Who are your heroes? Ours are in basements and boiler rooms.

Eighty percent of NYC’s existing buildings will still be in use in 2050. With the cost of energy increasing and the growing need for more efficient buildings to support a rising population, who is responsible for minimizing energy consumption in our buildings?

The easy answer is that we all are. But there are some often overlooked instrumental individuals on the front lines making energy conservation and efficiency a priority.

Meet Patrick Rooney, chief engineer at the Queens Supreme Court facility. Like others across NYC DCAS (New York City Department of Citywide Administrative Services), he and his team proactively work to improve operations at their facility.

See how Patrick and his team were able to execute a plan to save energy and extend the life of their systems in an aging facility.

By replacing defective steam traps and a condensate vacuum pump, he was able to take his building from running 6 pounds of steam down to 1 pound. With this lighter load, his boiler now runs much better and will likely have a longer life because of it. And that’s not to mention reduced fuel needs that save money right away.

We often take the comfortable built environment that we work, play, and live in for granted. The folks maintaining our buildings rarely get the recognition they deserve. It’s time to show some appreciation for the people working hard behind the scenes to make our cities sustainable now and for future generations.

LogCheck cares deeply about the people who keep our cities running and the work that they do. In fact, our mission is to shine a light on this work so it can get the respect it deserves. We built our digital logbook to accomplish this goal. If you’d like to see how it works, click the button below and give it a try.