I guess it would depend on how long his lease is. That drop ceiling won't be cheap, the insulation, plus the amount of time to install... He won't see any return for some time with his leasehold improvements.
Yep, it depends on a lot of things, like three more winters after this paying $325 am month x 6 months of cold weather x 4 years = $7800 in heating bills, which is money spent and gone and nothing to show for it, and if you continue to stay there, this scenario keeps going, how much in ten years?
Ok, maybe he will not have 6 months of winter, but the coldest months of the year are still ahead us and he is already paying $325, so it could go up to $450-$500 on the very cold months when the building is covered in snow?
Or you spend the money now to save on the big heating bills and then at some point you break even and are saving money from then on.
I don't know that he is a renter, and if he is he should talk with the owner to make a deal, maybe deducting the cost for the lowered cveiling from the rent until it's paid for?
You know I don't like to put chewing gum as a patch on a broken pipe, it never works for very long, I like to turn off the water and remove the broken pipe and replace it with a new one, no matter the cost or how much work is involved!
Do it right the first time - - And a $325 heating bill for me would only happen once.
I'm all electric and heat 3200 s/f with two high efficiency heat pumps (zoned) and they work real good until we get close to freezing then the electric strip heaters kick in which is rare in in central Texas. Just paid the current electric bill (for everything) was $129.
BTW:
Good news on the alternative energy front:
Texas managed to break the U.S.
wind energy generation record last Friday morning when it produced 6,272 MW of power–
19% of the total electricity mix. The state, which is the country’s wind power leader, got just 6.2 percent of its electricity from wind overall last year.
http://inhabitat.com/texas-breaks-u-s-wind-power-generation-record/