The Empire State Building Project

Advancing Sustainability: From 1.0 to 3.0

The Empire State Building is legendary in more ways than one. But like many other buildings in the city, it is an environmental headache. Buildings in the Big Apple -- nearly half of which were built before 1945 -- are responsible for up to 70% of the city's carbon footprint. Now, the Empire State Building Company (ESBC) wants to make the popular 102-story tourist attraction -- with its 2.8 million square feet of office space -- one of the most energy-efficient buildings in the city.

Launched in 2008, ESBC's $20 million investment in energy retrofitting the skyscraper (including measures such as replacing 6,500 windows, installing new insulation and upgrading air ventilation, all due to be completed in 2013) comes with the help of various sustainability, energy and property experts, including Jones Lang LaSalle and The Clinton Climate Initiative.

Eventually reducing its carbon footprint by 38%, the retrofit will lower the building's energy costs by $4.4 million annually and help it avoid 150,000 tons of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions over the next 15 years, according to Lauralee Martin, CFO and COO of Jones Lang LaSalle, who wrote about the project in a recent blog post titled, "Sustainable Cities, Building by Building."

That may be music to the ears of numerous CFOs and other "C-suite" executives. There's no shortage today of companies unveiling -- or planning to unveil -- sustainability initiatives of various shapes and sizes, and they are turning to their finance chiefs to help them understand how those initiatives can also boost their top and bottom lines.

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