Empire State Bldg Goes Green
Empire State Building
The Empire State Building, once a famous perch King Kong and Fay Wray is about to undergo a $100 million green renovation. The midtown Manhattan monument will reduce energy use by 38 percent, or $4.4 million big ones annually. The Rocky Mountain Institute is part of the team that is greening this great building.
The return on investment of 4.4% may not sound like much, but it beats the heck out of my portfolio.
From Inhabitat:
The 102-story building was built during the Great Depression; now, as we face new economic ’stumbles,’ it is poised to lead the way into a more efficient future. “We have a very deep commitment to sustainability,” Tony Malkin of the Empire State Building Company says. “Without applying sustainable practices in all aspects of our businesses and lives, we will greatly harm our future.”
The group has decided not to apply for LEED certification, opting instead to making the building as efficient and healthy as possible without such guidelines. This is an interesting approach in a time when many cities seem to be embracing the USGBC’s guidelines like giant apes to skyscrapers, but it appears as though the numerous planned upgrades and technological additions will do great things for the building and its inhabitants without applying the LEED checklist.
The partners involved are fully aware that this project will be serving as a template for the massive efficiency upgrades in store for many of the nation’s buildings in the not so distant future. Seventy-five percent of the 4.5 million buildings in the United States are more than 20 years old and need energy retrofits (buildings alone account for over 40% of our energy use!). While a 38% predicted reduction in energy use is an incredibly ambitious undertaking, the Rocky Mountain Institute is not an organization for pulling punches and neither are the folks at the Clinton Climate Initiative, Johnson Controls Inc., or Jones Lang LaSalle. Some of the measures included the Empire State Building’s renovation agenda include a total overhaul of the HVAC system, improvements to the building envelope, triple-glazed windows, electronic readouts to make users aware of their personal energy consumption, maximized daylighting, tenant demand ventilation control, and occupant sensor controls.
Kong Says: “Go Green or Face Extinction”
Whenever I think about the Empire State Building, I remember this guy.
More at Inhabitat
Empire State Photo: prendio2
July 29th, 2009 at 4:00 am
That would be a huge undertaking at great cost. Most homeowners have an incentive for going green as they save on their utility bill. With building the size of Empire State that has leased their floors to various companies, they will not see as much financial benefit. The financial benefit will be realized by the tenants as each company pays their own utility bills. However, this is great for the environment, my hat off to port authority.
May 22nd, 2010 at 3:23 am
you’d think if the people down there at the old empire building really gave a hoot about being green they wouldn’t be blazing x amount of thousand watt green bulbs into space. like i’m pretty sure god ain’t looking and even if God were, he knows as well as i do that the powers in charge don’t know what green means.. you wanna be green try turning off the f-ing lights…