The Empire State Building
The tallest skyscraper in New York, the Empire State building, is turning green and for good this time! The owners, Wien & Malkin, just announced that in the next 4 years they will invest up to $100 million USD of renovation in order to reduce the energy consumption and by the same time reduce the emission of CO2 of the colossal building. Former President Bill Clinton’s Climate Initiative has helped fund the project.
About 6,500 windows will be insulated on site; both the heating and cooling systems will be replaced with a more modern and efficient versions; extra insulation will be installed behind radiators to trap heat and cold air; and all lighting used throughout the building will be energy-efficient. Finally, to encourage ecologic awareness, workers in office spaces will be able to monitor online, the amount of energy being used and where: enabling efficiently managed energy usage.
Most of these changes will not be visible to the outside world since the building itself will still go green on the outside on St Patrick’s day and red and blue on the 4th of July, the owners, affirming that the exterior lighting consumes a relatively low amount of energy.
These greening changes should cut energy consumption by up to 38% per year, amounting to total savings of $4,4 million USD. To put these savings into perspective, the operation of 900,000 buildings in NYC accounted for 79% of the city’s total emissions. We can hopefully anticipate that buildings in US and around the world will soon follow the model set by the Empire State Building!
If you are conscious of environmental issues and want to help to preserve planet hearth check out our Earth Day page for tips and resources to apply to your daily life.
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