The iconic Empire State Building, undergoing a multimillion-dollar green renovation, announced Thursday that it will buy wind power for all its electricity.The building, the world’s tallest for four decades and still the tallest in New York City, will buy 100% wind power from Texas-based Green Mountain Energy Company.
“It was a natural fit for us to combine 100% clean energy with our nearly completed, groundbreaking energy efficiency retrofit work,” Anthony E. Malkin, president of Malkin Holdings, which runs the building, said in the announcement. “Clean energy and our nearly 40% reduced consumption of watts and BTUs gives us a competitive advantage in attracting the best credit tenants at the best rents.”
The two-year contract for 55 million kilowatt hours of renewable energy annually will prevent nearly 100 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions each year, according to Green Mountain. The company estimates the CO2 reduction is the equivalent of nearly every house in New York state turning off their lights for a week or planting nearly 150,000 trees — more than six times the number in Central Park.
As part of its green retrofit, the Empire State Building has hired Serious Materials to remove, retrofit and replace each of its 6,514 double-hung, dual-pane windows. It’s also adding insulation and other upgrades.
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