NRDC Sustainable Operations
Our Offices are Change Agents
Our Mission
We are taking an innovative approach to make our entire real estate portfolio Net Positive.
As part of our environmental mission, we are challenging the traditional design and operation of buildings by transforming our own portfolio from a continuous burden on natural resources into a sustainable role model that produces more clean energy than it consumes, minimizes municipal water consumption, and entirely diverts waste from landfills.
Our organization is a prominent leader in supporting environmental issues by pushing the envelope for holistic problem solving and sustainable solutions. With all future office renovation projects, we will actively share our pioneering and scalable approach of creating Net Positive structures to inspire and guide others to follow suit.
We partnered with Arup to combine Arup’s expertise in the latest design, technology, and machine learning with our long history of environmental advocacy to accelerate a sustainable and practical pathway leading to a future where humans and the planet can thrive beyond the boundaries of our limited resources.
NRDC New York City
Our New York HQ accounts for nearly 45 percent of our annual real estate portfolio energy consumption. This building is therefore a key focus in the challenging mission of reaching a portfolio-wide Net Positive, and presents an excellent opportunity to implement optimized solutions at scale.
We co-own the twelve-story HQ building in the Flatiron District with the New York Public Library. NRDC staff currently occupies the top five floors (8–12), while leasing out floors 6 and 7 to a tenant. Were we to reclaim both the floors in late 2019, and expand our office, the challenge of reaching a Net Positive portfolio goals would increase further.
Headquarters Profile:
- Location: 40 W 20th St, New York, NY 10011
- Year built: Early 1980s
- Floors: 7 (5 occupied, 2 leased out)
- Rentable Area: 73,504 sf
- Useable Area: 53,658 sf
- Roof Area: 9,000 sf
Project Goals
Any future retrofit project will have three main objectives:
- Providing the best quality office spaces for our staff
- Minimizing the building’s environmental impact
- Positively shaping the building industry through a pioneering approach
These aims influenced the impactful decision to create optimized pathways applicable to achieving a Net Zero Energy (NZE) goal for our HQ to serve as a roadmap for future projects. By combining multiple unique combinations of strategies for deep energy retrofits, renewable energy generation, and a healthy workplace environment, we now have an array of opportunities tailored to our specific targets and building typology.
Renewable Energy
Given its location in a highly dense urban neighborhood in NYC, the on-site renewable energy production capacity is limited to the small footprint of the rooftop, partially shaded by adjacent buildings. After maximizing the on-site generation, we procured off-site solar power in a location that is feeding into the same electricity grid that is ultimately providing the energy to the HQ building.
Energy Use Reduction
Selection of a tailored and optimized set of strategies for our building was done through parametric modeling that accounts for synergies of combined solutions. This type of modeling bundles strategies together in every possible fusion, identifies overlaps and knows when one plus one is not equal to two in terms of energy savings.
Healthy Workspaces
We like to be in the forefront of combining sustainability with the booming sector of health and wellness in the built environment. By incorporating low VOC materials, natural light, thermal comfort and access to biophilia and outdoor space, we place an active focus on the positive effect that our buildings can have on the people who work in them.
A scalable and repeatable Net Zero plan is essential
1,555 Paths to Net Zero
Reducing energy demand is the first step on the path towards a Net Zero building. Arup identified an extensive list of 120 energy conserving strategies applicable to our building. Savings were represented in categories such as: lighting, HVAC, heating, cooling, process loads and plug loads. Each strategy was assessed based on multiple criteria including: capital cost, energy savings potential, feasibility, and scalability. Based on these criteria, a shorter list of strategies was retained. Of these, 38 strategies that impact energy use were modeled.
It would take a significant amount of time and effort to manually explore and evaluate the nearly infinite number of combinations that could be created with these 38 strategies. Arup instead took a smart and innovative approach using a flexible machine learning model to combine bundles of strategies that are optimized for both energy performance and cost parameters. This approach uses fast, cloud-based simulations, resulting in a holistic process that allowed us to analyze a wide range of options and combinations.
This pioneering methodology gives us the flexibility to pick and choose specific bundles of energy conserving strategies, while offering new insights into data and enabling educated and data-driven decision making.
1,555 paths to net zero
Graph showing 1,555 bundles of strategies that meet the Net Zero goals of our HQ. Each dot represents a bundle of strategies that is optimized for energy and cost.
Interactive Graph: use legend filters, zoom and hover over dots
Our 1555 paths to Net Zero examines the potential for deep energy savings by modeling a series of energy conservation measures (ECMs). 120 ECMs were considered by the team. These were evaluated for energy savings potential, feasibility, cost and scalability. After the early screening, a total of 38 ECMs were modeled.
Questions frequently asked about the challenging mission of reducing energy consumption and entering a pathway of reaching Net Zero include the following:
- What are the most energy-efficient options?
- How can I achieve the deepest carbon savings?
- What are the least expensive strategies?
- Which options achieve a feasible balance between energy and cost?
Our approach efficiently identifies multiple options of energy saving bundles that can be visualized, compared, scaled and used to answer each question above. As opposed to traditional methods, the generated bundles are programmed to account for energy saving synergies and counteracting effects to accurately determine the final result. This modeling methodology is highly replicable, even when individual project parameters varies. It is in this capacity that this NZE study serves as a roadmap for NRDC offices and as inspiration for other organizations.
Traditionally, only a small selection of energy saving strategies are studied on a project. Simulations are normally slow with limited flexibility, and results are typically optimized for energy only. This means that decisions are based on a very limited dataset, which fails to show the whole picture.
Pathway 1
- 90.1 lighting control
- Daylight integrated dimming
- Demand control ventilation
- Controllable plugs–90.1 plug load control
- Reduce data center by 30%
- Upgrade to 55% better than ASHRAE 90.1
- Relax setpoints partial
- Dedicated off-hour working space
- Relax setpoints full
Pathway 2
- 90.1 lighting control
- Daylight integrated dimming
- Demand control ventilation
- Controllable plugs–90.1 plug load control
- Reduce data center by 50%
- Upgrade to 55% better than ASHRAE 90.1
- Relax setpoints partial
- Dedicated off-hour working space
- Roof insulation code (realistic)
- Wall insulation-realistic
- Shading devices-exterior overhang S + W facade
- DC power distribution
- Relax setpoints full
- Air cleaners to reduce required ventilation rates
- Centralize kitchen and gathering spaces
- 100% GSHP
Pathway 3
- 90.1 lighting control
- Daylight integrated dimming
- Demand control ventilation
- Controllable plugs–90.1 plug load control
- Reduce data center by 50%
- Upgrade to 55% better than ASHRAE 90.1
- Relax setpoints partial
- Dedicated off-hour working space
- Additional air sealing–PH level
- DC power distribution
- Air cleaners to reduce required ventilation rates
- Centralize kitchen and gathering spaces
- Sewer WSHP
Scalability
Through this study, we have created a new path that can transform our portfolio to an energy saving, clean power generating role model. The bigger goal of this study is to pave the way for others, while also improving our own buildings.
Our HQ can be categorized as a commercial, pre-war building greater than seven stories. This specific typology represents a citywide building area of 2.7%, and a citywide building-based greenhouse gas emission of 5.5%, according to the NYC 80×50 report. When placed in this larger context, it is easy to realize the tremendous environmental impact that this type of deep decarbonization can have if our method is utilized for similar buildings undergoing renovation in New York City.
Empowering change on such a large scale is the reason why we pursued the path of algorithm-based optimization of energy saving strategies. We are proud and excited to utilize this opportunity to move beyond low and medium difficulty energy conservation measures to achieve deep energy reductions.