NYC Mega Project Saves Energy by Design

The first phase of NY City’s Hudson Yards project (30th St and 10th Ave) retail hub is a one-million square foot, 7 story LEED Platinum building and contains primarily retail and offices with 20 percent housing. The LEED Gold-designed 30 Hudson Yards is a 2.6 million-square-foot skyscraper taller than the Empire State Building. Phase I with these two buildings opened in March, with the second phase slated to create 1000 affordable housing units.

The energy system features two cogeneration plants to convert waste heat into thermal energy that power a micro-grid, making it more energy efficient than towers of similar size. The system is estimated to save 25,000 million tons of carbon dioxide annually. The building will collect 10 million gallons of rainwater annually that will be used to irrigate more than 28,000 native plants and 200 trees. This will keep the water out of city sewers and reduce the energy to pump water for irrigation by 6.5 MWh, equivalent to the output of four acres of forest. The project connects via an underground corridor to the subway station. Architect’sNewsletterInfographic