Heat Pumps for New York City’s Largest Landlord
by Sonam Velani The mid-rise brown brick buildings that dot the NYC landscape? These are a city unto itself.
The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) is the largest public housing organization in the United States, created in 1935 to provide affordable housing for low- and moderate-income New Yorkers. NYCHA is home to 560,000+ residents, about 1 in 15 New Yorkers, and its residents are employed as teachers, police officers, nurses, and much more - many who provide critical services that make NYC function like clockwork.
NYCHA “alumni” include the former CEO of Starbucks Howard Schultz, the former CEO of Goldman Sachs Lloyd Blankfein, NASA aerospace engineer Aprille Ericsson, actress Whoopi Goldberg, and our favorite rap star Jay-Z (with a shoutout to his roots that so famously produced the Empire State of Mind!).
Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia speaking at the dedication of the Harlem River Houses in 1937. This was one of the first federally financed public housing developments in the country. Photo provided by the NYC Housing Authority.
What were once the envy of affordable housing systems across the world, the portfolio of 2,351 NYCHA buildings are now in severe disrepair. Since the 1990s, there has been a significant decrease in federal and state funding for both operations and capital projects, and the authority needs to invest upwards of $24 billion to ensure the buildings can remain safe, resilient, sustainable havens of affordability in an increasingly unaffordable city (median rent is $4,000 in Manhattan these days if you’re counting!).
Last week, the first of such transformative investments was revealed at Woodside Houses in Queens, where last winter residents went without reliable heat and hot water for months after Hurricane Ida damaged the complex’s boilers. New York’s leaders announced $70 million in initial funding to deploy 30,000 window-sized electric heat pumps in developments across NYCHA’s portfolio. Gradient and Midea each won large, lucrative 7 year contracts to replace NYCHA’s outdated heating oil systems and gas fired boilers in exchange for their clean and green heat pump technologies.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul is flanked by Gradient and Midea heat pumps at the Woodside Houses in Queens. Photo provided by the Governor’s Office.
This Clean Heat Challenge coordinated between NYCHA, New York Power Authority (NYPA), and New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) asked companies to develop electrified systems that don’t require specialized technicians to put in place, cost no more than $3,000 per unit, and can operate in cold climates. Heat pumps warm homes by pulling heat from the outside air and moving it indoors. To cool rooms, the devices work much like air conditioners, using a condensing liquid to absorb the excess heat indoors and transfer it outdoors.
Heat pumps work like two-way air conditioners, bringing in ambient heat in the air even if the overall temperature is low. Image from Collaborative Efficiency.
It’s a part of the OneNYC Green New Deal’s goals to reduce GHG emissions from buildings by 40% by 2030. Buildings account for 73% of all our emissions in New York, and the largest set of assets across the city that we need to decarbonize.
Doreen Harris, President and CEO of NYSERDA said that focusing on public housing properties for the Clean Heat Challenge is key to ensuring the equitable development of climate-fighting technologies like heat pumps.
This is just one example of the power of government procurement - a subject I know all too well! City governments globally spend over $384 billion per year on climate action, and they act as proving grounds for national policy: the Inflation Reduction Act follows New York in providing subsidies for residential heat pumps. Local governments can have a significant impact on spurring innovation for brand new technologies here in New York and cities across the globe - and the power to combine their policymaking prowess with their market-making potential is unmatched.
by Sonam Velani