A whopping 65 to 70 percent of New York City’s carbon emissions are projected to come from buildings, whereas very few examples of pre-war commercial building energy retrofits exist anywhere in the United States. That means the Empire State Building is literally clearing a path for thousands of other buildings to follow. It happens to be doing so with a visible commitment to the principles behind the sustainability movement – people, planet and profit.

In an effort to build stakeholder advocacy and encourage more commercial buildings to initiate similar energy retrofit initiatives, owner Anthony Malkin of Empire State Building Company has made a remarkable commitment to transparency.  He has decided that the company will share all of the new processes and technology it develops and lessons it learns during the retrofit with the public. “It is my hope that people will be able to take a look at what we did here and be able to replicate the process,” he says.

During the course of the retrofit, stakeholders can gain access to behind-the-scenes information, including the models and decision-making tools used to make the Empire State Building’s green retrofit possible. An interactive retrofit puzzle demonstrates how taking the right steps, in the right order – from refurbishing the building’s 6,500 windows for maximum overall energy use, to installing energy management systems that allow tenants to access energy use data, obtain online tips and benchmark themselves against other tenants – makes all the difference when it comes to increasing efficiency. The company even updates key learning obtained during the process of the retrofit, as well as its ongoing engagements with thought partners Rocky Mountain Institute, the Clinton Climate Initiative, Johnson Controls, Inc., and Jones Lang LaSalle.

Thus far, the project takeaways are quite compelling. For one thing, there is the importance of taking a “whole building” approach to design. “The good work which has been done to date [in green building retrofit] has focused on individual elements – a lighting system, a cooling tower,” Malkin explains. “You have to look at how all the elements – the lights, the cooling tower, the insulation – work together. You then look for the combination of measures which creates the greatest savings with the shortest payback period.”

“You have to look at how all the elements – the lights, the cooling tower, the insulation – work together. You then look for the combination of measures which creates the greatest savings with the shortest payback period.”

Taking a whole-building approach to the retrofit design was beneficial in that it allowed Malkin’s team to stay within budgetary parameters. The team started by identifying baseline budgets for 23 existing retrofit-related projects. They then examined how sustainable alternatives could affect costs. For instance, the team found big-ticket cost-savings items on six projects, including a multi-year cooling and air handling replacement system, central cooling plant replacement, exterior tower lighting and mid-pressure steam riser replacement. [For an interactive model of how these technologies work cohesively together to save energy, click here.]

The Value of Green

While each one of these technologies improves the building’s environmental performance – reducing greenhouse gas emissions, chemicals and pollutants while increasing air quality and recycling – a principle motive behind the energy retrofit is long-term value. Malkin envisions green buildings as higher quality buildings – buildings that produce superior cash flow resulting from reduced energy costs and tenant’s desire for a better way of living. If only sustainability were marketed that way.

“I am so tired of the directional and qualitative nature of the sustainability effort,” says Malkin. “We need to get away from this idea of ‘doing the right thing’ without quantifying what the right thing is. There is way too much dogma and what we need to get to is dollars and cents. Watts and BTUs.”

Dollars and cents wise, Malkin expects to gain a lot more than saved energy from his retrofit project. In addition to driving down utility, maintenance and repair costs, improvements on The Empire State Building are projected to result in increases in rent and occupancy rates due to enhanced value on updated services. Further income is also expected from new tenant offerings such as chilled water.

To achieve such financial upsides in green building, one has to think holistically. Malkin swears by his systemic approach: “Green to me is a set of practices,” he explains. “It’s recycling tenant waste, it’s recycling construction debris, it’s green pest control, it’s green cleaning solutions, it’s using recycled materials in your build-outs and in your common areas. These things can be done at a similar cost in dollars and they are definitely less painful to the environment.  Quantifiable energy efficiency retrofits are different…they are energy saving and money making for the landlord and tenants.”

Malkin’s perspective is that ultimately, there is nothing “ungreen” about the idea of urban living. But in the mainstream environmental movement, green is rarely associated with towering steel skyscrapers. Changing the population’s mental imagery is a core objective of Malkin’s. That is why, as part of the Empire State Observatory visit, the company is putting together a walk-through explanation of the retrofit program, to give people a sense of how the environment they are in works in harmony with what supports and surrounds it.

“I had a series of museum installation designers come and present some ideas for the walk-through,” Malkin explains. “One of the elements suggested was visually projecting a “canopy of trees” on the top of the elevators, so there’s an image of green as you’re looking up. I said, “get rid of the trees!” One of the biggest problems is that people think of the environment as someplace you go to visit, and then you come back to your life.”

The refurbished Empire State Building represents a new way of urban life – a new American ideal. As President Bill Clinton recently said in a video describing the retrofit: “This project is not only good for the earth, it also makes real financial sense. If even a fraction of the buildings in the United States or our world were to carry out similar ones, the impact would be profound. More projects like this will continue to create incredible opportunities for change across America, and across the world.”

By Christine Arena

Author of High-Purpose Company

Christine on Re:VisionTV

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The future of the profession of Architecture is in Rapid Prototyping and Contour Crafting. Imagine, robots building our buildings in a matter of days, not months.

Behrokh Khoshnevis pioneered Contour Crafting. The University of Southern California professor now has a machine ready for real-world use. His contour crafting machine is scheduled to erect its first house in California within the next few months. The two-story house will built in less than 24 hours out of only concrete and gypsum, and without the help of a single human hand.

The possibilities for housing the poor, for disaster relief housing and free form building shapes could revolutionize the entire industry.

“The architectural options will explode,” predicts Dr. Khoshnevis at USC in Los Angeles, “Right now, your shoes, clothes, and car are already made automatically, but your house is built by hand – and it doesn¹t make sense.”

The typical American house generates nearly 4 tons of waste in its’ six month construction. Robot building could bring that amount to nearly zero waste.

Watch a video of the robot in action here.

From Wired:

Times Online:

and Inhabitat:

Related Links:

wikipedia.org

wikipedia.org

www.contourcrafting.org

www-rcf.usc.edu

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There are several great directories available of green materials and green professionals. I am involved with several:

(DISCLOSURE: I am on the Advisory Boards of both of these…)

GreenHomeGuide

Greenopia

and included in: Green Zebra San Francisco

There is another new one on the market now. It just launched this week. Green Building Blocks seeks to list green professionals and connect us with the materials, products and appliances we use. It is an interesting model.

As a professional, I obviously want to be included in as many directories as available. These four all take different approaches and all are interesting and well done.

organicARCHITECT on Green Building

Blocks Green Building Blocks Home

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“if our urban Re:Vision can be transplanted in a city block,
it can be cultivated on a larger scale.”

1.   What sparked your interest in participating in a Re:Vision competition?

I was very exited to be part of this project, which will change our planet with great thinkers, innovators and creative people. At the same time, I wanted to build my project or integrated my idea in architectural space in public place to make city green with other’s great idea.

2.   Were you inspired by nature?

Definitely. As a media designer and artist, I have always been surrounded by high-tech savvy. It, paradoxically, gave me enlightenment that technologies should be used in the context of embracing nature. This is why I started the One Day Poem Pavilion, which has such core values as eco-friendly, low-tech, nature time and meditation by utilizing Sunlight into messages without any electricity.

3.   What do you think of the scale of a city block?

A great start for realizing urban Re:Vision. In a typical urban environment, within a block people may find all the needs of his/her daily living. It means that if our urban Re:Vision can be transplanted in a city block, it can be cultivated on a larger scale.

4.   Do you have a background in design?

Yes, I do. I studied graphic and media design and have relevant working experience in both South Korea and United State.

5.   What in your opinion is the next step for developing the design of your winning entry?  Different materials? Prototypes?

As a part of this Dallas project, my heart is building the first permanent the One Day Poem Pavilion, which delivers a value of nature to busy urban life.

Since the techniques, which used for the One Day Poem Pavilion can be used in different shapes of structure and messages, I am keep developing and designing other shape of structures.

6.   What is the one idea you wish someone would come up with?

Hope to get the ideas of how to build the One Day Poem Pavilion as a public art around the world with specializing in cultural and social background.

7.   Can you see your idea integrating with other ideas from previous competitions, and how?

The idea I used for the One Day Poem Pavilion is not only harmoniously mingle with urban environment as a sculpture, but also can be integrated into architectural space to generate messages with natural light source. This idea can be used for facade of building, Advertising, Bus shelter, Bench and so on. It will enrich experience in specific site and also it make our environmental alive.

8.   Which of our Re:Visionaries do you admire most? What would you ask them if you had the opportunity?

Re:Visionaries are awesome. I admire their thinking forward to future. I would like to meet and talk with Eric Corey Freed and other architects or designers to talk about how my project and ideas can be integrated in architectural space.

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You can donate your old goods, or find things you need, all online, all within your local community. The beauty of the model is not just the ease on your wallet, but the conduit it provides for citizens living just miles away from each other to meet face to face, even if it is just to pick up a 5-year old desk. More than just classified listings, the platform is made up of 4,180 local groups with 4,152,000 members, each group moderated by a local volunteer with forums for discussion and a Yahoo network-based interface. You can send messages to members, post photos and files, and more. Best of all, Freecycle is transforming virtual communities into real ones, and keeping those old skis and picture frames out of the landfill, giving them a second life with a new owner. Sustainable in material and social effects, Freecycle is a great example of low-cost community building.

by Emily Pilloton

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Submitted by Lone Star on Mon, 02/23/2009 – 14:02.

All of them

I think we not only taken for granted all of our building materials, but I don’t think we’ve ever thought about their environmental impact before now, just their financial impact on a project.

Times are certainly changing. There are some interesting examples of ordinary people doing extraordinary things to answer this question. Here are just two.

Chicago

SEE LINK

SergioPalleroni did a similar thing in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. LINK

One of his most ambitious undertakings has been the Katrina Furniture Project to salvage and reuse the destroyed building stock of New Orleans. Working at studios around the city, starting in the Ninth Ward, students and faculty are designing prototypes for simple furniture and -building it with old-growth cypress, long-leaf pine, and other materials previously destined for the landfill. The team will also train local residents how to make each piece—a table, a stool, and pews so far—and teach the fundamentals of operating a workshop safely, according to a viable business model.

“When you offer a good idea, it catches on. But the community has to feel like it’s their own,” he says. “If they participate, they teach you a lot, too, and that influences your solutions. You build the most incredible design relationships.” Going into the field, literally, to expand architecture beyond its elitist ranks, Palleroni has created a body of work as environmentally responsible as it is poetic.

Thanks,

Lone Star

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RainTube products prevent large and expensive amounts of water damage and waste from clogged gutters and are also used to filter, collect, store and distribute rainwater. They conserve diminishing and valuable water resources for reuse or delivery back to storage aquifers. RainTube removes plastic from landfills, improves structural durability, conserves water resources, reduces storm water runoff and minimizes structural maintenance and repair costs.

1.   What sparked your interest in participating in a Re:Vision competition?
We wanted to bring our simple, yet powerful solutions to your attention with hopes that we could play a part in your vision.

2.  Were you inspired by nature?
Yes, controlling water improves the durability of our structures and gives us opportunities to utilize the water in the constructive, life-giving context that nature intended.

3.    What do you think of the scale of a city block?
Perfect. I believe that future water resource solutions will need to be done with innovations at the distributed (individual) or community (block) scale. We as a society have already tried and tapped out our centralized, mega-water projects.

4.    Do you have a background in design?
Yes as a general contractor, and as product developer for my company.

5.    What in your opinion is the next step for developing the design of your winning entry?  Different materials?  Prototypes?
Our solutions are turnkey at this point and ready to go.

6. What is the one idea you wish someone would come up with?
Remote monitors for utility meter use. What gets measured, gets managed. I believe people need to see “in real time” the resources they are using. Digital readouts mounted strategically around the home so you can see water and power flow while it is being used.

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