Changing windows in New York sounds easy — but changing the planet too? That’s the goal at the Empire State Building, where switching windows, all 6,500, is part of a retrofit meant to transform the tower — the scene of King Kong’s last stand in the Hollywood classic — into an eco-friendly model for the world.
Anthony Malkin, representing the owners, said the multimillion-dollar project — a massive upgrade of heating, cooling and lighting systems — will reduce energy consumption by 38 percent.
Commercial buildings produce 78 percent of greenhouse emissions in New York, so greening the Empire State Building is a big step.
PHOTO: AFP
And the idea is that if you can do that in a 1931 Art Deco skyscraper, you can do it anywhere.
“It has a real rippling effect beyond this building and this city,” said Kathy Baczko at the Clinton Climate Initiative, part of former US president Bill Clinton’s foundation, which is backing the project. “It’s a new beacon for how you can be energy efficient.”
The retrofit adds US$20 million to the US$500 million cost of a general refurbishment underway at the iconic tower.
According to planners, full efficiency gains will kick in by 2013, bringing annual savings of US$4.4 million and placing the skyscraper in the top 10 percent of office buildings for greenness.
Malkin, president of Wien and Malkin, which oversees the building for the owners, including the Malkin family, likes stressing business friendly aspects, including the potential to attract higher-paying tenants.
TREE HUGGER
He talked passionately about preventing global warming from turning the world to “toast,” but bristled during an interview at being seen as a tree hugger.
“It’s not about greening,” said Malkin, 46, whose office carpet, shirt and even tie all happened to be various shades of green. “This is sound business. That’s what this is about.”
What makes the project new, organizers say, is a holistic approach that seeks causes of problems — for example variation in office temperature — as well as solutions.
“People have looked at specific technologies, the lighting, or the heating, but not at the building as a whole,” said Paul Rode, a project executive with the engineering company Johnson Controls.
This analysis took 18 months, in which 65 areas were modeled and eight were chosen as targets for the retrofit, ranging from better insulated windows to occupancy sensors for lights.
The Empire State Building is most famous for being tall, a soaring, tapering stack of 102 floors ending with a multi-colored, illuminated spire.
But Rode says the remake starts underground in the cavernous and wasteful chiller plant, which he describes as “a time warp.”
“Everything you see,” he said, pointing to a wall covered with archaic-looking control dials and red lamps, “is going into that” — a single desktop, flat-screen computer.
That software, as well as hardware like new motors and compressors, will bring sophistication to a system currently churning out heat and cold with little regard to actual demand.
INNOVATION
Up on the 62nd floor, looking down on the toy-like Manhattan and Hudson River, Rode explained how new windows will complement that newly intelligent system.
“The first thing we noticed was that 6,500 windows provided a lot of light, but also heat,” he said.
The current windows are double-glazed. Each will be removed and given a third film, with layers of argon/krypton gas and microscopic aluminum to provide insulation and repel ultra-violet sun rays.
“We want to let in the visible light, but not the heat-producing, non-visible rays,” Rode said.
A former nuclear engineer on navy ships, Rode said he was initially unexcited by the idea of working on an office building.
But the tower presents “very novel complexities” that have captured his imagination.
One of them is performing this top-to-bottom rejuvenation without changing the appearance of the historic building — or getting in the way of 10,500 tenants and almost 4 million annual tourists.
“It’s like changing the black-and-white TV into a color TV, but have it look exactly the same — except for the picture — and all while people are still watching,” he said.
GAME OVER
Surveying the Empire State Building from the terrace at his nearby office, Malkin said the elegant skyscraper was “a big lab, a big test bench” for reducing the carbon footprint of older office buildings everywhere.
“Every single thing was done with the understanding that it has to be part of a replicable process,” Malkin said.
And if the world ignores that challenge?
“Then it’s game over,” Malkin said.
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College
RSS