The environment was high on the agenda in Mayor Bloomberg's State of the City address last week. Taking a broad swipe at the city's landlords, the mayor threatened, "We'll overhaul the city's air quality codes, green our building and zoning codes and accelerate our work with property owners to phase-out dirty heating oils. All of this will help move us closer to our goal of having the cleanest air of any large city in America."
What the mayor may not know is that a growing number of the city's real estate bigwigs are actually ahead of his game in terms of "greening" their buildings.
While computerized boiler controls have been the rage for some time now, landlords are becoming increasingly savvy about the quality and capabilities of their systems. "The brand name on your control system really does make a difference," said Allen Davis of Huguenot Management. My boiler guy would throw in a control system as part of my regular maintenance package. I never gave it much thought. Then I discovered a company called EnTech. EnTech is a local Jersey-based manufacturer who has taken the concept of boiler monitoring and control to a completely different level. We're talking about cutting consumption by numbers like 30 or 40 percent!"
At the EnTech headquarters on the Jersey Shore, Simon, the company president, speaks of the steadily expanding capabilities of EnTech's widely acclaimed VR-500 system. "It's not just about monitoring," said Simon. "It's about what you are capable of doing with your monitoring data. Control is a very broad term. We've redefined the meaning of control to the point where it's as if the management has a fulltime technician in the boiler room 24/7. The beautiful thing about our product is that it never becomes outdated. As a cloud-based system, each new feature rolled out by our R&D lab is instantly incorporated into every single system in use."
EnTech's research and development team has hi-tech software developers collaborating with top boiler experts to develop hands-on solutions that optimize boiler functionality. In addition to software innovations, the company has developed an array of add-on hardware and control modules that expand the market for computerized controls beyond the traditional, centralized steam boiler applications.
With expanded control capabilities and long range wireless functionality, EnTech's VR-500 is fast becoming a leading player in the Garden Apartment sector and other multi-heating-plant and master/slave applications.
Eric Soloff, the director of operations at EnTech, cites the system's Lead-Lag control feature as an example of taking existing technology to an entirely new level. "By incorporating precise indoor temperature readings in its configurations, the VR-500 can provide optimum dual-stage control and run time balance between boilers eliminating excessive and redundant cycling."

"Automated boiler alternating is an important feature for multi-unit hydronic systems," said Soloff. "Another example is our heat balancing module. Balancing boiler usage is crucial for efficiency and it considerably extends the lifetime of the system. In staging or alternating systems, the VR-500 provides optimum stage control based on real-time interior settings, unlike standard control products, whose sole barometer is based on exterior readings."
EnTech's performance has built the company a strong following amongst Real Estate moguls across the entire northeast with a clientele that boasts many of the top names in the city.

Sol Levy, a senior sales agent at EnTech said, "The EnTech name certainly has a good deal of clout out there, and with good reason. When I meet with someone and I mention that I'm with EnTech, I often notice a sense of respect in their eyes for our company name. That's something we're proud of. When I guarantee a prospective client a savings of 15-35%, I know chances are it will be higher than that and quite often they know that too. But the minimum of 18% is a solid number that you can really go to the bank with."

The EnTech website features a portfolio of detailed case studies that show documented savings on consumption ranging from 26 to 38 percent.

If EnTech's record sales this season are any indication, then Mayor Bloomberg may just have his "greening" vision fulfilled a lot sooner than he thinks.


Nate Delman is an energy industry analyst for Enviro-Tech Market Watch, Ocean, N.J Tags: