The Empire State Building is set to reduce its energy output by 38 percent.

Asia Lindsay
AC360º Intern

Having just arrived in New York City, fresh from Manchester, England, and being the kind of person who carpools elevators, I was pleasantly surprised by the level of environmental consciousness in The Big Apple.

Take the Empire State Building, for instance. It is one of my (and America’s) favorite buildings, is famous for its romantic depiction in countless films, and it can now add tackling climate change to its impressive resume.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Bill Clinton’s Climate Initiative (CCI) and, of course, the Empire State Building Company have joined forces for the $500 million renovation to make the iconic building more eco-friendly. The project will also aim to boost the building’s LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) status to Gold – the highest rating in the green building industry.

A crack team of companies - the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), Johnsons Controls Inc. and Jones Lang LaSalle - are taking on this historic renovation. More than 6,500 new specially-treated windows will be installed to reduce energy output. These windows will allow natural light to be used in the building, thereby reducing heavy reliance on artificial light. The project also includes the installation of barriers behind each of the 6,500 radiators, to help insulate the building during the winter. RMI say that all of this will to reduce the building’s energy output by 38 percent and save $4.4 million per year.

The expensive renovation is just one CCI’s new projects, which aims to encourage energy efficiency in cities and to reduce deforestation.

CCI has teamed up with an organization called C40, a group of 40 of the largest cities in the world that actively seek to reduce energy use. American cities involved in the C40 project include Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, and – of course – New York.

Over the past seven years, the Bloomberg Administration has put together a number of massive environmental initiatives in an effort to achieve the cleanest air for an American big city and reduce the world’s energy emissions by 30 percent by 2030.

It is nice to see that New York is not the only city jumping on the global green bandwagon. The developers of the controversial Okhta Centre in St. Petersburg, Russia, say that it will be the largest and the most eco-friendly building in Europe.

Despite its dazzling green credentials, the plan to build the Okhta Centre has become a source of contention in the city. It will house Gazprom, the world’s largest gas extractor. The fact that such a contentious company will be the tenant in one of the world’s greenest buildings is an irony that has not been lost on the citizens of St. Petersburg.

The city, often called the “Venice of the North,” is famous for its baroque and neoclassical architecture and picturesque, albeit low, skyline. In fact, the city has specific codes that limit the height of buildings. The sudden advent of Gazprom’s incongruously modern, 1,300-foot tower was expected to be met with enthusiasm from some, and downright outrage with others.

Proponents of the Okhta Centre, however, contend that the super-tall skyscraper will be designed to enhance St. Petersburg’s environmental assets. The city’s main river and the sunlight will reflect off the building, giving the impression that it is changing colors. The sunlight will also be used to generate energy within the building.

The Empire State Building is also taking similar energy-saving measures, and if everything goes well we will see the stunning results in about three years.

It is great that the powerful organizations, corporations and developers are contributing to the issue of climate change, but you can’t disguise the fact that many of the corporations within the walls of these shiny, new eco-buildings are among the greatest polluters in the world. Maybe they should take a leaf out of Hearst’s book and reduce their corporate carbon footprint, as well as just that of their building.