The Empire State Building is now fully powered by wind
The beloved Midtown Manhattan landmark has been a quintessential piece of New York City architecture and tourism since its completion in early 1930. Now, the building is becoming much more environmentally friendly.
Empire State Realty Trust (ESRT), the company that owns this skyscraper and 13 other office buildings, signed a three-year deal with Green Mountain Energy to power its entire portfolio with renewable wind electricity. According to the EPA, this makes ESRT the country’s largest 100% user of green power.
Green Mountain Energy first began supplying energy to the Empire State Building in 2011. The company was awarded the contract after an extensive bidding process and is expected to save ESRT more than $800,000 in electricity costs within the first year of the contract.
“We have purchased renewable power from Green Mountain Energy for the Empire State Building, for a decade,” said Dana Robbins Schneider, director of energy at ESRT. “We now expand that to all properties in New York State with an additional direct energy contract for our Connecticut properties. Our tenants now work in carbon neutral offices.”
ESRT controls over 10.1 million square feet of real estate, all of which will run on renewable energy for at least the next three years. According to a press release, this transition to wind power will result in a savings of 450 million pounds of carbon dioxide. This is roughly the equivalent to the savings if every New York State household turned off all of their lights for a month, or if all New York City taxis were off the street for a year.
The Empire State Building has endured renovations over the last 10 years as part of the $550 million restoration program, reducing its carbon footprint by 40%. The building announced last year that everything from its elevators to its windows had been updated to align with their sustainability commitment.
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