How do you replace 400 windows? One step at a time.

After running an energy audit on their building and reading guide­books on imple­menting energy improve­ments from the Building Energy Exchange, the board at a Jackson Heights housing coop­er­a­tive was encour­aged to see that their previous work to improve boiler oper­a­tions and install energy-effi­cient common area lighting had set their building, the Madison, on the right path. 

Now, building on those energy gains, the co-op is in the thick of plan­ning bigger capital improve­ments — namely, replacing the building’s nearly 400 windows in an effort to better seal holes in the building envelope. 

Currently, these holes act as leaks that allow heating and cooling to escape, which means the systems that produce condi­tioned air must work harder. Window upgrades would prolong the life of the building’s old boiler, which would, some­what coun­ter­in­tu­itively, make it easier for the building to switch to clean energy sources in the future, with more time to save up for a system overhaul. 

“Windows are the most effec­tive way of retaining the heat,” explained Matthew Murphey, senior account manager at Bright Power, the energy solu­tions provider that performed an energy audit on the Madison. ​“You can put in the most effi­cient system in the world, but if you have a leaky building and you’re losing all the heat that you’re producing, that’s not that effec­tive. The [building] enve­lope measures are not the sexiest project to do, and they’re very expen­sive, but they’re really, really, really effective,”said Murphey. ​“And you almost always see the highest carbon reduc­tion and really good payback in the long term.”

The board agrees that it makes sense to prior­i­tize windows. ​“Windows will save you … 20 percent off of your current carbon emis­sions,” board pres­i­dent Michael Parrella said. 

Yet according to Bright Power’s energy audit, projected costs for replacing the Madison’s windows could exceed one million dollars. The exact cost can vary based on mate­rial choices; the audit included cost esti­mates for mate­rials amidst market­place fluc­tu­a­tions, helping the share­holders proac­tively plan for unan­tic­i­pated challenges. 

“Having those numbers, we started pricing stuff even before the Ukraine war,” Parrella said. ​“New windows are aluminum, aluminum is energy, there’s lots of local volatilities.” 

There are other partic­ular consid­er­a­tions to keep in mind as well — the building’s loca­tion in the Jackson Heights Historic District means it is regu­lated by yet more city agen­cies, so even rela­tively lower cost reno­va­tions, like repairing the building’s façade, can get expen­sive. 

​“Whenever we do any façade work, we have to file with Landmarks [Preservation Committee] and get their approval. That requires an archi­tect [and] a lot of over­head processes that are expen­sive and complex,” Parrella explained. ​“It’s not as simple as, ​‘I’ll just put some stucco on there tomorrow.’” 

According to Laura Sauer, an account manager at city resource NYC Accelerator, many building owners have come to the group seeking window replace­ments, espe­cially in the last few years, as existing windows’ natural shelf lives near their end and build­ings seek compli­ance with local laws. Sauer said build­ings usually seek help for these repairs ​“out of a sense of urgency,” facing pres­sures about how they will afford replacing at times hundreds of windows. 

At the same time, the Madison’s land­mark status also has a silver lining: The state’s historic preser­va­tion tax credits — a 20 percent federal tax credit for prop­erty owners that reno­vate and improve historic prop­er­ties — are avail­able to owner-occu­pied resi­dences like the Madison. While the tax credit doesn’t cover the entirety of the costs, it does allow the building to bundle several projects for capital improve­ments and use the tax credit to get money back on them. ​“We’ve made use of that tax credit twice, and it is incred­ible,” Parrella said.

Though the window project requires careful, method­ical plan­ning and is still several years away, it remains a priority for the co-op board.

“Our windows are already 40 years old. We know they’re not going to get any younger,” Parrella said.