Empire State Building Retrofit receives SBIC award.
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Press Release Summary:
Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) has won Sustainable Buildings Industry Council (SBIC) Beyond Green High-Performance Building Award for its contribution to Empire State Building retrofit. By showcasing advantages of efficiency retrofits, project offers replicable model for industry. Through its RetroFit initiative, RMI plans to spur this effort by working with building owners and service providers to reduce energy use by 50% in US commercial building stock by 2050.
Original Press Release:
Rocky Mountain Institute Awarded the Sustainable Buildings Industry Council's 2009 High-Performance Building Award
Empire State Building retrofit acknowledged as model of whole-building design
Snowmass, CO - Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) today announced that RMI has won the Sustainable Buildings Industry Council (SBIC) Beyond Green High-Performance Building Award for the Institute's contribution to the Empire State Building retrofit.
SBIC will present the award today on Capitol Hill in conjunction with an educational briefing for the High-Performance Buildings Congressional Caucus Coalition. This awards program recognizes the initiatives that influence the high-performance building market, and those that catalyze the real-world application of high-performance design and construction practices.
"As our nation pursues strategies that allow us to use our natural resources more efficiently, a focus on high-performance buildings is a must," said SBIC Executive Director Bud DeFlaviis. "Rocky Mountain Institute and their partners have demonstrated the role that retrofits will play in this effort. Their work will undoubtedly help inspire other forward-thinking building practitioners who are creating a new generation of buildings that are mindful of the people they serve and the environment they impact."
In April of 2009, the Empire State Building Company announced a $550 million renovation incorporating a comprehensive energy efficiency retrofit designed by RMI and partners Jones Lang LaSalle, Johnson Controls, and the Clinton Climate Initiative. The retrofit design is expect to save 38 percent of the building's energy, and reduce carbon emissions by approximately 105,000 metric tons over fifteen years.
Over the past ten months, the project has become an important model to the buildings community, as an example of a whole-building approach to retrofit design, cost-effectiveness and compounding benefits. Improvements are expected to decrease the building's energy costs by $4.4 million annually, increase tenant occupancy rates and enhance work environments.
"We are excited that the Empire State Building project has received such a high honor by the SBIC," commented Hutch Hutchinson, RMI's building program director. "This is a big step forward in raising the profile of deep energy retrofits, and providing another platform to inspire other building owners to follow the ESB program."
By showcasing the multiple advantages of efficiency retrofits the project offers a replicable model for the industry. Through its RetroFit initiative, RMI plans to spur this effort by working with building owners and service providers to reduce energy use by 50 percent in the U.S. commercial building stock by 2050. More announcements on RetroFit, including partners and projects, will appear soon on www.rmi.org
About RMI
Rocky Mountain Institute® (RMI®) is an independent, entrepreneurial, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. RMI drives the efficient and restorative use of resources to make the world secure, just, prosperous, and life sustaining. RMI's research and consulting staff works with businesses, communities, and organizations around the world in three interconnected practices: the built environment, energy and resources, mobility and vehicle efficiency. RMI's work incorporates a unique blend of whole-system thinking, integrative design, end-use/least-cost analysis, and an interdisciplinary knowledge of advanced technologies and techniques. For more information, visit www.rmi.org.
