When we at Malcarne Contracting work on projects, our goal is to get things right – 100 percent – every time. And we don’t simply want to follow what other companies are doing in our field: We want to make sure you’re getting top-of-the-line, cutting-edge service when you hire us.
Maybe that’s why we were so thrilled last month to have received the Deep Energy Retrofit Award in the multi-family program from NYSERDA, The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. When compared to all the energy-efficient buildings in the Empire State, Malcarne was able to build a structure with the most energy savings in its class – a building with a 55 percent energy reduction.
Like many awards of this kind, the challenge starts with building a model showing how the structure would be energy efficient. In some cases, accolades are given to companies based on these models, but proving that a building may be energy efficient from a prototype doesn’t always pan out in reality – and this challenge demanded more evidence. More than four years ago, Malcarne sent in plans for our building and, after they were approved by NYSERDA, we put the blueprints into action and completed the building in 2012.
The results? An award-winning, energy-efficient, five-unit structure, located on 55 Garden Street in Poughkeepsie. Every nook and cranny was designed with savings in mind, including water-conserving fixtures, solar panels to reduce electricity usage, Green Label Certified flooring, and Energy Star appliances. In fact, by using natural gas, the fees for heating and cooling the building for an entire year, including our harsh New York winters, was only $1,200 – and that’s for all five units!
With a full year of energy data from the building – and real tenants calling the place “home” – Malcarne proved why our talented employees deserved to beat out the competition for the prestigious NYSERDA award: According to the newest state energy codes that dictate what it means to be “energy efficient,” a “deep” energy retrofit means that the home must go above and beyond the average energy savings, and Malcarne’s Garden Street home uses 55 percent less energy than what New York labels as an “energy efficient home”!
But while we’re proud of the building that won us an accolade, our true goal is to also make your home into a great example of an energy-efficient structure. Whether you’re looking into a brand-new build or want to convert your already-standing home into something that can save both the environment and your bank account, Malcarne Contracting has the skillset to make it happen.