Video: Greening the Empire State Building

Greening the Empire State Building

Historically, improvements in existing buildings are made on an ad hoc basis, however, much more energy efficiency and savings can be obtained by taking a whole-building approach, when integrated solutions and blended savings bring long-term benefits. A case where this is aptly demonstrated is the iconic Empire State Building in Manhattan, New York, that is now also becoming an example of innovation in building management.

The Empire State Building Retrofit Project is a partnership between the owners, Johnson Controls as the preferred energy service company, Jones Lang LaSalle as the project manager, Rocky Mountain Institute as the peer reviewer and sustainability experts and the Clinton Climate Initiative as a resource and advisor.

The $20 million project will reduce energy consumption by more than 40%, achieve annual energy savings of $4,4 million and save 100,000 metric tons of carbon over 15 years. The work will include a layer of film added to each of the 102-storey building’s 6,500 windows, insulation behind radiators and improved lighting, ventilation and air conditioning. People working in the building will be able to use the internet to monitor how much energy is being used, and where.

A special website, esbsustainability.com, has been created to showcase the tools and processes that resulted from the project, and includes a video, interactive model, and information on best practices for future building retrofits.

Read more…

See a short video clip on the process here…

Future of Organic LEDs

OLEDs are solid-state devices composed of thin films of organic molecules that create light with the application of electricity. OLEDs can provide brighter, crisper displays on electronic devices and use less power than conventional LEDs or Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs) used today.

The plastic, organic layers of an OLED are thinner, lighter and more flexible than crystalline layers in LED or LCD. It is also possible to use it on flexible substances such as clothing.

In March 2008, researchers at General Electric proved that it is possible to make OLEDs using a newspaper-printing like roll-to-roll process. Commercial applications in lighting require low manufacturing costs, and this demonstration is a major milestone on the way to developing low cost OLED lighting devices. This is interesting because OLEDs, like normal LEDs, could potentially be used for lighting in most conditions in the near-future without the downsides of inefficient incandescents and fragile CFLs that contain small amounts of mercury. They also last much longer than even the best fluorescents.

Barry Young, president of the OLED Association, reviewed a few of the benefits of OLED technology, including that the power consumption, form and image are better than LCDs. In addition, they can be made about 1 mm thick. That means a completed TV set can be as thin as about three credit cards.

OLED displays are already widely used in cell phones from companies like Nokia, Samsung, Sony and LG. The technology is starting to get used on a larger scale. Kodak has already launched it’s expensive OLED digital photo frame. OQO is coming out with a netbook this year with an OLED screen. And we can also expect to see a 14.1” notebook screen come out. But it will be about 2 to 3 years before it really starts to compete with LCDs, and about 5 years before these displays will be manufactured on the same scale as LCDs.

Original article: Jaymi Heimbusch. TreeHugger. 26 February 2009. Read more..