纽约市是许多高密度高科技住宅建筑的所在地，其中包括8号云杉街，这是曼哈顿下曼哈顿的壮观的不锈钢公寓塔，由弗兰克·盖里（Frank Gehry）设计。这座城市也是老化公寓楼的仙境。尽管这些建筑物使社区具有某种旧纽约的尊严，但它们也以旧纽约的效率低下运作。

These old buildings are perfect candidates for energy efficiency retrofits. Many landlords, though, have been reluctant to spend money on upgrades whose potential for energy savings has been supported mainly by anecdotal information or by piecemeal analyses of system improvements. Lenders, too, have been reluctant to underwrite such projects.

But hard data is on the way. A study commissioned by Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation, a philanthropic arm of Deutsche Bank, and生活城市, a nonprofit collaboration of 22 foundations and financial institutions, focused on the effects of energy efficiency retrofits in 19,000 affordable housing units in and near New York City. As a recent story in the纽约时报explains, the study, which is scheduled to be released in November, shows that the retrofits reduced fuel bills by an average of 19% and electricity bills by 10%, yielding an annual savings of $240 for fuel and $70 for electricity per apartment.

寻找贷方的舒适区

Conducted by New York-based consulting firmsSteven Winter Associates和HR&A Advisors这项研究对各种改造项目进行了归零，其中包括一个在曼哈顿的88个单元，两建造的综合综合体，称为“出色的物业单位”，在这里安装新锅炉和供暖控制将燃油成本降低了50％。每套公寓的每年储蓄平均为$ 551，另一座建筑物每套公寓355美元时代故事笔记。

Improvements in another apartment building – this one in the town of Yonkers, just north of the city – included the installation of new windows, energy-efficient lighting, Energy Star refrigerators, and the implementation of an energy savings incentive program for tenants. Taken together, the retrofits and incentive program helped reduce overall electricity usage in the building by more than 25%.

To encourage lenders to underwrite energy efficiency retrofit projects of this sort, the city this year launched a public-private partnership that will provide collateral guarantees to lenders. Funding for the partnership’s guarantee program, called theNew York City Energy Efficiency Corporation, will come from a portion of $37.5 million in federal stimulus funds granted to the city.

“We are trying to catalyze a new financing market to satisfy the growing demand for retrofits,” Susan Leeds, the chief executive of the Energy Efficiency Corporation, told the时代.