Northport VA Switches to Greener Fuel Source

The Northport Veterans Affairs Medical Center is now cleaner and greener due to the switch from heating oil to natural gas.

The change marks the largest natural gas conversion on Long Island in more than a decade.

To make the switch, National Grid assembled a project team and provided the VA with upgrades to the existing heating plant and completed the gas conversion.

National Grid’s gas conversion project is in line with new guidelines requiring all federal buildings to meet more stringent environmental and energy efficiency standards, and reduce emissions and is consistent with the federal plan recently announced sweeping energy and climate agenda to cut carbon pollution and accelerate clean energy use.

According to National Grid, the project has resulted in carbon savings in excess of 5,000 tons per year or 30 percent.

“This energy conversion from heating oil to natural gas is an example of an innovative, money-saving and common-sense solution that will benefit both our local veterans and our environment,” Congressman Steve Israel (D-Huntington) said in a statement. “I am proud to have been a part of the process in cutting through the red tape to help this become a reality.”

Additionally, the transition includes four new COEN Todd Variflame high-efficiency dual-fuel natural gas burners, which feature low emissions and high combustion efficiency, which reduces heating bills and carbon dioxide emissions. The project also included a new automatic feedwater control system.

“This project represents an environmentally sound, energy saving and cost-effective endeavor essential to the VAMC’s energy program goals and our overarching mission to continually improve the quality of service to our nation’s veterans,” said Louis Errichiello, P.E., the Northport VA’s Energy Manager. “This project allows the VA to apply that savings to other important services to support our veterans.”

National Grid began preparing for the conversion of the boiler plant at the 268-acre VAMC a decade ago, and worked with the VAMC, the Town of Huntington and Genesys Engineering PC to implement this large and complex project. The project included installing a 9,000-foot-long gas main to the neighborhood, increasing the opportunity for nearby facilities to connect.

National Grid said the conversion to natural gas will save the VAMC more than $1 million in fuel costs from the 200 oil tankers that previously would have driven through nearby neighborhoods to reach the building.

Adrienne Esposito, executive director of the Citizens Campaign for the Environment, said, called the project a “triple win”

“Cleaner air, cleaner water, good economic sense and helping more money go to help veterans all add up to a great project,” she said.