Reawakening the World's Most Famous Office Building: Economics behind a Groundbreaking Energy Efficiency Retrofit

2017 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Denise Akason ◽  
Helee Hillman
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Energy Efficient ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Office Building ◽  
Building Stock ◽  
Existing Building ◽  
The Real Estate ◽  
Energy Retrofit ◽  
Empire State Building ◽  
Complex Projects

This case highlights a recent and important type of new sustainability project for existing buildings commonly referred to as an integrated energy retrofit (IER) project. Anthony Malkin of Malkin Holdings, owner of the Empire State Building (ESB), acknowledged the importance of making the existing building stock, particularly in New York City, more energy efficient, as it comprises a large part of the real estate in most cities. Taking a bold leadership position, Malkin vowed to make the ESB the most energy-efficient, sustainable, “green” pre-war office building through an IER project that examined several facets of the building's systems, operations, and tenant behaviors. In addition to making the ESB a green icon in Manhattan, Malkin also stated the importance of making the project transparent and economical so other pre-war buildings could copy the model. This case study examines in depth the process that Malkin Holdings underwent in attaining its goal of establishing the ESB as a leader in existing building sustainability.After discussing and analyzing the case, students should be able to: Understand how to balance costs and benefits associated with an IER project Explain the benefits of green retrofitting to owners and tenants Identify risks in high-profile, complex projects and recommend mitigation strategies

scholarly journals Energy performance assessment of passive buildings in future climatic scenarios: the case of study of the childcare centre in Putignano (Bari, Italy)

2021 ◽  
Vol 2069 (1) ◽  
pp. 012146
Author(s):  
L M Campagna ◽  
F Carlucci ◽  
P Russo ◽  
F Fiorito
Keyword(s):  
Energy Performance ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Weather Data ◽  
Indoor Environmental Quality ◽  
Research Activity ◽  
Building Stock ◽  
Dynamic Simulations ◽  
Existing Building ◽  
Energy Retrofit ◽  
Childcare Centre

Abstract The building sector is a primary target for GreenHouse Gas emissions mitigation efforts, as it accounts for 36% of final energy use. The most effective mitigation strategies include the energy retrofit of the existing building stock. Among existing buildings, particular attention should be paid to school buildings, which are among the most diffuse public buildings in Europe, most of them built decades ago, with a resulting high potential in terms of refurbishment effectiveness. Moreover, schools cover a social function and require high levels of indoor environmental quality. In this field, the research activity is intense, but retrofit strategies are still conceived considering historical weather data, which could not represent correctly present and future climate patterns, reducing the retrofit effectiveness. In this work, an energy retrofit to “Passivhaus standard” of a childcare centre located in the Mediterranean area is analysed through dynamic simulations. A post-retrofit building model is simulated using Typical Meteorological Year (TMY) and compared with the ones simulated in future weather scenarios, created using the morphing method. The analyses aim to assess if the technical solutions currently adopted on the basis of the TMY will lead to acceptable energy performance in future decades. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis of different design solutions is performed, aiming to assess their effectiveness in future weather conditions.

Deep renovation up to zero energy through Add-ons: the ABRACADABRA Project

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annarita Ferrante ◽  
Fabrizio Ungaro ◽  
Giovanni Semprini ◽  
Lorna Dragonetti ◽  
Elettra Agliardi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cost Effective ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Zero Energy ◽  
Urban Context ◽  
Building Stock ◽  
Existing Building ◽  
The Real Estate ◽  
International Projects ◽  
Eu Project ◽  
The Eu

<p>and international projects</p><p>various EU H2020 projects</p><p>Though housing is one of the most energy consumer sectors, it is currently extremely underestimated, because of a clear investment gap due to economic, social and legislative barriers. The EU project ABRACADABRA (Assistant Building to Retrofit, Adopt, Cure And Develop the Actual Buildings up to zeRo energy, Activating a market for deep renovation) is based on the idea that the real estate value increase given by the appropriate densification strategy in urban environments could be an opportunity to activate a market for deep energy renovation. To prove the effectiveness of the strategy more than 70 case studies throughout the EU cities have been assessed by means of a cost-effective analysis. Basing on the parametric variation of the different values involved (cost of construction, energy, etc.) the benefit of this strategy has been proved in the majority of the different building types and contexts.</p><p>More interestingly, the ABRA strategy has been simulated and tested outside Europe in order to verify its scalability and the possibility of considering other non-energy related benefits in the renovation of the existing building stock. A specific study on the NYC urban context has been conducted to effectively adapt the strategy and combine the global drivers of energy consumption reduction and CO<span>2</span> emission reduction with the local need of combating flood emergency and related flood-proofing measures.</p><p>The results reached by this work demonstrate how the energy retrofit trough add-ons reduces significantly the payback times of the investments, preserve soil consumption, while providing a extraordinary opportunity to enhance urban resiliency by challenging the local emergencies.</p>

scholarly journals The application of the EN ISO 52016 standard and its Italian National Annex to assess the heating and cooling needs of a reference office building

2021 ◽  
Vol 312 ◽  
pp. 06003
Author(s):  
Franz Bianco Mauthe Degerfeld ◽  
Ilaria Ballarini ◽  
Giovanna De Luca ◽  
Vincenzo Corrado
Keyword(s):  
Building Energy ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Office Building ◽  
Dynamic Calculation ◽  
Building Stock ◽  
Existing Building ◽  
Building Energy Performance ◽  
Heating And Cooling ◽  
Energy Simulations

The EN ISO 52016-1 standard presents a new simplified dynamic calculation procedure, whose aim is to provide an accurate energy performance assessment without excessively increasing the number of data required. The Italian National Annex to EN ISO 52016-1, currently under development, provides some improvements to the hourly calculation method; despite many works can be found in literature on the hourly model of EN ISO 52016-1, the National Annexes application has not been sufficiently analysed yet. The aim of the present work is to assess the main improvements introduced by the Italian National Annex and to compare the main results, in terms of energy need for space heating and cooling. To this purpose, an existing building representative of the Italian office building stock in Northern Italy was selected as a case study. The energy simulations were carried out considering both continuous and reduced operation of the HVAC systems. The options specified in the Italian National Annex were firstly applied one by one, and then all together. The variation of the energy need compared to the international base procedure is finally quantified. For the premises and the scope above discussed, the present work is intended to enhance the standardisation activity towards the adoption of more accurate and trustable calculation methods of the building energy performance.

scholarly journals Energy Efficient Improvements of Existing Buildings through Building Envelope Upgrade Case Study of High Rise Block of Flats on 76, Boulevard Partizanski Odredi in Karpos IV, Skopje

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-180
Author(s):  
Katerina Petrushevska
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Energy Efficient ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Building Envelope ◽  
Living Room ◽  
Building Stock ◽  
Existing Building ◽  
High Rise ◽  
Class B

AIM: This research examines the important issue of energy efficient improvements to the existing building stock through building envelope upgrade. To facilitate this, the energy performance characteristics of the existing building stock were identified with a view to establishing an existing building stock type, where building envelope upgrades can contribute to a higher level of energy efficiency improvements. The literature review along with the selected building precedents was used to establish the best current practice for building envelope upgrades.MATERIAL AND METHODS: Established building precedents and identified best practice for building envelope upgrade, a high rise block of flats was identified and used as a case study, with the current and predicted, following building envelope upgrade, energy performance of the building calculated. This has allowed us to identify the possible energy efficiency improvements for this type of building following the building envelope upgrade. RESULTS: In the projected case, the building with energy class - "D" become class "B". In addition, increased quality of the living room in the attic was enabled. It was possible to obtain a decrease of the heating energy from 130.76 kWh/m²a to 37.73 kWh/m²a or to jump in the class "B" of energetic passport.CONCLUSION: This research contributes to the local implementation of the global agenda for sustainable development, design and construction, and it demonstrates the possible way and level of energy efficiency improvements to the least efficient building stock through existing building envelope upgrade.

Measuring the Impact of Enhanced Building Performance on the Seismic Resilience of a Residential Community

2017 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 1347-1367 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henry V. Burton ◽  
Gregory Deierlein ◽  
David Lallemant ◽  
Yogendra Singh
Keyword(s):  
Seismic Performance ◽  
Recovery Period ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Building Performance ◽  
Building Stock ◽  
Existing Building ◽  
Residential Community ◽  
Earthquake Performance ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Seismic Resilience

The relationship between the earthquake performance of an inventory of buildings and the seismic resilience of a residential community is examined, by quantifying the immediate post-earthquake reduction and recovery of the shelter-in-place housing capacity. The effect of several mitigation strategies that involve replacing portions of the existing building stock with an enhanced seismic performance system is evaluated. The impact on community resilience is assessed based on the immediate and cumulative loss of permanent housing occupancy as well as the time to recover some fraction of the pre-earthquake housing capacity. The results show how the slope of the recovery curve for occupiable housing during different periods following the event can be linked to the distribution of building damage. In addition to limiting major damage, enhanced building seismic performance is shown to reduce aggregate losses over the recovery period, thereby having a significant effect on both the safety and resilience of residential communities.

Lifecycle profit analysis of prefabricated multi-active façades

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (5) ◽  
pp. 565-578
Author(s):  
Rikard Sundling ◽  
Stefan Olander ◽  
Petter Wallentén ◽  
Stephen Burke ◽  
Ricardo Bernardo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficient ◽  
Existing Buildings ◽  
Building Stock ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Existing Building ◽  
High Rise ◽  
Profit Analysis ◽  
Two Factors ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Multifamily Buildings

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify appropriate concepts of multi-active façades for the renovation of multifamily buildings in Sweden and to determine which, if any, are financially viable. Design/methodology/approach A lifecycle profit (LCP) analysis was used to examine financial viability through a ten-step process, which included identifying concepts, assessing costs and prices, calculating the LCP and performing sensitivity analysis. Two existing buildings – one low rise and the other high rise – were used as reference models. Findings The findings were contradictory. Implementing any of the multi-active façade concepts on the high-rise building would be financially beneficial. The opposite was, however, the case for the low-rise building. Two factors causing this contradiction have been identified: the façade material before renovation and the size of the building. Research limitations/implications The study is limited to two case buildings situated in Sweden; however, similar buildings represent a significant amount of the existing building stock. Part of the purpose of the study is also to investigate the merits of LCP analysis to evaluate energy-efficient retrofitting. The study implicates the benefits and pitfalls of LCP analysis needed to be considered by researchers and practitioners alike. Originality/value The research findings contribute to the understanding of energy-efficient retrofitting of existing multifamily buildings based on prefabricated multi-active façade concepts.

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