Empire State Building taking the LEED

I saw a headline on the ENR website today that caught my attention for one reason and one reason only - because it mentioned the Empire State Building. Growing up on the east coast I was fortunate enough to make fairly regular trips to New York City for school field trips or to see a Broadway show, and I remember the day I first saw the Empire State Building. My back was arched backward as I stood on the sidewalk trying to see the spire from the street (it's not easy). We took the elevator up and looked out on the chaos of New York City from the observation deck. I remember wondering how all these people could function in such a densely populated area and how any type of order was maintatained (I still do actually). Of course, I'm from the farmland of Pennsylvania.

As a kid, the Empire State Building is like, the coolest thing ever. We would tell stories about how you can drop a penny off the top and it would drive itself four inches into the concrete. (This is actually not true. It will bounce harmlessly off the concrete as long as air resistance is around) And the movies made the EPS out to be a glamourous icon of New York City and America. After all, it was the talled building in the world for almost forty years and still stands as the tallest building in New York.

While being a very functional office building, the ESB is a symbol of America, and consequently, a leader. With the proposed $20 million in green upgrades the building will save an expected $4.4 million annually and create quite a buzz (not that is really needs it) about green building not only in the New York and the US, but around the World.

So $4.4 million in savings per year on a $20 million project...let's see, 2o divided by 4.4, carry the one, that's a pay-back of roughly four and a half years. And that's just back of the envelope calcs without considering tax or financing advantages. All this while putting people to work and not to mention contributing to a healthy, more sustainable environment. I'm no genius, but that sounds like a good deal to me.

I think that this particular renovation will be of great significance because of the profile of the building being renovated. Everybody from northern California to southern Taiwan have heard of the Empire State Building and with it's LEED certification (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) it would truly be taking the lead in the "greening" of existing buildings.

While all the green building in the US is fantastic, when looking at the World in general, the US makes up a very small part of what needs to be done when it comes to sustainable development. One could argue that the US is so insignificant in population compared to India and China that any effort at environmental sustainability is effectively negligible. I disagree with this for two reasons. One, it's not negligible and every little bit helps. Two, the US is setting an example for the rest of the World to follow.

We can't take the risk of a kid not being able to gaze off the observation deck of the Empire State Building because the folks below were too busy to think about the future.

Empire State Building taking the LEED