The Empire State Building, the symbol of New York's pre-eminence that held the title of the world's tallest skyscraper for 41 years, is seeking to pierce through the pall of economic gloom that has descended on Manhattan by turning itself green.
The owners of the building announced yesterday they were investing an additional $20m to reduce its carbon footprint and energy consumption. The retrofit is being added to a renovation of the art deco structure that starts this summer already costing half a billion dollars.
It takes a certain pluck to announce such a substantial investment in the middle of a recession. But then the Empire State Building was born in hard times.
Work on the site in midtown Manhattan began in January 1930, months after the Wall Street crash. It went up as the New York and US economies went down.
Now the current owners of the 102-storey office block, Wien & Malkin, hope to buck the economic trend again by improving the building and charging higher rents. Part of the hard sell to potential new clients will be its "greenness" once the work is completed in 2013.
The plan aims to cut the use of energy by almost 40%, which would in turn reduce the emissions of CO2 from the building by some 105,000 metric tonnes a year. That is no easy feat, bearing in mind that the Empire State has some 6,500 windows, 73 elevators and a total floorspace of 2.6 million square feet.
All the windows will have an extra layer of insulation added by secreting a coated film between two glass panes - done in situ to avoid pollution caused by transporting the glass from an outside destination. Insulation will be added behind radiators, and the cooling system in the basement will be replaced with new more efficient machines.
Individual workers in the office spaces will be encouraged to take responsibility for their own emissions by being given access through their computers to monitors which will tell them how much energy is being expended in their part of the building.
None of the changes though will be visible to the outside world. The owners have decided that the famous coloured lights - the top of the Empire State turns green, for instance, on St Patrick's day and was a patriotic red, white and blue for several months after 9/11 - will remain intact, arguing they are responsible for relatively little energy consumption.
Source - The Guardian
Showing posts with label New York. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New York. Show all posts
Tuesday, 7 April 2009
Monday, 11 August 2008
NYC among 21 cities to disclose carbon output
NEW YORK (Reuters) - More than 20 U.S. cities, including New York, Las Vegas and Denver, have agreed to measure their carbon footprints, with a system some 1,300 companies have been persuaded to use, in an attempt to find ways to curb emissions blamed for warming the planet.
"If you don't measure these emissions, you cannot manage them," said Paul Dickinson, the chief executive of the UK- based Carbon Disclosure Project, which joined forces with the cities. Urban traffic, buildings and manufacturers emit 70 percent of the world's greenhouse gases.
Each of the 21 cities will gather emissions data for their municipal functions, such as their fire and police departments, government buildings and waste services, which will help cities compare how they are doing. They will also assess emissions from the city as a whole.
"Working together, and with the best data, we can manage this problem," New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a release.
The CDP, which represents 385 global institutional investors that manage a total of more than $57 trillion in assets, has gathered corporate emissions data through surveys since 2000. It says it has collected the largest corporate greenhouse gas emissions database in the world.
CDP also assists multinational organizations to collect climate change data from their suppliers.
Earlier this year, more than 20 of the world's largest companies, including IBM, Nestle SA, and Tesco, with a combined purchasing power of about $1 trillion, found that only a quarter of their suppliers had greenhouse gas reduction targets, according to a survey coordinated by CDP.
Dickinson said once the cities discover their biggest sources of emissions, emerging energy-efficiency companies should swoop in and find ways for them to save emissions and money by slowing the waste of fuel. "The process should really lead to the beginnings of a fundamental restructuring of how cities consume energy," he said.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc, which initially resisted disclosing their emissions through CDP, has since received praise for targeting the sources of their emissions.
Cities can do the same, Dickinson said. "Cities compete in the market for business, investment, talent, all sorts of things, and finding ways to profit by tackling climate change can make them attractive," he said.
The 21 cities will submit their responses to CDP by October 31. and the results will be published in the group's first cities report in January.
Other cities in the project include West Palm Beach, St. Paul, and New Orleans. At least nine more are expected to take part. Dickinson said CDP is working to expand the project to cities in other countries.
CDP partnered on the project with ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability USA, an international association of local governments working on environmental issues.
Source - Reuters
"If you don't measure these emissions, you cannot manage them," said Paul Dickinson, the chief executive of the UK- based Carbon Disclosure Project, which joined forces with the cities. Urban traffic, buildings and manufacturers emit 70 percent of the world's greenhouse gases.
Each of the 21 cities will gather emissions data for their municipal functions, such as their fire and police departments, government buildings and waste services, which will help cities compare how they are doing. They will also assess emissions from the city as a whole.
"Working together, and with the best data, we can manage this problem," New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a release.
The CDP, which represents 385 global institutional investors that manage a total of more than $57 trillion in assets, has gathered corporate emissions data through surveys since 2000. It says it has collected the largest corporate greenhouse gas emissions database in the world.
CDP also assists multinational organizations to collect climate change data from their suppliers.
Earlier this year, more than 20 of the world's largest companies, including IBM, Nestle SA, and Tesco, with a combined purchasing power of about $1 trillion, found that only a quarter of their suppliers had greenhouse gas reduction targets, according to a survey coordinated by CDP.
Dickinson said once the cities discover their biggest sources of emissions, emerging energy-efficiency companies should swoop in and find ways for them to save emissions and money by slowing the waste of fuel. "The process should really lead to the beginnings of a fundamental restructuring of how cities consume energy," he said.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc, which initially resisted disclosing their emissions through CDP, has since received praise for targeting the sources of their emissions.
Cities can do the same, Dickinson said. "Cities compete in the market for business, investment, talent, all sorts of things, and finding ways to profit by tackling climate change can make them attractive," he said.
The 21 cities will submit their responses to CDP by October 31. and the results will be published in the group's first cities report in January.
Other cities in the project include West Palm Beach, St. Paul, and New Orleans. At least nine more are expected to take part. Dickinson said CDP is working to expand the project to cities in other countries.
CDP partnered on the project with ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability USA, an international association of local governments working on environmental issues.
Source - Reuters
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