With its Middle Eastern Headquarters in Dubai, Johnson Controls today announced that it will work with world-class environmental consulting, non-profit, design and construction partners – including the Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI), Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), and Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) in an innovative program that is expected reduce energy consumption at the Empire State Building by up nearly 40 percent.
“In this distressed economic climate, there is a tremendous opportunity for cities and building owners to retrofit existing buildings to save money and save energy,” said Former US President Mr. Bill Clinton. “I’m proud of the work my foundation's climate initiative has done with 40 of the world's largest cities, including New York where we played a central role in convening a unique set of partners that are working to make the Empire State Building retrofit project possible.”
The Empire State Building is a multi-tenant, trophy office building with 2.8 million square feet hosting retail, office and broadcasting uses. As a core element of the more than $500 million upgrade program presently underway at the world’s most famous office building, a comprehensive energy-efficiency retrofit was created to serve as a leading example to other commercial office buildings around the world.
Speaking about the order, Magdy A. Mekky, Vice President & Managing Director, Middle East said “Our vision of creating a more comfortable, safe and sustainable world defines our businesses, our people and the way in which we work with our customers and business partners. Globally, our commitment to ‘Efficiency Now’ remains the guiding principle for our businesses and ¬ this project is a culmination of our efforts at furthering the cause of sustainab¬le development. Our sustainability initiatives are practical and find their basis in our triple bottom line which focuses on economic prosperity, social responsibility and environmental stewardship. The energy conservation solutions offered by Johnson Controls pay back for themselves in the short to
medium term. In the case of the Empire State Building, with an initial estimated project cost of $20 million, the building will save over $4.4 million per year in energy costs alone. Greenhouse gas emissions will be reduced by more than 105,000 metric tons over the next 15 years.”
Johnson Controls leads the Middle East market in the supply of integrated solutions consisting of YORK HVAC equipment, Metasys Building Management Systems and Security and Fire Alarm systems. Johnson Controls regularly supplies YORK Centrifugal chillers for district cooling service providers such as Tabreed and Palm District Cooling. Johnson Controls has to its credit several prestigious projects such as the Pearl Qatar (worlds largest district cooling plant in terms of tons of refrigeration), the Bahrain Bay (world's largest order of centrifugal chillers in terms of monetary value), Jebel Al Qala project in Saudi Arabia, the largest HVAC order in Kuwait and several multi-million dollar operation, service and maintenance contracts in the GCC. Johnson Controls has provided its Metasys product for integrated building management with remote monitoring facilities some of the most prestigious projects in the region such as the Burj Dubai, Bahrain Financial Harbor and the Capital Plaza project in Abu Dhabi amongst others.
Under the performance contract, Johnson Controls is delivering cutting edge technologies including Metasys® building management system with Sustainability ManagerTM, which will provide tenants with an online dashboard to help them track and manage their energy usage; high efficiency YORK® Chillers, variable frequency drive air handling equipment; radiator insulation upgrade and an extensive onsite window refurbishment. The chiller plant retrofit requires intense engineering as the project calls for the use of existing chiller shells while removing and replacing “guts” to improve chiller efficiency and controllability, including the introduction of variable frequency drives.
The improvements will place the Empire State Building in the top 10 percent of U.S. commercial office buildings in terms of energy efficiency. Internal calculations show that as a result of the energy efficiency retrofit and other sustainability initiatives, the Empire State Building will be able to qualify for GOLD certification for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) for Existing Buildings. For more exciting updates on this groundbreaking project from Johnson Controls, please visit www.johnsoncontrols.com/esb
About Johnson Controls
Johnson Controls (NYSE: JCI) is the global leader that brings ingenuity to the places where people live, work and travel. By integrating technologies, products and services, we create smart environments that redefine the relationships between people and their surroundings. Our team of 140,000 employees creates a more comfortable, safe and sustainable world through our products and services for more than 200 million vehicles, 12 million homes and one million commercial buildings. Our commitment to sustainability drives our environmental stewardship, good corporate citizenship in our workplaces and communities, and the products and services we provide to customers. For additional information, please visit http://www.johnsoncontrols.com/
