News 
29th July 2011
Empire State of Green
The Empire State Building, the most famous office building in the world, is more renowned for its height as part of the iconic New York skyline than as a pinnacle of eco-conscious construction.
However the Empire State Building has just been awarded its second Energy Star certification from the United States Environmental Protection Agency following work to reduce energy usage and overall carbon footprint at the 1,454 feet high skyscraper.
The Empire State Building Company (ESB), which owns and operates the building, announced back in April 2009 alongside formerPresident Bill Clinton and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg that they were to spend $20million refitting the building to reduce emissions and energy use.
Work to achieve this has included refurbishing all of the buildings mammoth 6,514 windows, adding insulation and providing each business tenant of the building with energy management systems. Furthermore, in 2011, ESB announced that they were harnessing wind power to generate electricity, becoming New York’s largest commercial purchaser of renewable energy. The complex elevator system within the building has also been refurbished which now returns regenerated energy produced by the elevators back into the building’s electricity grid and is reused by offices.
The work carried out will in turn save over $4.4million per year in running costs and reduce energy consumption by more than 38%.
So while the Empire State Building lights up Red, White and Blue each night as part of the dramatic New York Skyline, recognised the world over, perhaps they should consider adding a green light to the display as well.
