11 Madison Avenue
Thermal Storage Saves Energy, Focuses On Environment
Built in 1932, 11 Madison Avenue in New York City is a 2.2 million square foot office building that serves as the national headquarters for Credit Suisse. As one of the world’s leading banks, Credit Suisse provides clients with investment banking, private banking and asset management services worldwide. Here’s how Trane partnered with Credit Suisse to meet their air conditioning, energy and environmental challenges.
Challenge
Faced with replacing an outdated chiller plant at the end of its life cycle, Credit Suisse explored the prospects of a high performance building that addressed the overall goals of energy savings, improved plant resiliency and environmental consciousness.
Solution
As part of the plan to improve the building’s energy performance, Credit Suisse brought in Trane’s New York/New Jersey Energy Services Group to develop a solution. After completing a detailed building analysis, the Trane Energy Services Group proposed a thermal storage solution that would shift electric load from daytime to night when electricity is more plentiful, less expensive and generated more efficiently. The plan also called for replacing three of the building’s aging chillers with new, more efficient and inherently more reliable non- CFC chillers.
Results
Trane installed three 800-ton CenTraVac™ chillers, 64 CALMAC thermal
storage tanks and related thermal storage equipment.
The
thermal storage system works by using one of the new chillers to make
ice at night during off-peak, reduced-rate hours — reducing peak
electric demand by nearly one megawatt and reducing on-peak energy
consumption by over 2.15 million kWh per year. These energy savings,
combined with a substantial subsidy incentive from NYSERDA, delivered
an attractive financial return for Credit Suisse while enhancing
chilled water plant resiliency. Off-peak power used to make ice is
generated by more efficient, cleaner natural gas power plants rather
than older, dirtier oil-fired plants, providing a distinct
environmental advantage.
The new chillers also use
environmentally responsible HCFC-123 refrigerant. All work was
completed without disrupting operations of Credit Suisse or other
building tenants.
About 11 Madison Avenue
Featuring art deco styling, 11 Madison Avenue was constructed in
1932 as part of the headquarters for the Metropolitan Life Insurance
Company. The building was originally designed to reach 100 stories
which would have made it the world’s tallest building during that
time. The Great Depression, however, limited construction to its
current 30 stories. 11 Madison Avenue currently serves as national
headquarters for Credit Suisse, a global banking firm that operates in
more than 33 countries on five continents.
This turnkey
project shifts nearly 1 megawatt of peak electric demand and reduces
annual on-peak energy usage by more than 2.15 million kWh.
