Forest City Enterprises
At a Glance
Industry
Real Estate
Project Type
Commercial Energy Efficiency
Year
2016
Location
New York, NY
Net Present Value:
$1,000,000
Annual kWh Savings:
600,000 kWh
Annual CO2 Reductions:
470 metric tons
Summary
Shiv Gindodia proposed a plan for increasing the efficiency of chillers and upgrading existing garage ventilation controls to help reduce Forest City’s carbon footprint.
Goals
Forest City Realty Trust, a diversified real estate development and management company, enlisted EDF Climate Corps fellow Shiv Gindodia to help reduce its energy use 20% by 2020. The company had already developed an internal sustainability roadmap, modelled on the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED standards, and had identified ways to optimize the chiller plant at 2-Metrotech Center, but had not established an implementation strategy. Shiv was tasked with working alongside the operations team to devise a strategy, as well as a plan to overhaul an inefficient garage ventilation system at One Pierrepont Plaza.
Solutions
Shiv created a baseline to determine the current efficiency of the chiller. He identified that installing variable frequency drives and flow meters would help increase the chillers overall performance by 33.7%. But, the high capital expenditure required for such an upgrade was a major hurdle, and a cost effective financing alternative for vendors was needed. Through negotiations, Shiv helped come up with an economically-viable plan in which half the project cost could be paid in one financial year and the rest in the second. Shiv also found that installing carbon monoxide sensors in the garage would help modulate the airflow based on occupancy, while meeting all regulatory requirements. A detailed financial model was created to install a demand control ventilation system in the garage.
Potential Impact
Over the next ten years, these projects could help Forest City save $1,007,810.92 in operating costs. Annually, they could save 603,196.83 kilowatt hours of electricity and reduce 467.25 tons of carbon dioxide emissions, bringing the company one step closer to meeting its sustainability goals.