The 102 story Empire State Building was opened in 1931 to much fanfare as the tallest skyscraper in the world. While not the tallest building anymore, the current owners want it to become a greener building. This is the vanguard of a new trend, retro-fitting old commercial buildings to lower their energy use.
The new lights, refurbished windows and other upgrades in the building will save an estimated $4.4 million a year on utility bills and pay for themselves in three years. However, in the next 15 years, the changes will likely keep 105,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide out of the air.
What a great example of creating better efficiencies, one that Adobe, Herman Miller and other organizations are perfectly aware of and strive to address.
The empire State Building is one of the most prominent projects by commercial-building owners who are putting their money towards these sorts of green retrofits. By taking this step, they are betting that this investment will help keep their properties desirable in a tough market, help them attract better clients and give them a competitive advantage should the government pass tougher building energy standards.
Commercial real estate accounts for nearly 20% of US energy use, so addressing this sector can really be a huge opportunity in curbing greenhouse-gas emissions. While new buildings are increasingly being built "green", the bigger potential lines in the tens of billions of square feet already built, waiting for their green retrofit.
