Empire State Building Plans Environmental Retrofit

As reported by Mireya Navarro of the New York Times, the Empire State Building is going to go green.

• A reonvation beginning this summer will reduce the skyscraper's energy use by 38% a year by 2013
• After renovation the annual savings are expected to be $4.4 million.
• The energy savings for the building are expected to pay back their upfront costs in about three years.
• The largest share of New York City's greenhouse gas emissions comes from the city's buildings
• Lighting, cooling, and heating currently use the most energy in the Empire State Building

Empire State Building Plans Environmental Retrofit
By Mireya Navarro
New York Times
April 6, 2009

Once the world’s tallest building, the Empire State Building is striving for another milestone: It is going green.

Owners of the New York City landmark announced on Monday that they will be beginning a renovation this summer expected to reduce the skyscraper’s energy use by 38 percent a year by 2013, at an annual savings of $4.4 million. The retrofit project will add $20 million to the $500 million building makeover already under way that aims to attract larger corporate occupants at higher rents.

Although the retrofit was specifically designed for the Art Deco office building at 34th Street and Fifth Avenue and its enormous features — 102 stories, 2.6 million square feet, 6,500 windows and 73 elevators — the energy-efficiency improvements are meant to serve as a model for other office buildings around the world, said Anthony E. Malkin, president of Wien & Malkin, which supervises the building on behalf of the owners, the Malkin family and the Helmsley estate.

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