JPMorgan Chase – Grant Takahashi – 2013

Grant Takahashi worked as an EDF Climate Corps fellow with JPMorgan Chase and was asked by the Energy & Sustainability team to evaluate the financial and environmental benefits for building a new ‘greener’ Retail bank branch.

Takahashi developed a tool to analyze the lifecycle costs of the new Retail bank branch designs. He first examined the architectural plans of the prototype branch design and reviewed the five major building systems: building envelope, lighting, HVAC, equipment load and water/plumbing. ‘Greener’ options for the prototype design included: better wall and roof insulation, solar hot water heaters, high efficiency HVAC equipment and ‘state of the art’ controls. These options were then programmed into the tool, comparing current and ‘greener’ design values on an annual and lifecycle basis.

Utilizing the tool, Takahashi calculated the lifecycle costs and resource usage of two designs (current and green) for a single prototype branch in California. The annual cost savings for the ‘greener’ building was $6,100 per year or $92,000 for a 20 year lifecycle.

Takahashi then trained the building design team to use the tool to select and evaluate ‘greener’ options for future building designs.