How One Bronx Co-op Cut $100K Annually Through Smart Building Technology

Tired of sky-high heating bills and residents complaining about wildly uneven temperatures? In this interview, Kelly-Ann Corrigan, CEO at the technology and service provider Runwise, reveals exactly how a 191-unit Bronx co-op transformed their bottom line using wireless sensor technology and strategic system upgrades. You'll discover how they invested just $60-70K and now save $50-60K every year on heating costs alone, plus an additional $50K in water savings by switching from fixed-rate to metered billing.

Board will learn practical strategies for detecting hidden problems like steam distribution issues and water leaks that silently drain budgets. Corrigan covers everything from understanding master steam venting to navigating Local Law 97 compliance, plus how modern building monitoring can extend equipment lifespan and prevent costly emergency repairs. Whether you're facing budget pressures or preparing for carbon emission regulations, this episode offers a roadmap for turning building efficiency into serious savings. Habitat's Emily Myers conducts the interview.

Thanks for listening. Subscribe to this podcast for more stories on how New York co-ops and condos have solved a myriad of problems. Brought to you by Habitat Magazine, the "bible" that hundreds of board directors turn to every day!

Transcript

Emily Myers (00:39)
Welcome to Problem Solved, a conversation about challenges facing New York co-op and condo board directors. I'm Emily Myers with Habitat Magazine and I'm joined by Kelly-Ann Corrigan, Chief Operating Officer at the technology and service provider Runwise. Kelly-Ann, great to have you here.

Kelly-Ann Corrigan (00:56)
Thank you so much for having me, Emily. I'm excited to be here today.

Emily Myers (00:59)
So we're going to talk about cutting costs through energy efficiency. We'll discuss why it's so important to take a comprehensive approach to system management in a building and how this work can impact a co-op's or condo's bottom line. So let's start with a look at a two tower pre-war co-op in the Bronx that is working with Runwise. Kelly-Ann, can you explain the problem the board was looking to solve?

Kelly-Ann Corrigan (01:20)
Sure. So as you stated, two different buildings, one co-op board in the Bronx. It's a 191 unit building. And they were really looking at ways to cut their costs, right? And in particular, their energy costs. So, you know, we serve as a solution for buildings to help them reduce both their fuel usage as well as their water usage. And we came in and worked with them to help them get, a really good return on their Runwise investment by reducing their fuel consumption significantly and also reducing their water consumption.

Emily Myers (01:52)
But in practical terms, this was done through a system of sensors that you installed. Can you just talk a little bit about how those sensors work?

Kelly-Ann Corrigan (02:01)
Sure. So what we do at Runwise is there is a lot of legacy technology that runs buildings' heating systems right now. So what we do is we go into buildings and instead of running your building off of one data point, which is how the majority of buildings in New York City still run, which is what is the temperature outside? Should we turn on your boiler? Should we turn off your boiler? What we do is we install a wireless temperature sensor network throughout the entire building, in about call it 25 % of units, and we look at the inside temperature of your building. I'm sure many people can relate that are listening about being in a building in New York in the middle of winter, and it is 85 degrees and your windows are open all the time. So we really aim to solve that problem. And the way we do that is through that indoor temperature sensor network. And in addition to that, we do look at the outside temperature and the future weather forecast.

So we're basically bringing in technology and the indoor temperature to help you run your buildings more efficiently.

Emily Myers (03:04)
How did then the heating system upgrades translate into savings for this co-op?

Kelly-Ann Corrigan (03:09)
Yeah, sure. So this co-op is really interesting. So one thing that I think is something that we sometimes undersell at Runwise is yes, we reduce fuel costs because you can run your boiler less if you know the inside temperature. But in addition to that, we give you a lot of visibility into operational problems that might exist at your buildings. So in this building in particular, we installed Runwise. And when we looked the temperatures across all of the different apartments, what we noticed was that there was really, really large differences in temperatures across the different steam riser lines, like over 10 degrees difference. And so certainly Runwise alone can save a condo, co-op, really any building a certain amount of money, right? But in addition to that, we were also able to uncover distribution issues in the system that really were causing even more inefficiencies. And so by looking at this data, we were able to recommend further efficiency measures, even beyond Runwise, that allowed the co-op board to cut even more costs.

Emily Myers (04:15)
And what were those further efficiency measures?

Kelly-Ann Corrigan (04:18)
Sure, so we recommended a plumber to do master steam venting, weather stripping, insulation.

Emily Myers (04:24)
Okay, and master steam venting, I understand is taking the air out of a steam system so that the steam is able to run more efficiently, get to apartments sort of more at the same time. So you don't get this huge imbalance of heating in one area of the building.

Kelly-Ann Corrigan (04:39)
Emily. You wanna come work for me?

Emily Myers (04:40)
Okay, so what was the total investment? How much did it cost for the building? And how quickly is the building seeing a return on investment?

Kelly-Ann Corrigan (04:47)
So if you take into cost of Runwise as well as the cost of the venting, insulation, all of that, the total investment was around 60 to 70 K. And the building is saving between 50 and 60 K every single year just their heating costs since then. So if you look at it, it's a pretty good return. the end of the day. Break even after year one and then you're saving after that.

Emily Myers (05:13)
Okay, so this building wanted to economize, but clearly benefits here if you are looking to comply with Local Law 97 and bring down your fossil fuel emissions. Was this a challenge for the building?

Kelly-Ann Corrigan (05:26)
So just for a little transparency, this was a couple of years ago when we first did this building. And so what is great about when Local Law 97 started really being pushed in these last couple of years is that this building already had an A energy grade and was in compliance at least for 2024 goals. So really the earlier you jump on this, the more you get in your pocket, the more you improve your bottom line and you become in compliance earlier with a lot of these different laws.

Emily Myers (05:53)
Okay, it sounds like your system also needs building wide connectivity. If there are connectivity issues in a building, are you able to solve that?

Kelly-Ann Corrigan (06:00)
We are. So something that's really interesting about the Runwise solution is our indoor temperature sensors do not run on Wi-Fi. So we run on a proprietary radio frequency network. And what that means is that all of our sensors talk to each other using radio communication and relay all of that information down to our control, which is typically in the basement. And then our control is connected to the internet and we bring in that internet ourselves.

And that's how you're able to see everything online. But the reason that is really advantageous is because you don't need to worry about getting building wide wifi set up or tapping into individual tenants' wifi. So we really take care of everything so that it can be a really straightforward solution that is really reasonable to get done in one day for different buildings.

Emily Myers (06:49)
Okay, and what are the ongoing costs? You obviously have a relationship with the building over a period of years.

Kelly-Ann Corrigan (06:54)
So typically in terms of ongoing costs, we say that we take about 25 % of the annual savings is like our annual fee that we charge the building around there. It certainly depends on how large your building is, the particular heating system, the type of setup. So there's a couple of different variables that go into it. For the building that we're talking about, they actually are paying even less than they're saving. They're paying about a fifth of their savings to us annually just because they did multiple measures that really help them get the most out of the Runwize solution.

Emily Myers (07:26)
Okay, so I mean, if a building is hesitant about making these upgrades, what advice would you give a board?

Kelly-Ann Corrigan (07:33)
What I typically boards, especially as technology is kind of evolving in every aspect of all of our lives, right? Is, know, you are able to sit on your couch and order seamless and track your bike rider every single block as they get to you, right? But you have these assets that are hundreds of thousands of dollars that are sitting, in your basement on your roof and you have absolutely no idea what's going on with them. And they are really costing you money. And so not just when you think about reducing fuel, do you want to make sure that you're running as efficiently as possible? But you also want to bring these assets online to make sure that they are operating correctly and you're getting as long a lifespan out of them as possible.

I really just tell people think about are there any decisions you make in your life without technology that can tell you how to do it in the best way possible? And there's fewer and fewer of those. And I think that it's common sense to run your system based on the indoor temperature and want to know what's going on with these expensive assets so you can have them last as long as possible.

Emily Myers (08:39)
So what you're saying really is that data gives you sort of detective skills to figure out ways in which you can maximize efficiency.

Kelly-Ann Corrigan (08:47)
That's 100 % right. And if I could just give one additional example, besides the distribution issue that I spoke about, right? Being able to see that you need to do other work in order to make your building as efficient as possible. Another thing that Runwise does is we detect return line leaks in buildings. And if you are losing water somewhere in your heating system, that means that you are dumping cold water into your boiler over and over and over. And even if that is a new boiler, that can cause a lot of damage over time and it can shorten the lifespan of that piece of equipment. So data is really, really powerful in order to ensure that you are not spending money you don't need to be spending and Runwise is one solution that allows you visibility into that.

Emily Myers (09:30)
Okay, I mean, I'll say that there are a couple of companies offering these types of services. What makes Runwise different?

Kelly-Ann Corrigan (09:38)
I think there are two main things really that I think about when I think about like what makes Runwise different. The first thing is our investment in customer service. So we have a 24 seven customer support line. We train all of our support agents on heating systems, not just the Runwise app. So they can really help you figure out what might be going on in your building. Everyone also gets a completely dedicated customer success manager who understands what are your building goals, right? Like what are you trying to get out of the Runwise solution? And I think that's really, really powerful to have that, to have people behind it. Because we talk a lot about technology, but these are like real people who are working with you every day to help you achieve your goals. And I think that's really important. The second thing I'll say is that I think that our technology is superior in a lot of ways. think that we look at future weather temperature, which not every solution does. And then I think we really focus on how can we make Runwise easy and obvious to use so that, owners, operators who have a million things going on, right? How can we make Runwise the most easy and seamless experience from a design perspective. And I don't think enough folks focus on that either. So I would say those are the two things that I think are most different about Runwise that make us stand out as a choice in this space.

Emily Myers (10:59)
So what are some of the final takeaways then you would give to other boards who perhaps haven't taken these steps and are looking for solutions, whether it's to do with cost efficiency or penalties due to Local Law 97?

Kelly-Ann Corrigan (11:11)
I would say one thing this board did at the building we spoke about in the beginning that was, I think, really important is that they really went all in. they installed Runwise, they used the data in an intelligent way to make decisions about how to make the building even more efficient in order to maximize their overall savings on the fuel side of the house. Something we didn't talk about that they also did was they also used Runwise for water monitoring and they also invested in that and got additional savings there. So between their investment on Runwise and all of the heating measures and their investment in water they are saving about 100K per year after those improvements.

Emily Myers (11:56)
Okay, perhaps you can just elaborate on savings due to riser monitoring.

Kelly-Ann Corrigan (12:01)
Sure. So in particular, this building was on a fixed rate program with the DEP, which means that based on the number of units, they paid a fixed rate based on their water, and that fixed can be higher than what some people pay on metered, right? And so what we did was we came in, we installed our solution that we call water riser monitoring. What does that actually mean, We installed

clip-on meters on cold water riser lines that are usually exposed somewhere in your basement. we detect typically overnight if there is constant flow in those risers. And that's how we can tell you whether or not you may have, you know, a running toilet on your A line or your B line or your C line as an example. So we help you pinpoint where those leaks might be. when we first installed these risers, this building was using a lot of water, even more than their fixed rate.

What this allowed them to do was take a look at where are all of my leaks. They were able to investigate all of the lines that had that constant flow and they were able to fix them one by one. And then once they were confident they fixed the leaks, they saw their water usage drop dramatically their DEP portal. They were able to apply to move to metered instead of the fixed rate program.

And pay about 50K less in water annually. And the reason the Runwise solution I think is so key there is because on an ongoing basis, if you are on fixed rate and you spring a leak, you're not worried about it, But once you move to metered and it's really hard to move back, you really need to have, you know, an insurance policy to make sure that if a leak springs, you know about it. And Runwise allows you to do that. So that is how our solution in this case help them on the water side of the house.

Emily Myers (13:49)
Okay, so just summing up, you're saying that the data generated by your sensors can make a meter utility rate perhaps more attractive than a fixed rate, because a fixed rate works fine when you have leaks, but a meter utility rate can save a building money, but you have to then be aware that leaks could cause additional costs. Okay.

Kelly-Ann Corrigan (14:11)
That's exactly right.

Emily Myers (14:12)
Kelly-Ann, so much good information there. Thank you so much.

Kelly-Ann Corrigan (14:15)
Of course, anytime, anytime.

Emily Myers (14:17)
That's Kelly-Ann Corrigan, Chief Operating Officer at Runwise.