Save and Conserve

In late 2006, a new energy-efficient building opened in mid-Manhattan called the Hearst Tower (pictured at right).

This tower has subsequently been awarded rated "Gold LEED" by the United States Green Building Council. This was the first building in New York city to achieve the Gold status.

What exactly is LEED? From the USGBC's website:

The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System™ is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high performance green buildings. LEED gives building owners and operators the tools they need to have an immediate and measurable impact on their buildings’ performance. LEED promotes a whole-building approach to sustainability by recognizing performance in five key areas of human and environmental health: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality.

The highest level of certification is Platinum, so the Hearst Tower apparently could have been just a little bit greener ;)

Anyway, the building is well ahead of its time. Here are some of the energy saving characteristics:

Hearst settled upon an innovative "diagrid" system (a word contraction of diagonal grid), that creates a series of four-story triangles on the façade. No verticle steel beams are being used, which is a first for North American office towers. In addition to giving the tower a bold architectural distinctiveness, it is providing Hearst with superior structural efficiency. As a result, Hearst eliminated the need for approximately 2,000 tons of steel, a 20 percent savings over a typical office building.

Hearst executives also selected an innovative type of glass that wraps around the exterior of the building. The glass has a special "low-E" coating that allows for internal spaces to be flooded with natural light while keeping out the invisible solar radiation that causes heat.

In conjunction with the glass, Hearst is installing light sensors that will control the amount of artificial light on each floor based on the amount of natural light available at any given time. The optimization of natural light has been demonstrated in recent studies to have important, positive effects on occupant health, quality of life and productivity.

Hearst also will utilize technology that senses activity level. At lunchtime, when some employees are leaving or not using their computers, motion sensors will detect this and adjust the system accordingly. These sensors will allow for lights and computers to be turned off when a room is vacant.

In addition, Hearst is using high efficiency heating and air-conditioning equipment that will utilize outside air for cooling and ventilation for 75 percent of the year, as well as Energy Star appliances. These and other energy-saving features are expected to increase energy efficiency by 22 percent compared to a standard office building. This is a welcome innovation in New York City, where rapidly growing electricity demand is threatening to overwhelm the local power supply.

Hearst is also employing pioneering technologies in order to conserve and more efficiently use water. For example, Hearst's roof has been designed to collect rainwater, which will reduce the amount of water dumped into the City's sewer system during rainfall by 25 percent.

The rainwater will then be harvested in one 14,000-gallon reclamation tank located in the basement of the Hearst Tower. The rainwater will be used to replace water lost to evaporation in the office air-conditioning system. It also will be fed into a special pumping system to irrigate plantings and trees inside and outside of the building. It is expected that the captured rain will produce about half of the watering needs.

The harvested water also will be utilized for "Icefall," a three-story, sculpted water feature within the building's grand atrium. In addition to serving as a stunning entrance to the building, Icefall, which is believed to be the nation's largest sustainable water feature, will also serve an environmental function by serving to humidify and chill the atrium lobby as necessary.

I wish we heard more about these types of developments ... and although this is old news, I thought it deserved a write up. Hope you did too.