As the free flow of cash slows for corporate America and the call for green corporate behavior rises, a new Manhattan office tower stands as a stellar example of how companies can build smart to save both money and energy.

To reduce America’s appetite for energy consumption, it makes sense to attack the biggest sources of the problem first. With office buildings and other commercial structures — all ravenous users of electricity — the place to start is the lighting. Go into any office building and, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (the independent statistical and analytical agency within the U.S. Department of Energy), it’s lighting that accounts for the largest source of electricity usage, more than HVAC or office equipment. The federal agency says lighting alone accounts for 44 percent of the typical office building’s electricity consumption (and about 56 percent for educational buildings).

But anyone who encounters The New York Times Building, a dazzling 52-story Renzo Piano design in Manhattan, will find this formula turned on its head. Ingenuity and the Times Company’s commitment to sustainability have delivered stunning results in lighting energy efficiency.

Lutron’s EcoSystem lighting controls and Quantum total light management system were installed in The New York Times Building and have delivered dramatic energy savings. Photo by Nic Lehoux.

Lighting Systems

At the beginning of the project, after examining the lighting options on the market, the Times Company’s building team began to ask questions and conduct research on how lighting could be accomplished more efficiently.

This research led to the Building Technologies Department at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory where, after much discussion, the Times Company began to pursue a dynamic lighting system that would allow departments to set their own light levels and would allow artificial light to be used as a supplement to daylight. In so doing, the team constructed a replica of the southwest corner of the new building and conducted rigorous testing of competing technologies and products to decide which would best meet the building’s lighting needs.

Ultimately, the Times Company selected Quantum total light management, designed and manufactured by Lutron Electronics Co., Inc., to control and manage the lighting for its new headquarters.

“We designed our building to use 1.28 watts per square foot of lighting power. With Quantum, it’s using only 0.38 — that’s 70 percent less,” says Glenn Hughes, director of construction for The New York Times Company during the design, installation and commissioning of The New York Times Building. “The energy savings is stunning.”

Lutron estimates that the lighting energy efficiency in the Times Company’s 600,000-square-foot office space will generate an annual savings of about $315,000. The environment benefits, too: About 1,250 metric tons of CO2 emissions will be prevented each year — a figure based on the U.S. Department of Energy calculations that for each kilowatt hour saved, the emission of 1.9 lbs. of CO2 is prevented.

In The New York Times Building, Quantum provides a wide number of advanced technologies and strategies, including daylight harvesting, light level tuning, scheduling and occupancy sensing. At the heart of the system are the digitally addressable Lutron EcoSystem ballasts, which enhance communication among all the different elements of the lighting controls. Roughly 18,000 such ballasts were installed in the Times Company’s space.

This constant, 24/7 communication network — imperceptibly adjusting and reacting to the natural light pouring into the office space, and making thousands of other lighting control decisions throughout each day — allowed the Times Company to achieve its three primary goals for a lighting control system: create an energizing work environment, substantially reduce lighting electricity usage, and easily adapt to the changing needs of the office space.

“Our employees are very pleased with the light in our new building,” says David Thurm, senior vice president, operations, The New York Times. “What is also very exciting for us is the ability to learn from the system and to change the system with a few keystrokes. This technology allows us to adapt quickly and flexibly to changes in the way we work.”

Effective Lighting Control

The rising demand and costs of energy and electricity are trending upward. In fact, the U.S. Energy Information Administration projects electricity consumption to increase 45 percent by 2030. A typical 50,000-square-foot commercial building spends about $45,000 each year on lighting energy. Unfortunately, much of that money is wasted due to ineffective light control.

Most buildings today are over-lighted because there is enough daylight in the space, or lights are set to a higher level than appropriate for the people inside, or spaces are lighted even though they are unoccupied. Whether retrofitting an existing building, or constructing a new one, managing light (both electric light and daylight) is critical to reducing energy costs.

Total light control is the ability for a facility to manage and control (i.e., set lights to any level including full-on or off) both electric light and daylight. Electric light can be controlled with a combination of dimming ballasts, daylight sensors, occupancy sensors and wall controls (dimmers or switches) that work together to maintain the correct light level for the various spaces in the building. Daylight can be controlled, as is done in The New York Times Building, using automated window treatments, which are programmed to use the position of the sun and inputs from an extensive sensor network to act as determinants to raise and lower shades, either blocking extreme light to reduce glare or allowing light to enter at times of less direct sunlight.

Total light control not only saves energy, but also creates a more comfortable and productive working environment for the people inside your building. Managing the light by giving workers the ability to vary the light level eliminates computer glare and improves comfort and worker satisfaction.

The New York Times Company understood all of this from the beginning. “The whole building structure is designed for maximum light,” says Thurm. “One of the major goals of the building is to enhance the workplace, and one of the major contributors to the achievement of this goal is to maximize the quality of light in the space.”

Not only was that goal met, it was met using more than 50 percent less electricity for lighting. Definitely a win-win situation for all, and a stellar example, indeed. 

Sidebar: The New York Times Building

Location: Times Square, Midtown Manhattan, New York City

Size: 1.5 million square feet of premium Class-A office space and 21,000 square feet of retail on the ground floor with 700 feet of street frontage on a 79,000-square-foot parcel. It is 52 stories tall (746 feet tall; curtain wall ends at 819 feet; mast tops off at 1,046 feet).

Grand Opening: Nov. 2007

Owners: The New York Times Company and developer Forest City Ratner Companies.

Architects: Renzo Piano Building Workshop in association with FXFOWLE Architects.

Design: The New York Times Company interior office space was designed by Gensler. A full list of the design consultant team is available at  newyorktimesbuilding.com .


Green Features

Open-Air Garden: The unique open-air garden is the first of its kind in Manhattan. The garden, which is surrounded by glass, features a grove of 50-foot-tall paper birch trees, a ground covering of two kinds of moss, and an elegant wooden footbridge. Visible from the lobby, the building’s offices and the street, the garden is a calm and serene environment, a “green” oasis in the middle of one of the busiest, most densely packed neighborhoods in New York.

Double-Skin Curtain Wall: To reduce the amount of heat coming into the building, architect Renzo Piano envisioned a second skin of horizontal ceramic rods that act as a sunshade, sufficient in number to block half of the sun’s energy. This is the first time this type of double-skinned curtain wall has ever been used. By deflecting the heat, the double curtain wall allows use of floor-to-ceiling ultra-clear glass that maximizes views and light for occupants of the building while allowing people outside the building to see movement within. The ceramic rods also enhance the design by gently reflecting light and color changes throughout the day.

Lighting and Shading: By engaging Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory — the foremost experts on daylighting — and with financial assistance from New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), The New York Times Company was able to create a very advanced dimmable lighting system and a dynamic shading system with real energy savings greater than 50 percent.

The lighting system is the first of its kind in the world.

Co-Generation On Site: The New York Times Building includes a co-generation plant that makes energy on site. Featuring clean-burning gas, the co-generation plant is used to supply 40 percent of the power for the Times Company’s space. The plant’s heat by-product is used to heat the Times Company’s space during the winter and to provide cooling during the remainder of the year. This is a more efficient use of the electrical generation equipment than is typically found in a utility company, as the heat by-product is used. This is very unusual, especially in New York City where very few commercial office buildings have co-generation plants. Funding support for the co-generation project was received from NYSERDA.

Underfloor Air Distribution: The New York Times Building features a versatile underfloor air distribution (UFAD) system designed for comfort and efficiency. With this underfloor air system, The New York Times Company is able to air condition 10 degrees warmer than a typical system — at 68 degrees Fahrenheit — and gently pump this chilled air up from the floor rather than pushing air down from the ceiling at high velocity. Cooler air naturally fills the lower area of the room and rises when it hits warmer objects such as people or computers. The warm air then exits through vents in the ceiling. This system not only saves energy, it also ensures a much more regulated, comfortable temperature throughout the space. The Times Company is also able to use free-air cooling, meaning that on a cool morning, air from the outside can be brought into the building. The UFAD also uses waste heat from the co-generation process to heat the space on colder days. This is the largest UFAD installation of its kind in New York City.


Information provided by www.nytco.com.