Google Cuts NYC Facilities Emissions in Half Six Years Early

(Photo: Google in New York. Credit: Joao-Pierre Ruth, Flickr Creative Commons)

Google reports that the company reduced its 2011 greenhouse emission levels from office facilities in New York City 54% ahead of the original 2025 goal.

Back in 2013, Google became a member of the NYC Carbon Challenge, a voluntary public-private partnership between the Mayor’s Office and organizations from the private, institutional, and nonprofit sectors. The tech giant first pledged to reduce building-based greenhouse gas emissions 30% by 2023 using a 2011 baseline. When they reached 36.5% in 2015, the goal became 50% by 2025.

“In just a few years, we’ve seen what can happen with simple changes like improving windows and using light more sensibly,” said William Floyd, director of government affairs and public policy at Google.

Company efforts varied for spaces in New York City, according to Google. They included:

• Retrofitting old steam chillers with super-efficient electric chillers at 111 Eighth Avenue
• Installing high efficiency windows and lighting
• Building office spaces to LEED Gold minimum standards
• Focusing on daylight dimming, occupancy sensors, CO2 controls, and lighting schedules
• Investing in radiator replacements, improved ventilation, and plug load reductions

Replacing windows and steam chillers in particular made a big difference for Google New York’s emissions. Between 2012 and 2014, the company replaced three 25-year-old steam-powered absorption chillers. The first installation was a 1,250-ton chiller, and the second two had a combined capacity of 3,600 tons. One of them has variable frequency drives, according to the NYC Carbon Challenge.

“Starting in October of 2014, One City Block began a replacement of the buildings 3,338 windows,” the challenge website explained. “The triple pane, argon filled, low-e, thermally broken windows have an overall U-factor of 0.21 which is more than twice the efficiency the Energy Code requires.”

Renewable Energy Procurement

This month Google made its largest purchase of renewable energy ever, CEO Sundar Pichai said. The 18 new energy deals in the United States, Chile, and Europe combine to form a massive 1.6-gigawatt package, increasing the company’s worldwide portfolio of wind and solar agreements by more than 40% to 5.5 GW.

“Our Chile deal marks the first time we’ll buy power in a hybrid technology deal that combines solar and wind,” Pichai said. “Because the wind often blows at different times than the sun shines, pairing them will allow us to match our Chilean data center with carbon-free electricity for a larger portion of each day.”