Industry News
News
NYC Skyscraper Is First U.S. Commercial Tower to Earn LEED Platinum
Last week, two years after its first occupants moved in, the owners of the 55-story office tower at New York City's One Bryant Park celebrated the building's official opening with a reception in the lobby. The "opening" party, attended by several hundred guests, coincided with the announcement that the 1,200-foot-tall, approximately $2 billion skyscraper had achieved Platinum certification under the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED Core & Shell rating system. To date, it is the only commercial high-rise building in the U.S. to achieve this status. USGBC (5/25)
SAGE introduces world's most energy efficient window glass
SAGE Electrochromics, Inc., recently unveiled the world's most energy-efficient window glass. The new suite of window glass products is the first to marry electronically tintable “dynamic window” technology with high R-value, triple-pane construction. The result is a window that provides greater thermal and visual comfort than any equivalently configured glazing product in the history of the industry. Business Wire (3/31)
Ranking U.S. cities on building efficiency
Los Angeles and Washington took the top spots in the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s ranking of cities with the most energy efficient buildings. The EPA estimates that commercial buildings’ energy consumption accounts for 17 percent of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions. New York Times (3/24)
Huge cost savings achieved with LED lights using network cables
Redwood Systems has launched a network-based LED lighting technology for commercial buildings. It optimizes energy-efficiency for commercial lighting and provides comprehensive sensor data for building performance. The Green Economy Post (3/24)
HVAC software helps University of Texas save $500K a year
Using HVAC optimization software, the University of Texas at Austin should see $500,000 a year in energy savings. The university should save 6 million kilowatt hours in electricity a year. Environmental Leader (2/8)
Automation and control system improves energy efficiency of buildings
The new version 4.1 of the Desigo building automation and control system from Siemens’ Building Technologies Division brings a host of new features aimed at increasing the energy efficiency of buildings. The most important novelties are AirOptiControl, which offers innovative comfort control for ventilation and air conditioning plants, and energy reports. azobuild.com (2/2)
EPA launches green building competition
If you’re the owner of a green building, now’s your chance to get involved in a little energy efficiency competition. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is accepting applications for the EnergyStar National Building Competition. The tag line for the competition is Working off the Waste with EnergyStar and EnergyStar partners are invited to apply.
MotherNatureNetwork (1/28)
Commercial Building Portfolios Rake In Savings with Energy Star Certifications
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency this month unveiled its list of Energy Star Leaders for 2009. These 58 organizations saved more than $48 million across their portfolios -- quadruple the amount saved in 2008 and reduced emissions by a cumulative 220,000 metric tons. GreenerBuildings (2/11)
Codes
Overview of recent Energy Code changes—also known as PLANYC. The goal of PLANYC is to reduce the city’s carbon footprint 30% by 2030.
4 specific Bills that will help achieve this goal.
- The New York City Energy Conservation Code: Any building renovating that is greater than 50% of the building now needs to comply with updated codes.
- Benchmark: Requires an annual assessment of energy consumption be submitted to an EPA Energy Star Portfolio Manager. This will allow buildings to compare efficiency over time. Ultimately the efficiency assessment will also be made available to the public.
- Lighting: Requires tenants be sub metered and lighting be upgraded to current code whenever a renovation is pursued. Compliance by 2025. The hook with this is anyone who upgrades their lighting now as opposed to the compliance date of 2025 will be grandfathered against any increases in the code between now and 2025. From what I heard last expect plenty of changes/increase on the horizon.
- Audits & Retro Commissions: Requires energy use audits and retro commissioning every 10 years. The audit will help identify improvements that will ultimately pay for themselves over a reasonable period of time. Retro commissioning involves returning measures that will ensure building systems are operating efficiently. Owners can pass on the audit if they are Energy Star or LEED Certified.
*Bills 2, 3 and 4 only apply to buildings over 50,000 SF. (Which represents almost half of the built SF in the entire city).
Green Information
Organizations representing building safety professionals, energy and lighting engineers, green building practitioners, architects, and technical standards developers have come together to establish a comprehensive green building code designed to rapidly advance green building practices across the United States. FacilitiesNet (3/26)
More than one in five U.S. cities with populations greater than 50,000 surveyed by the American Institute of Architects report having a policy to promote green buildings, accounting for more than 53 million people.
The Eastern region has seen a 75-percent rise in green building programs since 2007.
4 of the 25 most-populated metropolitan regions in the United States are built around cities with a green building policy.
Learn how Mayor Bloomberg is creating a greener, greater New York City.
The Greener, Greater Buildings Plan – Announced December 2009
http://www.nyc.gov/html/planyc2030/html/plan/buildings_plan.shtml
Mayor Bloomberg, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and her colleagues created a six-part plan to make NYC’s existing large buildings more energy efficient. The City Council recently passed the legislative components of the plan in December 2009. The plan will ultimately save New Yorkers $700M in annual energy costs, improve conditions for tenants, create 17,800 construction jobs and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by almost 5% - the largest single advance towards NYC’s 30% goal.
View Mayor Bloomberg’s Video on the legislation.
What Buildings will be Covered?
Buildings over 50,000 sqft will need to comply with new legislation for benchmarking, lighting upgrades and audits and retro-commissioning There are 22,000 buildings over 50,000 sqft in NYC. These buildings account for approximately 45% of our total floor space and energy consumption. All buildings that undergo renovations will be covered under the new New York City Energy Code.
Six-Point Plan:
- New York City Energy Code – Today’s energy standards include a critical loophole – that allows inefficient equipment to be replaced with similarly inefficient equipment. This legislation creates a local New York City Energy Code that eliminates this loophole. When a renovation takes place in one of NYC’s one million buildings, new equipment will have to meet current standards.
- Lighting Upgrades and Sub-Metering – This legislation requires all large buildings to upgrade their lighting over the next 15 years. Non-residential tenant spaces over 10,000 sqft are required to be sub-metered by 2025.
- Benchmarking – Requires large buildings to conduct an annual analysis of energy consumption using a free, online tool provided by the US EPA.
- Audits and Retro-Commissioning – Requires large buildings to conduct an energy audit once every ten years and undertake energy-efficient maintenance practices.
- Green Workforce Development Training – The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) and USGBC will work with the City to design and fund the training that is required to create 17,800 construction-related jobs.
- Green Building Financing – NYC was awarded federal stimulus funds to establish a pilot revolving loan fund. Energy savings data will collected to encourage private sector lending in the long-term.