beyond electric heating equipment. Of the nearly 40,000 projects installed with Con Ed incentives across the state, only about 1% have been in buildings with five units or more, according to the utility company.

“It’s important for funding to be prioritized to support elements of electrification that are not necessarily visible, like new service connections, asbestos and mold remediation, master service panels, supporting central equipment,” said Daphany Rose Sanchez, executive director of Kinetic Communities Consulting, a firm helping buildings lock down financing for energy projects.

“These are the hidden costs we need to start talking about and make sure we can support buildings in New York City to get it done.”

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