Tishman Speyer Installs 363 Solar Panels Atop 45 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City
By: Gail Kalinoski, Contributing Editor /Nov 20, 2007
Source: Commercial Property News.com
http://www.cpnonline.com/cpn/content_display/regions/northeast/
new-york/e3i6ed02f115f5e252e430aafc7bc8656f3
Tishman Speyer officials and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said today the company has installed 363 solar panels on the roof of 45 Rockefeller Plaza, making it the largest privately owned solar energy generation station in Manhattan. The officials also announced the installation of a “green roof” atop Radio City Music Hall and an ice chiller plant at Rockefeller Center to help cool the complex and reduce energy consumption. The announcements came this morning during a press conference at 45 Rockefeller Plaza, where they also said the latest in energy-efficient LED lights will make the famous Rockefeller Center Christmas tree truly a “green” tree this year.
“The green initiatives we are putting in place make Rockefeller Center a leader for environmental innovation,” Jerry Speyer, Tishman Speyer chairman & CEO, stated. Alternative energy generation and use are part of the 127 initiatives that Bloomberg announced April 22 in an Earth Day speech as part of his PlaNYC, a plan to create a greener New York City. Among the mayor’s goals are providing additional reliable power sources and upgrading existing power plants and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent.
“When we developed PlaNYC, we hoped that public leadership would inspire private-sector creativity and investment in a greener, greater New York and I want to commend Jerry and (Tishman Speyer president) Rob Speyer for stepping up and meeting that challenge,” the mayor said.
The solar roof atop 45 Rockefeller Plaza will keep 67,392 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere each year and more than 2 million pounds over its 30-year lifespan, according to a release from the Mayor’s Office. The panels will create a 70-kilowatt DC generation station tied to the Rockefeller Center grid. The solar-powered energy will help reduce peak electrical demand, particularly during the summer.
The new ice making and storage plant is being installed this month and will consist of 47 11-foot water tanks. Ice will be created overnight when energy demand is lower. During the day water used for air conditioning will be redirected through the ice in an energy-efficient cooling system. Tishman Speyer will power the plant with energy purchased from wind-generated facilities.
At Radio City Music Hall, desert plantings will be installed on the 18,000-square-foot roof, saving approximately 566,000 gallons of water from the city’s wastewater/storm water system. Greenhouse gases will also be reduced because of the plants.
Tishman Speyer is not the only big commercial real estate company to recently make environmental initiatives a priority. CPN reported Nov. 16 that CB Richard Ellis Group Inc. is enrolling 100 major U.S. office buildings in the U.S. Green Buildings Council’s Portfolio Program. Much of the focus will be on each building’s operations, such as lighting, heating and ventilation and recycling. In May, CBRE announced plans to be carbon neutral in its own operations by 2010. And earlier this month, Merchandise Mart Properties Inc. announced that The Merchandise Mart—the 4.5 million-square-foot Chicago showroom and office behemoth that is the world’s largest commercial building—had earned a LEED Silver certification from the Green Building Council.