Manhattan School of Music celebrates significant energy savings
NEW YORK - The Manhattan School of Music is celebrating the success of recent energy efficiency measures, made possible with the help of Con Edison.
Art deco appeal gleams throughout the building, reminding students of greatness. In recent years, though, as energy rates rose and emission reduction deadlines loomed, calculating the building's future was not adding up.
"We knew what our benchmarks were, and we knew what our targets had to be, and we knew that we were not there yet," said Bryan Greaney, MSM's associate vice president of Facilities and Campus Safety.
The MSM team got to work installing LED lighting and occupancy sensors everywhere and upgrading the HVAC and humidity controls and condenser systems. Altogether, the school made a $1 million investment, half of which Con Ed subsidized with incentivized support.
"It makes it more affordable and easier for buildings to increase their energy efficiency and really transition towards that clean energy future," said Charles Tannous, ConEd's Midstream Efficiencies project manager.
Within a year of the project's completion, MSM has reduced its energy consumption by the equivalent of what it takes to power 96 homes.
"We're going down over 700,000 kilowatt hours per year throughout this building, which equates to about $140,000 annually," Greaney said. "It did end up working out much more favorably than we were originally expecting."
One of the most impactful changes for students happened here in the practice rooms, where the walls have transformed to allow them to record in what sounds like a normal room or in a cathedral or arena.
Sophomore Classical Voice student Evelyn Lehmann can feel the effect in every aspect of her educational environment.
"It sets such a good example for us as students," Lehmann said. "We're all artists, but we're also people and we live in this community. Not to mention, money can go back into programs, it can go back into making our performances even better, and I think overall it's an amazing thing."
While the school is still working to reduce their reliance on natural gas and replace the heat pumps, administrators are happy they started somewhere.
"Even if it's not a situation where you can do it all at once, finding those opportunities to do even smaller projects can reap really great benefits," Greaney said.
The school's upgrades are in an effort to comply with Local Law 97.
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